Mike Peters in Seattle, Bumbershoot Festival, September 6, 1998

I’d never been to a Bumbershoot before. Apparently it’s a Labor Day tradition in Seattle consisting of an arts and music festival over four long days. Bumbershoot just seemed like a perfect venue for Mike Peters. All the bright, happy colors, music, food and arts was a complimentary backdrop to Mike’s uplifting, optimistic music.

Right before the show, Mike peeked out from behind the backstage area and spoke with us fans for a few minutes. I think it really lifted his spirits to find all of us there, especially since some of us had traveled from New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. We talked a little about his flight over (he arrived in Seattle late because he was scheduled to take Northwest which was on strike!) and plans for the near future, including the Portland show. There were about a dozen of us who staked out a nice corner near the stage and waited for the show to begin.

As the Mike was introduced, we made a whole lot of noise! I was so overwhelmed with the emotions of the concert (being back in the midst of so many Mike Peters fans was exhilarating!) that I can’t really remember all the details!

With just Mike and his guitar, the songs were very pure and powerful. And he seemed really psyched to be there. Most of the material was from the Rise album, including In Circles, Transcendental, Rise, My Calling, You Are To Me, High On The Hill and a surprisingly fantastic acoustic version of White Noise. Alarm fans weren’t disappointed with Strength thrown in, and Unsafe Building was dedicated to all of us who "congregate" around his website and traveled from around the country to be there. When Mike sang Regeneration, it was obvious he was having a great time, changing the lyric to "Pearl Jam songs" since he was in Seattle. We managed to make enough noise at the end of the show so he could do an encore, Spirit of ’76.