From the July article The Capitol Hill Block Party and How It Grew

For a moment there, the narrow balcony above the Ballet Vietnamese eatery verged on collapse. Twenty or so hyper partyers had sardined themselves onto the rickety perch, causing it to sag precariously over the heads of the herd—bodysurfing, hundreds deep—clogging Pike Street on a steamy Sunday evening last July. Neither they, the fans dangling over the edge of the rooftop above them, nor the yellow-shirted fanatic who shimmied up the utility pole, cared: The Dead Weather was performing not half a block away. On a stage butting against Broadway, amid spastic lights and a cranked sound system, raged the Kills’ Alison Mosshart, Jack White, and the rest of the supergroup. It was an epic rockout—and it went down in one of Seattle’s densest corridors.

To the uninitiated, this is the Capitol Hill Block Party. In June MTV dubbed it one of North America’s best under-the-radar summer blowouts. It’s our city’s most revelrous, claustrophobic, buzzy music festival and, thanks to the rowdy crowds, possibly its most polarizing.

This year the block party turns 15, and attendance is expected to approach 30,000 over three days, July 22 to 24, to see 70 acts on five stages. —Chris Werner

Some call it Bumbershoot for the hipster set. Others applaud its mostly local lineup (though national acts TV on the Radio, Ghostland Observatory, and Explosions in the Sky are coheadlining). To find out more about this weekend’s music festival, read the rest of The Capitol Hill Block Party and How It Grew, or enjoy a primer on 52 new bars, restaurants, and shops on Capitol Hill.

Capitol Hill Block Party runs July 22–24. Tickets are $27.50 for a single day ticket or $82.50 for a three-day pass, available at capitolhillblockparty.strangertickets.com.