Capitol Hill Block Party

I attended the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle this evening and was a little disappointed. Granted, my expectations were a little high - blinded by the prospect of finally seeing Vampire Weekend - but I still think my complaints are justified.

As I neared the gate on Pike and Broadway, my Hipster-O-Meter maxed out and then completely crashed. The hipster genre keeps coming up with new and even more ironically-ugly fashion statements. Cut-off denim shorts with slouched ankle boots and three shear shirts that I can still see your black bra through? You are too much.

That's pretty much par for the course, but what I was not expecting were crowds of complete jerks. If navigating through sweaty, drunken people, pot smoke, and condom balloons to see Girl Talk isn't enough, you feel the need to shove everyone and then lean against me for two songs. I object.

To add insult to injury, the sound quality was awful at each stage. We saw Menomena at the main stage, and they played a decent set, but the left speaker was blown and crackled with each bass note. Poor sound equipment cannot be blamed entirely for the mediocre Say Hi performance at the Vera Stage, as frontman Eric Elbogen was not any less awkward now that he has a full band behind him, but the levels seemed to be off because there was no distinction between his muddled singing and his guitar.

There were too many people to take pictures, but I wish Ezra Koenig had been wearing these shorts.

Seeing Vampire Weekend at the main stage was exciting, but the crowd was bizarre. There was actually room to breathe, but it was late, everyone was schwasted, and it was time to go home after hearing One (Blake's Got A New Face).

Oh, and Governor Chris Gregoire introduced Vampire Weekend. Weirdest, most awkward thing ever.