I've wanted to go for years but could never spend a grand to do so. Could have gone for one day but they were not flexible with the ticketing. I missed sleater-kinney. Sad that this is going away but not surprised. Who can afford that?

good riddance. the fest pays bands like shit, forces them to black out dates and caters to rich folk. i hope more of these fest's bite the dust.

@2:
"Pays like shit" is really: what can be afforded to play for talent and stay in business
"Black out dates" is really: a committed schedule is required for the event to be successful
"Caters to rich folk" is really: I'm cheap
"I hope more of these fests bit the dust" is really: I can't have fun, so nobody else should either.

Big multi-day, outdoor music festivals seem like artifacts from a bygone era (well, likely because they actually are). If attendance is dying off, it's a clear indication the zeitgeist has moved on, or at least it has in the PNW.

Thanks for the 17 years, being grateful, and not beating a dead horse.

I'll add my voice to the chorus of those hoping this is the beginning of the end for these festivals. Short sets, shitty ticket policies, expensive as hell and terrible for other venues who lose out on booking these acts during the summer months, this headline was the best news I've read all week.

Also, none of the bands mentioned in this article strike me as having a "uniquely Northwest flavor."

The cost of these events is staggering. When I was younger and had less money (back in the 90's) I could just barely come up with the money to go to these events. Now that I'm older and frankly better off financially the cost of these clusters seem to be even more non affordable.

3 telling a local band that they cant play a local show 90 days before the fest in the middle of summer ,which is prime time for booking s shows, so that they can earn $200/300 and have the "exposure" of playing a bill with the Flaming Lips or some other shit band, is total garbage. what world do you live in where $800 a ticket is cheap, i wish i had your kind of money.

@10: $800 or more for a tent and deluxe tents, sure. But just going was average $200 - $300.

I feel as though Sasquatch had lost it edge with the hip and r&b community years ago. There are people in Seattle who listen to trap music and r&b as well as alternative....me and $400 way to expensive for me to watch all alternative bands for 3 days. I have went to a few Sasquatch festivals and felt like it was only directed at a certain group. To that I say thank you and good riddance. I hope more integrative festivals take it's place in the future.

We'll always have the memories. In the form of tiny portrait-mode videos my friends shot in previous years and posted to social media.

So when will Bumbershoot finally die?

@14: It will become Prime Bumbershoot within 3 years.

All Things Must Pass. RIP, formative experience of many PNW childhoods.

I "chaperoned" a group of teens to see the year with the Pixies and Arcade Fire. 2004? IDK. No one died (one got a speeding ticket in the precise place where I told him there would be a speed trap), so the other parents were quite pleased.

@12

We are at least 25 years past the point where white pop-rock with a little extra distortion could be considered an alternative to anything.

It's just music for old people now. KEXP's average listener, like The Stranger's average reader, is over 35 now. The headliners for these festivals are bands whose breakout records were issued 30 years ago. They've become reunion tours, with ticket prices to match the rising income of their aging audience.

The problem the festivals are facing is that their audience is losing interest, which is entirely predictable-- decades of studies have consistently shown that in aggregate, people from all walks of life with widely differing tastes all lose interest in music as they age.

I’m not surprised, so many off he festivals target audience can barely afford to live in there town let alone leave it for an expensive concert.

Who fucking cares? The restrictions to perform were ridiculous. The cost of tickets was ridiculous. There will be something done on that weekend at The Gorge no matter what.