Bumbershoot 2008, Day 1: How to Wait In Line for Everything

Clockwise from upper left: Band of Horses, Space Needle, Tim Finn, Beck

Best things I saw today: Tim Finn, and Beck. I'm not sure if I've ever seen Tim Finn solo before, but his set was great and at a small-ish stage so it was easy to get pretty close. I really prefer this type of immediate experience to the really large crowd type shows, although they both have advantages at times. I haven't seen Beck in more than 10 years (wow, that's alarming)--he played at South by Southwest after Mellow Gold came out, and I saw him in a tiny room there, but haven't seen him since. The crowd at the mainstage was huge, festive and not too pushy, and the sound was great. I was about one long line away from calling it a day before his set started, and I'm glad that I didn't.

Speaking of lines, there has got to be a better way to handle the crowds at Bumbershoot--it was totally ridiculous. Here are the things I waited in very long lines for yesterday:
1. Getting in the doors - 45 minutes
2. Getting in the beer garden - 20 minutes
3. Getting a beer - 15 minutes
4. Getting into the Mainstage - 15 minutes
5. Getting back into the Mainstage later - 10 minutes

I was only inside the gates for about five hours total, so that's a lot of waiting in line. I arrived early so that I could get in the gates, pick up a mainstage pass, and then leave to do other things, but by the time I made it through the gates, the mainstage pass line was at least an hour long. Today, I'm not planning to get there early, and it's rainy, so I hope to face fewer lines. Maybe next year I should save up for one of those fancy passes that would let me skip the line--I might be reaching that age where it's more than worth it!