While Carla Körbes saying goodbye to Pacific Northwest Ballet was a bummer, there were still plenty of great moments in 2015.
MUSIC
- After nearly shutting down, Bumbershoot returned under new management. While plenty of great artists hit the stage this year, there were some serious problems with the new setup.
- Death Cab for Cutie reinvented itself with the terrific album Kintusgi, which sounded great live whether in the cozy confines of the Crocodile or among the sold out throngs at the Paramount Theatre.
- Childbirth delivered funny feminism that really packed a punch with Women’s Rights. It was the best local record of the year.
- KEXP finally moved into it’s new Seattle Center home.
- Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released three new songs, including the kind of baffling but catchy hit “Downtown.” We’re still waiting for them to surprise release their next album. (It’s gonna happen soon, folks.)
- Chastity Belt created quite the national buzz with the band’s midtempo rock tunes loaded with unenthusiastic frustration.
- After nearly quitting music, Rocky Votolato returned with the superb Chris Walla produced album Hospital Handshakes.
- To the delight of local music fans, vital venues Chop Suey and the Funhouse reopened.
- Mumford and Sons brought their Gentlemen of the Road tour (and Foo Fighters) to Walla Walla, highlighting the importance of bands playing often overlooked locations.
- We captured some killer behind the scenes photographs of the artists at Sasquatch! Festival.
- Bill Frisell took us on an interstellar guitar journey via Guitar in the Space Age!.
- We released two more Seattle Met Mixtapes. We do this every year, but it’s still cool. Go get ’em!
- MOHAI’s The Legacy of Seattle Hip-Hop somehow turned out to be less engaging than our fake Seattle hip-hop history.
- Allen Stone released Radius, another collection of delightfully soulful tunes.
- Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz continued to be a total boss with the whip smart indie rock of Foil Deer.
THEATER
- Seattle Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors served as a master class in the art of physical comedy.
- Come From Away at Seattle Rep proved that despite sounding initially cringeworthy, a 9/11 musical could actually be an uplifting ode to the power of humanity.
- Wicked once again proved why it’s a modern Broadway classic. It also inspired us to come up with other musical prequels.
- The actors in New Century Theater Company’s The Flick made two and a half hours about the tedium of life in a movie theater seem anything but tedious.
- Yussef El Guindi continued to turn out through provoking plays with ACT Theatre’s Threesome.
- Justin Huertas‘s Lizard Boy proved that superhero musical could exist in a much less disastrous way than Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
- We came up with some new words for Broadway star Idena Menzel to sing when performing “Let It Go.”
DANCE
- After 31 years, Pacific Northwest Ballet put on a new version of the Nutcracker. While George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker may have been more technically impressive, it certainly was less unique than Maurice Sendak and Kent Stowell’s version.
- Ira Glass danced (yes, danced) onto the Paramount Theatre stage.
- PNB’s superstar dancer Carla Körbes retired leaving a whole in the Seattle dance community and our hearts.
- Alice Gosti explored durational dance in St. Mark’s Cathedral with How to Become a Partisan.
COMEDY
- Patton Oswalt discussed his film addiction, comedy, and his new book Silver Screen Fiend.
- Eguene Mirman chatted about his brilliantly insane 7 LP Sub Pop comedy album I’m Sorry (You’re Welcome).
- Amy Schumer decided to close out the biggest year of her career in KeyArena.
- The hilarity of its comedy cult hit call-in radio program The Best Show came to Neumos.
- Jen Kirkman brought style and fearlessness to her latest standup special and live set at the Vera Project.
- Former WWE wrestler Mick Foley found a second calling on the stages of comedy clubs.
FILM
- Jason Segel chatted with us about becoming David Foster Wallace for the excellent film The End of the Tour.
- Brett Morgan let us feel what it was like to be inside the brilliant, violent, and troubled mind of Kurt Cobain with his documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.
- Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Wars and the Power of Costume at EMP showcased the layers of depth that exists in the films’ garments and helped tide us over until The Force Awakens arrived.
- The Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival marked 20 years of providing a vital outlet for queer filmmaking.
- We fake chastised Chris Pratt for taking over so many of our beloved franchises like Jurassic Park.
VISUAL ART
- Seattle Art Museum got a tad meta with Intimate Impressionism From the National Gallery of Art, a rather impressionistic exhibit about impressionism.
- Frye Art Museum’s Genius: 21 Century: Seattle showcased a wonderfully variety of the best local talent across mediums.
- Disguise: Masks and Global African Art at SAM had loads of depth hiding behind its concealments.
- We created some adorable Seattle Valentines to give to your sweetheart.
- We took a satirical jab at SAM banning selfie sticks. (They didn’t get the joke.)
BOOKS & TALKS
- We laid out the 20 books every Seattleite should read. How many have you got through so far?
- Seattle City of Literature offered an interesting snapshot of the literary scene.
- Jonathan Evison took readers on another emotional journey in This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!.
- Ernest Cline created another video game rich sci-fi adventure with Armada.
SPORTS
- The U.S. Open finally came to the Northwest when the best golfers in the world teed up at Chambers Bay. There were many complaints levied against the course, but it provided plenty of drama and an unforgettable end that left Jordan Speith champion and Dustin Johnson reeling.
- So… ummm… Super Bowl XLIX. That happened. It’s never going to hurt any less, Seahawks fans.
- While many experts called the Mariners World Series favorites, we expressed concern about getting too hopeful because the team always burns us. Turns out we were right.
- At long last, the NCAA Tournament hit the KeyArena hardwood once more. Gonzaga headlined the action on the way to a long overdo birth in the Elite Eight.
- In pretty much the lone bright spot of the Mariners season, Hisashi Iwakuma threw a no-hitter.
- Gonzaga and UW renewed their basketball rivalry at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. To mark the occasion, we had GU mascot Spike the Bulldog write a letter to Harry the Husky.
- Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett provided that he has no filter when he chatted with us.
- Seattle Reign FC captured the NWSL regular season title, but lost again in the playoffs. Because that’s apparently what Seattle soccer teams are forever destined to do.
- Marshawn Lynch went Beast Mode and dove into Skittles on Conan. It was far more (intentionally) entertaining than the bizarre trailer for his (now canceled) biopic Family First.
- Russell Wilson made a cameo in the Entourage movie. We argued that he was the soul of the movie (which is not a compliment).
POLITICS
- John Roderick of the Long Winters ran for city council. He didn’t do great, but at least he was entertaining.
VIDEO GAMES
- The locally developed SinaSprite raised the question of whether video games could be therapeutic.
- PAX 2015 proved to be another colorful collection of highly anticipated game demos, creative cosplayers, and convention center-destroying monsters.
- We took a look at PAX’s small game creator offshoot, Seattle Indies Expo.
CLASSICAL & MORE
- Seattle Symphony won its first Grammy for John Luther Adams’s Become Ocean.
- Seattle Men’s Chorus artistic director Dennis Coleman announced his retirement and put on a moving show with Legacy.
- Taylor Swift donated $50,000 to the Seattle Symphony. We have no bad blood with you, Tay Tay.
OTHER
- We put together a quick arts primer for newbies to Seattle.
- Dan Savage discussed the current state of gay culture in anticipation of Seattle Pride.
- As the event continues to grow, we took a look at the corporate takeover of Emerald City Comicon.
- We humorously begged Matt Inman to stop the feline travesty that is his Exploding Kittens Card Game.
- Before the finale, we speculated that Mad Men might end with Don Draper actually being D.B. Cooper. SPOILER ALERT: No.
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