On July 30 (Friday), 1993, Tupac visit KUBE 93 FM Summer Jam at Evergreen State Fairgrounds – 14405 179th Ave SE, Monroe, WA 98272.
It’s as if the Summer Jam concert, in one day, is out to make up for the other 364 days of the year.
Around Seattle, all-ages music shows, and particularly rap and hip-hop shows, are usually scarcer than skateboarding City Council members.
But tomorrow all that changes, at least for a day. It’s the KUBE-FM Summer Jam, a nine-hour exercise in musical gluttony, with 26 of the hottest rap and R&B acts in the country appearing on one stage at the Evergreen Fairgrounds in Monroe. If there was ever a chance to soak up a year’s worth of beats, this is it.
Consider this: Fourteen of the 26 confirmed acts have an album on Billboard’s latest R&B Top 100 list. Sixteen of the acts have at least one single that’s riding Billboard’s Top 100 R&B singles chart. And of the 10 hottest rap and R&B singles in America, again according to Billboard, the artists responsible for five of them will be at Summer Jam.
Get the picture? It’s big.
And it’s varied.
There will be everything from the hard-core urban rap of 2PAC, on the charts now with “I Get Around/Keep Ya Head Up,” to the super-cool, hip-jazz fusion of GURU, whose album “Jazzmatazz” has inspired unseemly fawning on the part of every reviewer who has come near it – and deservedly so.
Other artists include The Pharcyde, Silk, Shai, UNV, Zapp and the gray-bearded eminences of rap, Run-DMC. Not enough? Add Funkdoobiest, G # Wiz, Robin S., Onyx, Simply Smooth, Levert and Tag Team, whose song “Whoomp! (There it is)” is the country’s No. 1 single. Still not enough? Try Immature, Duice, NewBorn, LSOB, Men at Large, Rodney O. & Joe Cooley, One of the Girls, Remedy, MC Nas D, Jade and WCRC. They’ll all be there.
With so many acts moving through one stage, short sets and canned music will be the rule for many performers. New acts with one or two hits will get a chance to sing a couple of their songs over a taped background, and then move offstage.
But bigger-name acts like Run-DMC, Zapp and Silk will do a full set, and about a half-dozen of the bigger groups will perform with a live band.
“The established artists will play long sets. This is a full-fledged concert,” said Bob Case, program director for KUBE-FM and one of the concert’s organizers.
With a capacity of about 50,000 at the fairgrounds, the show is unlikely to sell out. Tickets are $17.50, available at TicketMaster or at the door. The music starts at noon; the gates open at 10:30 a.m. With full pat-downs of everyone entering the grounds, count on a delay getting in.
Parking is available nearby.
Case recommends that concert-goers bring a blanket to sit on. Sunscreen, hats and other day-in-the-sun paraphernalia will doubtless be helpful. But in this nonsummer, maybe rain gear and a warm jacket, too, despite the predicted good weather. Food and beverages can be purchased on the grounds, however.
“We want it to be a summer, sit down on your blanket and enjoy the day kind of affair,” said Case.
The concert is also a benefit for the Northwest AIDS Foundation and the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities. Last year’s Summer Jam raised $11,000 for charity. Souce
