“Just get to shelter! Get out of the weather! Get covered up!” Thunder cracked and Bumbershoot event staff hustled across the Memorial Stadium stage to echoing, authoritative advice from the speaker stacks. It was only the first day and already the forecast was grim. Fifteen minutes after Jhené Aiko’s expected stage time, doubt was brewing as fast as the storm clouds overhead. Would Jhené show? Would the crowd's socks ever dry? Yet the dedicated crowd remained shining and hopeful.

This year marked the 45th anniversary of Bumbershoot , the premiere music and arts festival of Seattle, a city with a rainy reputation to say the least. Given the unique urban setting and high risk of adverse weather, we aimed to discover how the typical festival experience translated in Seattle's concrete streets. This was the first year the original coordinators, One Reel, teamed with mega promoter, AEG. Seattle is a far cry from the Coachella Valley Desert, where AEG has repeatedly delivered. At Bumbershoot, AEG was already off to a good start by reaching 80,000 ticket sales. But would the corporate takeover affect the quirky celebration at the historic Seattle Center?

Upon a quick and painless entry into the grounds, a view of the central International Fountain immediately stole the show with the #NeverTamed Stage, the majestic Space Needle towering above it all in the background. Bravo, Seattle, you make one picturesque city.  The celebration of the festival's history was a continuous theme as an obvious effort to quell concerns that AEG would muddle the fest’s roots.

Vendor Alley brought patrons through a gauntlet of local and visiting merchants, which led through to the Memorial Stadium. We stopped at the food truck alley, situated within the Artist At Play Playground to mow down on Pike Place Piroshkis, while watching all ages romp around an adult-sized playground. The compound was complete with mega slides, interactive musical installments and a ropes course that rivaled the obstacles of Nickoloden's Guts (#AggroCrag). 

The permanence of the Seattle Center – which still houses KeyArena – was a fun upside to the urban festival. Weekend pop-ups intended to mimic whimsical playgrounds in a desert, field or a paved lot usually end up providing half the fun and even less safety. But as the weather began to deteriorate – to the point of where anyone without an umbrella, parka, or poncho was soaked – the Seattle Center provided an indoor haven, complete with food courts and plumbing. We were already drenched, but stone-oven pizza and plenty of space and amenities made up for it.

Saturday’s storm took a break after only 30 minutes to let Aiko bring her lavish R&B caress to life. The singer swayed in her rainbow halter, clearly overjoyed that so many fans stuck around.

The Weeknd later acknowledged the weather scare from the same stage. “Bumbershoot! We almost got fucked by the shitty weather today. But we’re not gonna let that fuck us, huh, Seattle!?” Seattle agreed loudly as The Weeknd picked up the sexy vibes where Aiko left off, giving fans a supercharged rendition of his solid catalogue. Saturday finished with a late set in the KeyArena from Chicago's soulful Chance The Rapper , supported by Donnie Trumpet’s noir brass shade. Everyone let themselves be in the moment until Chance thunderous performance brought Day One of Bumbershoot to a close.

For the remainder of the weekend, the KeyArena was dominated by dance acts like Flosstradamus, Zedd, Bassnectar, Tchami and Keys & Krates. There was clearly a higher demand to dance at the festival than organizers had planned, as the arena consistently had a line like Disneyland’s Space Mountain without a FastPass. Metal barriers corralled festival-goers through what everyone interpreted as unnecessary snake-bends and bottlenecks. This is where AEG still has kinks to work out. Otherwise, patrons will continue to crash fences and shift barricades at will. This is one of the few downsides to the urbanism of the festival experience.

Inside KeyArena, a team of dance-music enthusiasts wearing neon “Conscious Crew” tees roamed the floor. This hero squad was in fact a harm reduction team affiliated with EDM event and production company USC, touting their mantra of “Take care of each other.” The Crew is a scout-and-response team made up of compassionate volunteers whose mission is to bring anyone having a bad time to a safe place where they can decompress and recharge without judgment. Interestingly, this effective safety measure wasn't a system put in place by festival organizers; Conscious Crew is simply an independent organization dedicated to helping its fellow festival-goers out. Since festival organizers can't officially enact harm reduction measures due to outdated government policies (we’re looking at you, RAVE Act), it was refreshing to see this group take matters into its own hands.

While lasers fluttered and Bassnectar's frantic dubstep boomed, KeyArena's crowd danced harder than anyone at Bumbershoot did all weekend. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words flashed on the mega-screens behind the digital composer. “If you can’t fly, RUN! If you can’t run, WALK! If you can’t walk, CRAWL! But by all means, KEEP MOVING!” The stadium erupted. Some were brought to tears, and for me, a recent Fest300 headline came to mind: “Festival Culture Can Help Shape A Post-Racial America.”

Bumbershoot doesn't just claim to be a festival, but rather many festivals rolled into one, with a diverse congregation of artists, individualism, and expression. This 45th Bumbershoot succeeded in the test presented by Seattle's bipolar weather and expanding crowd while under fresh influence from mighty AEG.  If organizers One Reel and AEG can take a note from groups like the Conscious Crew, and help everyone stay safe while promoting PLUR, then 2016 has a shot at besting this year with ease.  

Sunday’s most notable performance was tucked away at the smaller Starbucks stage by Bay Area singer-songwriter Kehlani.

Robert Delong, who clearly visited the artsy face painting station, kicked off the warmest day of the weekend with high energy, controlling sound made by an array of reconfigured video game paddles.

Hozier took the stage for a captivating sunset performance. Keeping the crowd on their toes, Hozier went on to cover Ariana Grande’s "Problem" as the clouds caught the last sliver of sundown.

The stars glittered in the clear night sky once Ellie Goulding took ahold of the microphone to make the Memorial Stadium her own.