The Flaming Lips go boom. More images from Day Three, below (Images: Alex Garland for CHS)

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne gets into the CHBP Day Three “31+” theme (Image: Alex Crick for CHS)

Capitol Hill Block Party Day Three. Anybody seemingly functioning at 100% after the first two days of CHBP is either faking it or is parachuting in for the glory of the festival’s finale. Day Three brings the 2013’s festival most widely known act to E Pike as global superstars and weirdos The Flaming Lips take the main stage Sunday night.

CHS will again be roaming the Block Party to see what’s up and what’s going down. You can follow @jseattle on Twitter for notes as we hear about them. Let us know what you see, too. You can email us or call/txt (206) 399-5959.

CHS CHBP 2013 | Day One | Day Two

• Every year of Block Party, locals are wont to lament the changing nature of the event — and those who attend it. CHS intern Sam Heft-Luthy reports, as you might expect, a diversity of opinions inside the fences. One police officer on Day Two said SPD “worked a little harder (Friday) night than in other years,” but hasn’t noticed a rowdier CHBP in 2013.Most CHBP staff Sam talked with said that they don’t think this year has been any different than past years. “The crowd so far has been pretty mellow so far,” said one security employee.
  

  (Image: Alex Crick for CHS)

  

  (Image: Alex Crick for CHS)

  “I’m used to working more rowdy shows than this one,” said another. “They’re out to party though.”

  “This is just too high a concentration of people,” said CHBP attendee Nick. Nick told us he had a beer spilled on him Friday night by a woman who was targeting someone else and sees a “look in peoples’ eyes” that he feels is more aggressive than in Block Parties past.“Today has been much easier,” Nick said on Saturday evening.

  Block Partier Amanda said she and her friends have tried to avoid the often-packed central mainstage area, and hasn’t had any major issues dealing with the crowd.

  “We’ve been less in the mix of all the madness just because we know it’s always madness,” she said. “We haven’t gotten punched in the face yet.”

  Meanwhile, attendee Mac said he was involved in an altercation with another attendee Friday night during a show.

  “I walked in front of him and he asked me if I wanted to fight,” he said. “This didn’t happen to me last time I was at Block Party.”

  “I was here last night as it was shutting down and it seemed mild and boring,” said another 2013 CHBPer “I sense no aggression, only fun.”

• Sam caught up with Block Party organizer and talent manager Eli Anderson as the festival gates opened this afternoon.

  “Everyone’s on site so there’s nothing to do,” he said.

  Anderson said the double bill of dance music Friday with Dillon Francis and Girl Talk amped up that night’s crowd in a way organizers weren’t expecting, adding that he expects today to be mellower due to a more relaxed lineup and the all-too-familiar Sunday burnout of weekend music festivals.

  “(CHBP owner) Jason was joking that today is 31+, not 21+,” he said,

  Anderson also talked about the organizers’ efforts to “grow while staying at the same capacity every year.”

  “What’s tough about Block Party is the footprint is set” by street capacity and the physical infrastructure of the neighborhood, he said.

  The goal this year, Anderson said, has been to introduce changes that make people feel like they’re part of a larger event — changes including putting extra speakers further back on the Comet Tavern corner and a stage screen that shows live video of the mainstage artist performing. He said this helps mitigate some of the rush to be as close to the stage as possible.

  “I think the screen helps a lot because it helps widen the area where they feel like they’re participating in the festival,” he said. “You feel like you can see from 10th.”

UPDATE: CHBP Day Three by day

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UPDATE: CHBP Day Three by night

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