We’ll start Day Three with a look back at the late night action of Day Two at Capitol Hill Block Party when the streets around E Pike looked a little like the coming pedestrian zone pilot had already started.
Block Party organizers are hoping to put more feet on the streets Sunday. Tickets for the day headlined by electric folk rocker Father John Misty are being sold for $35 with a “lastchance35” promotional code.
Day Three is forecasted to be the wettest of the three-day festival with predictions of showers starting in the afternoon and continuing into evening. Temperatures will stay around 70 F, however, so it will pretty much be a warm shower. After three days of loving music, Pike/Pine could use a bath. Continue reading →
The 19th year for the Capitol Hill Block Party music festival began Friday with clouds and a breeze — and only a hint of July showers in the first time in recent memory that the event has faced a serious threat of rain.
National Weather Service forecasters are predicting the chance for rain to top out with a 50% mark on Friday night, Saturday facing a 30 to 40% chance of showers, and Sunday lining up for a 60% chance.
Meanwhile, we’ve been told that one component of this year’s re-emphasized local art integration won’t be happening as planned. We’re sorry to inform you that this giant inflatable cowboy will not appear at Block Party after all due to “installation issues.”
Again in 2015, CHS will update open thread posts through the weekend on the people making Block Party happen, the crowds, and the community around the festival.
As usual, don’t bring a car. 12th Ave will also closed to parking this year and parking will also be affected on Broadway, E Union, and E Pine.
One trend we’re noticing right off the bat — more views from above like this. All of the new apartment buildings in the area remain under construction but the workers in the offices in the new Chophouse Row development have already contributed some new angles on social media at this year’s Block Party.
You can also follow @jseattle for updates. Let us know if you see anything — or anybody — interesting, too. You can email us or call/txt (206) 399-5959 for the *really* interesting stuff to let us know what you’re seeing. Or hearing. Continue reading →
(Image: Ashley Genevieve/CHBP with permission to CHS)
(Image: Ashley Genevieve/CHBP with permission to CHS)
This year, Capitol Hill Block Party won’t be competing with the Timber Outdoor Music Festival in Carnation, as the 2015 edition of yet another Pacific Northwest music festival took place last weekend. Still, CHBP owner and producer Jason Lajeunesse said the flood of music industry cash into festivals — one of the few highly profitable corners left in the business — is increasingly having an effect on CHBP. “It’s been challenging to book the types of acts that we want to attract,” he said. “Overall, expenses have doubled over the past five years.”
In response, CHBP is looking a little more Capitol Hill in 2015. It started in March, when organizers rolled out new branding for the festival’s 19th installment, featuring a map-inspired logo representing CHBP’s Pike/Pine venue.
Some familiar neighborhood groups are also playing a bigger role in this year’s festival. In an effort to bring back visual art elements to the weekend, CHBP is teaming up with Capitol Hill Art Walk and Capitol Hill Arts District. CHBP commissioned a large mural that was unveiled during this month’s Art Walk and supported a poster show at Grim’s, which featured 40 different prints inspired by CHBP bands. The festival is also earmarking $10,000 to support the neighborhood Art Walk.
“We found it challenging (in past years) to do scalable art that would work in the festival setting,” said Lajeunesse. “It’s important that we don’t lose it.” Organizers are meeting the challenge this year with a 25-foot inflatable installation dubbed “The Lone Ranger.” UPDATE: Due to installation issues, CHBP is postponing the giant inflatable cowboy. Better luck next year, partner.
In the meantime, Lajeunesse told CHS on Wednesday that everything was on pace for the weekend festivities. Without any major logistical changes over the past few years, organizers and regular festival-goers should more-or-less know what to expect. Continue reading →
Matt and Kim in 2014 (Image: CHBP with permission to CHS)
(Image: CHBP with permission to CHS)
Childbirth’s 2014 set (Image: CHBP with permission to CHS)
With a renewed focus on their festival’s namesake neighborhood, Capitol Hill Block Party organizers announced on Tuesday the first batch of performers playing this year’s three-day music festival. Headliners for the July 24th-26th event will be TV on the Radio, RATATAT, and The Kills. Three-day passes ($118.67) go on sale starting at 9 AM 10th/Pike Standard Time.
“We made a concerted effort to book bands we felt best exemplified the spirit and history of the festival, putting an emphasis on indie rock and punk bands alongside genres like hip-hop and EDM,” said festival organizer Jason LaJeunesse in a statement. A list of all the performers announced Tuesday is below.
Discounted three-day passes also went on sale for $99 and will be available through Thursday. Later, three-day passes go for $125.
In years past, LaJeunesse made the lineup announcement on KEXP. We’re getting an early morning jump on the performers this year as the announcement was tied to an East Coast collaboration with Billboard. Continue reading →
