I had the privilege Memorial Day weekend to attend Sasquatch Music Festival at the most beautiful venue in the world, The Gorge. I've been going for three years running now but this year, I was able to go to ALL four days of music, rather than just camping. I knew I had to get my hands on one of those tickets because the lineup was truly epic this year and I did, off Craigslist from some Husky who couldn't go. Bless her heart.
Moving right along. For the most part, all the shows I got to see were absolutely incredible, but there were some performances that were downright disappointing. The weather was gorgeous every day, my nose is currently peeling/falling off because my dumbass didn't wear sunscreen. The price one shall pay.
We will split this up into a review of each day.
Day One - Friday
I was pretty much plopped on the hill at Mainstage for the entire day until I descended into the pit later on. I got to catch Allen Stone again who is truly a talented musician with such a unique look, it's hard to not watch him with his engaging stage presence. He belted out some of his hits including my favorite "Satisfaction," which had the entire crowd movin' and groovin'. After Stone, a group of us headed down for a closer look at Of Monsters and Men who I didn't really have much knowledge of except for their tune "Little Talks." Holy CRAP this might have been one of my top five concerts. They were obviously ecstatic to be playing for such a huge crowd, and the energy of the audience was awesome. I was captivated by all of their songs and the voice blending of the two singers. Not to mention their band is huge and used a ton of different instruments. My new favorite song is "Love, Love, Love," constant repeat on Spotify. After Of Monsters and Men, we caught Santigold who was totally crazy as usual and had these two backup dancers that had no facial expressions but wore adorable matching outfits. Love Santigold though, had the whole crowd wild. After her, Girl Talk came on and was honestly insane. Streamers and confetti were flying everywhere, fireworks at the end, nonstop dancing, beautiful. I've loved Girl Talk forever but was not expecting him to be that good live. Ending the night was Pretty Lights, a cross blend of different digital sampling and electro. Of course he played "Finally Moving" which is featured on one of Flo Rida's song (ugh). It was truly a beautiful day.
Day Two - Saturday
Kind of all over the place here. Caught The Civil Wars who were absolutely breathtaking and beautiful. They were also so clearly excited to be there and the other singer was clearly pregnant, but that didn't stop her one bit. The other dude kinda looked like Johnny Depp, but their harmonies together were gorgeous. They are also now on repeat on Spotify. Then caught Sol who had the crowd vibin' SO hard, people were climbing all over the stage, it was wild. Childish Gambino was okay, to be honest not really my favorite. I was kind of bored with his performance, but I also had super high expectations for him. Com Truise on the other hand was LIVE. Damn. But alas, I had to leave and catch Metric of course. I love them. And I'm also in love with their lead singer. Gives us hope that you can be older and still rock harder than most. After Metric, I got a glimpse of tUnE-yArDs but had to leave so I could catch The Shins who were probably the most disappointing of the entire festival. I was hoping to be blown away, but the sound was low, and they looked bored as hell. Not feeling it. I was also kinda bummed I didn't catch Jack White, but I HAD to see Wolfgang Gartner who was honestly fucking incredible. He even said himself on his Facebook page that performing at Sasquatch was the best gig of his life. Kudos, Northwest.
Day Three - Sunday
Spent a lot of time on the hill at Mainstage again. M.Ward and The Head and the Heart. WOW, The Head and the Heart was awesome. Played all their hits, and then some. Later, caught Beirut who was obviously beautiful, and Little Dragon later who was also great. Went back later for Bon Iver because honestly, how could anyone miss Bon Iver. Pretty sure every damn hipster in the crowd was sobbing their eyes out, myself included. Left Mainstage and caught James Murphy, another electro-ish DJ, it was pretty sweet. Packed as hell though. The late night show was Feed Me with Teeth. That was pretty epic I must say. Heavy electro house dubstep. My friend and I had the best seats in the house, but we were busy being crushed by over bearing frat hipster kids, so that kind of killed it. But it was still great.
Day Four - Monday
I am way too hungover. Slightly upset, and by slightly I mean extremely pissed that I missed Grouplove, Cloud Cult, and Feist. Damn. When I finally did get off my ass and out of my camp chair into the festival, I stayed mainly in the Banana Shack and caught Felix Cartal and LA Riots. These guys were insane. The crowd could not stop jammin'. I was super stoked to see SBTRKT but was shockingly upset by how not great he was. His transitions were off, and the beats kept changing, so everyone was thrown off by how to dance. Oops. His Coachella set looked way better than Sasquatch, guess I know where to go next year. After SBTRKT I got to see Nero again who was SENSATIONAL. So many lights and beats, I could not keep up. What a phenomenal way to end the festival.
Overall, I was impressed with the Squatch this year. Glad that I spent an obscene amount of money on a ticket and booze. The experience is always worth it.
P.S. Also extremely pissed I missed Tenacious D, apparently there was a ginormous blown up penis on stage that would spout out confetti. Typical, Jack Black.
Although SBTRKT's set wasn't as great as I had hoped for, this song is still amazing and I will hold it so close to my heart. Good vibrations, my friends.
