Do you swear you saw a giant gorilla at Bumbershoot 2015, but your friends keep telling you it was just the ‘shrooms? I have good news: You were right. Two years ago, Jamaican music legend Lee “Scratch” Perry blessed Seattle Center. This man is bona fide royalty: He recorded the first reggae song, launched Bob Marley’s career, and released the genre-defining dub album Super Ape in 1976.
Hence, the gorilla you saw beneath the Space Needle. The inflatable simian was a 40th anniversary tribute to Super Ape. Perry, now a spry 81, had decided to perform the album live for the first time ever with the help of his band, Subatomic Sound System, using instruments and contemporary digital music technology.