2021-11-11 Hardly Raining
The Freakout Festival returned to Seattle in November 2021, after a COVID cancellation in 2020. Held in-person at venues throughout the Ballard neighborhood, the four-day festival featured a diverse lineup of U.S. and international musicians.
Seattle label Freakout Records sponsored the event, which included their own artists plus 50-ish others with complementary sounds: psychedelic, but with influences as varied as electronic, garage, folk, and cumbia. Several Seattle artists participated, and a partnership with Mexico City’s NRMAL festival meant that a number of this year’s bands traveled from Mexico.
Energetic acts crowd-surfed, walked the bar, and writhed on venue floors. Hip crowds danced, sipped mezcal, and sneaked joints. Brightly colored visuals by Mad Alchemy Analog Liquid Light Show transformed drop-tile ceilings into psychedelic wonderlands.
The galleries below feature images from select shows during the first three days of the event. For photos and videos by all festival photographers, follow Freakout Records on social media.
Editor’s note: This writer (LHG) worked as a 2021 festival photographer. Thanks to Freakout Records for the invitation! Below: Mask-selfie with Petite Amie in the Artist Lounge.
