Bumbershoot '08

The last time Beck graced the Mainstage at Bumbershoot in 1997, he changed the way the festival is run. Those wristbands you’ve had to pick up to see the Mainstage performers? Yeah, those are his doing.

Beck, touring behind his mega-selling alternative classic “Odelay,” packed the Mainstage 11 years ago, with the crowd pushing all the way up the stairs. The following year, audience members were required to snag free wristbands earlier in the day to see the night Mainstage feature.

Beck’s presence for this year’s three-day festival at the Seattle Center, as well as those of Stone Temple Pilots and Seattle native Death Cab for Cutie, seem to signal a return to featuring artists with longer track records. Absent from the evening portion of the show are the trendier Top 40-type acts like Fergie and Kanye West.

Since his Memorial Stadium-packing performance, Beck has released several albums that have been well received critically, but never had the commercial success of “Odelay.” The latest of these, “Modern Guilt,” came out this year.

In the times between Beck appearances, Death Cab For Cutie has performed four times as themselves (1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004) and most recently in 2005 as the Transatlantic Orchestra (they were part of an 826 Seattle writing benefit show). The local alternative crew Death Cab for Cutie will make their Mainstage debut to close out the festival Monday night.

The festival has been good about attracting reunion shows (Pixies in 2004 was one of the shows where the wristband system was needed), the Stone Temple Pilots being the latest. Having parted ways with Velvet Revolver earlier this year, frontman Scott Weiland reunited quickly with his former mates for an ambitious 65-date tour from arguably the biggest non-Seattle grunge rock act of the 1990s.

This year’s festival seems to be the most rock and alternative rock-oriented of recent issues, even beyond the headliners. Minus the Bear, Nada Surf, Mike Doughty, The Whigs and Jakob Dylan (of Wallflowers and son-of-Bob fame), the Old 97s and M. Ward are among those performing at smaller stages around the venue, while the Black Keys, Paramore, Band of Horses, Offspring and Superchunk have non-headlining slots on the Mainstage.

That’s not to say Bumbershoot is only a rock festival. Keyshia Cole and T.I. fill the seemingly obligatory hip-hop/R&B Mainstage slot on Sunday afternoon, a day after Neko Case and Lucinda Williams mellow out the stadium. Reggae veteran Lee “Scratch” Perry, in the process of cranking out his 54th album, will have plenty of tunes to choose from.

For hip-hop fans, performer/producer Del Tha Funky Homosapian and up-and-coming Denver hyper-political outfit Flobots are on the docket.

This year’s comedy lineup expands to three stages, as organizers hope to alleviate some of the backup for this incredibly popular part of the festival. The North Stage (Intiman Theatre) will have the usual standup performers in groups of two or three, while the South Stage (Charlotte Martin Theatre) will host comedians, skits and other humor-related productions. The West Stage (Vera Project) has a mixture of both, along with some open-mic kind of setups.

Bumbershoot regular Janeane Garofolo is probably the biggest name among the performers, but Comedy Central aficionados will recognize many of the names on the list.

The popular short-film festival returns, as does the literary stage and about a half dozen theatrical-type productions.

Eric Francis can be reached by e-mail at