I've been going to Bumbershoot almost every year since 1992, including this weekend for all three days. This year was very different from past years. Not worse, just different.

It seemed more like a generic music festival than something that is uniquely Seattle. And that's not a bad thing, if you're there to see music.

And now that it's a generic music festival, can we please, please, please get rid of the beer gardens? Not just so I can walk around with a beer in my hand (like you can at every other festival I've been to), but because having these fenced-off areas adjacent to every stage really messes up the flow of the festival.

I saw some good tunes this weekend - both longtime favs and new stuff I stumbled upon. Thanks to our corporate overlords for fixing the overcrowding problem by charging extortionate prices for admission. Blow it up and start from scratch - local bands, more performance art and reasonable ticket prices.