Each year, Seattle’s streets flood with people from every walk of
life to celebrate gay pride weekend. There are the parades, the
block-long lines out of every restaurant, and the colorful revelers
everywhere you go. But no part of the celebration is as inspired as the
annual, all-ages-inclusive alternative to Pride, the Bend-It
Festival. The fest has been thrown each year since 2003 by the
Bend-It Bandits, a collective of radical queer Seattle youth. This
year’s fest kicked off on Friday with a show on the sprawling lawn of
Cal Anderson Park. The event was a delightful outdoor experience that
raised the bar high for summer fun. Sunbathers, some in sparkling gold
swimwear, lounged around to opening bands until local band My
Parade got the crowd amped up with their high-energy dance punk.
Featuring members of Bow + Arrow and Pillow Fight Fight,
the recently formed five-piece had some high expectations to live up to
and they more than delivered. The show was not nearly as crazy as
Sunday afternoon’s bear-riding, crowd-kissing performance by pop
punkers Hunx and His Punx at the Funhouse (my first 21-plus
concert), but this year’s Bend-It was, without a doubt, the most
empowering all-ages event I witnessed all weekend.
Fri July 3: One Be Lo, Spaceman, Yirim Seck,
Jusmoni, DJ B-Girl at the Vera Project, 7:30 pm, $7 adv/$10 DOS
Fri July 3: The Benjamin Clocks; Courtney Marie
Andrews; You, Me + Apollo; Whitney Ballen at KTUB, 7:30 pm, $6
Sun July 5: Cap Lori, Spencer Moody, PWRFL Power,
Lousewife at the Greenhouse, 8 pm, $5
Wed July 8: Shotty, Neil Gregerson, Gelatin Sundae
at the Old Fire House Teen Center, 6:30 pm, free