Photos: Gogol Bordello at Showbox SoDo: See more photos here here.

Last Night: Cold War Kids at The Showbox: Staring intently at the crowd, Cold War Kids bassist Matt Maust performs with the band at The Showbox on September 30. The Kids’ commanding presence blew the roof off of the First Avenue venue.

Weezer (and Fans) at KeyArena: Weezer performed at Key Arena on Saturday night.

The Faces of Common Market’s CD Release Show: The Tall Boys String Band provided the warm-up music.

Last Night: The Raconteurs at WaMu Theater: The Raconteurs’ neutralized the soulless concrete cave that is the WaMu Theater with a stunning performance, all the more impressive after a well-dressed roadie told me after the show that the band’s performances are completely off-the-cuff, with no set list.

Bumbershoot Saturday Wrapup: Beck!

Bumbershoot Saturday Wrapup: Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell performed Bumbershoot ’08 in costume!

Bumbershoot Sunday Wrapup: DJ Drama was spinnin’ some legit tracks, and there was enough weed in the air to keep a small elephant sated; basically it was a main-stage rap show, through and through. The King did mix it up a little though, going a capella at some points and spitting to Usher’s Love In This Club and Lupe Fiasco’s Superstar (both of which were remixed with his help). It was a high energy set and a damn lot of fun aE” what you know about that?!

Bumbershoot Sunday Wrapup: Thirty minutes after Stone Temple Pilots were scheduled to take the stage, their massive tour bus pulled up to the Mainstage, and the prima donnas took their positions. Hey, at least they showed up.

Renee McMahonBumbershoot Sunday Wrapup: The Black Keys perform at Bumbershoot!

Bumbershoot Monday Wrapup: Paramore performs at Bumbershoot!

Pluckers from around the country descended on Tacoma’s Hotel Murano (formerly The Sheraton) for one of the season’s largest festivals of its kind in the nation. Norris Astor plays banjo with for the Ebony Hillbillies from NYC.

Photos: Oasis, Ryan Adams @ WAMU: Ryan Adams plays guitar during his performance at WaMu Theater on August 26.

Pemberton Fest Wrap-Up: Petty, Jay-Z, Death Cab, Canada, Sheep, and Dust: Jay-Z performed Sunday, July 27 at Pemberton Fest in Pemberton, B.C. The festival ran from Friday, July 25 through Sunday.

Death Cab, Cold War Kids, Fans at Deck the Hall Ball: The camera-shy Killers (they didn’t allow pics) headlined The End’s annual Christmas party along with local do-gooders Death Cab For Cutie and Cali’s Cold War Kids on Tuesday, Dec. 9. Read Nick Feldman’s review on Reverb.

Neil Young, Death Cab for Cutie in Everett: Death Cab had the honor of opening.

Bumbershoot: Three-Sentence Review of Neko Case: Neko Case hasn’t put out anything new since Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, but the impatient got a sneak peek at a few songs from Neko Case’s next record, which is slated to come out in March. Though the set list leaned toward the soulful ballad, Neko sang with the same soulful concentratrion of all her live performances, belting out challenging numbers like Star Witness and John the Baptist with her face turned upward in defiance of all my childhood choir teachers’ best advice. If only she’d humor those of us who dug her bluegrassier days and sing Guided By Wire, or Hex once in a while…not that I’m complaining, because of all the times I’ve seen Neko sing live, she’s never been anything less than astounding.

Last Night: Authority Zero and The Architects at El Corazon: Authority Zero lead singer Jason DeVore sings during the bandaE™s set on Friday night. Shooting photos from the front of the mosh pit aE” hard, but completely worthwhile.

Last Night: Radiohead at the White River Amphitheater: Thom York digs deep during Radiohead’s show on Wednesday night.

Why I Missed The Block Party Friday Night: The secret show was wild, sweaty, and nearly a million degrees, but that didnaE™t slow anyone down.

Block Party: Hold Steady, Fleet Foxes, Common Market, and More: Devotchka.

Pemberton Fest Wrap-Up: Petty, Jay-Z, Death Cab, Canada, Sheep, and Dust: Jay-Z performed Sunday, July 27 at Pemberton Fest in Pemberton, B.C. The festival ran from Friday, July 25 through Sunday.

The Hives shook up the Sasquatch! Mainstage on Monday afternoon, proposing they be paid extra for not coming on stage and playing campfire tunes.