It was a beautiful weekend for art, music, comedy, theatre, words and hanging out in Seattle. Bumbershoot has been going for over forty years and it attracts a huge crowd and always has something for everyone.

For me it had some excellent comics, including Kurt Braunohler, Gabe & Jenny and Fred Armisen. Armisen (of Portlandia fame) had a lot of understated but very funny jokes about music - including his dislike of jazz and an impression of when doo-wap was the hardest rock music around. Armisen manages to be funny without making a lot of jokes about farts or dildos, which is unusual in comedy these days.

The festival also had the Ty Segall band, a killer garage rock outfit (my favourite) from San Francisco, who played the Sub Pop stage on Monday afternoon. They were catchy, noisy and intense and definitely worth the journey from Vancouver.

Other enjoyable tunes came from The Pharmacy, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and legendary Scottish rock group The Vaselines. The Vaselines were superb live and were joined for a memorable song by former Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic (on accordion!).

There is never enough time to try all the falafel or finally hear what dubstep music sounds like but even sampling a small corner of the Bumber-universe is extremely satisfying.

Bumbershoot may be over this year but it isn't too early to start planning for Labour Day weekend 2013.