No stranger to the Northwest, the elusive Sasquatch makes regular appearances in Central Washington every Memorial Day Weekend. He comes bearing a hoard of bands, mainly hipsters and rising stars of the day. This in turn brings an army of fans that combine the looks and smells of hot summer days, sunscreen, pot, and camping B.O. in one location. It truly is another of Mother Nature's wonders. I found myself among this crowd over the weekend at the Gorge.
The Sasquatch music festival, my first music festival. I saw a whole lot of bands that I have never heard of before and some that I have. Really cool venue. Here's a run down of everything I saw and heard.
Blind Pilot - First band of the day. They had what looks to be the totally in thing to have in your band these days; a violin and an upright cello/bass. Not a bad little band. Really mellow. I feel like this kind of music is a dime a dozen these days and so it really has a hard time standing out to me.
Passion Pit - Outta Boston. Had a hard time setting up their stuff and never really quite got it. Imagine the best thing you can with high falsettos and amped Nintendo sounds and you sort of have Passion Pit. Yeah, that good. They might have a few good songs, but maybe sound better in a recording.
M.Ward - A guy with an acoustic guitar and some band members that look to be pulled from every demographic, including 50+ year olds. Clearly really talented guy, but nothing stuck out too much to me. He did play a very long acoustic solo that was neat. Also he played "Roll Over Beethoven" for a finale and that was cool! May have been the only cover I heard all day.
Devotchka - Very eclectic gypsy punk band. Nicest surprise of the day. One of the most fun bands of the day. Picture middle eastern, folk, punk, mediterranean, latino music all rolled into one. Then throw a tuba in here and there and you get Devotchka. Cool band. And he finished playing his bouzouki with a wine bottle! An honest to goodness bottle!
Animal Collective - What can I say, biggest disappointment of the day. I had actually heard of these guys, but had never listened to them and likely never will. Way too layered. Sounded like one continuous drone. Reminded me of a modern artist that just throws whatever crap they have on a canvas and thinks its great art. Good modern art can have all the crazy crap, but there is some order or thought to it.
The Decemberists - Pretty big name these days. Play really long narrative songs. Each of them have nice parts to it, but usually they elect to go with depressing and slow music. They did have a guest girl who took center stage sometimes. When she did the band actually had some life to it and some stage presence. Otherwise just as smug as I expected. If I was at a party and they were there I would immediately know I was at the wrong party. There was one man and woman who must have really loved them. So much so that they snuck off to the cliffside behind the fence and became increasingly more, um, amorous with one another until wouldn't you know it they didn't have any clothes on anymore. This seemed to please the crowd who from a distance couldn't really see anything, but still knew exactly what they were up to. I overheard that it was pretty #$@%&!* romantic. Even the band noticed, but I am pretty sure that not even an oncoming train would deter these guys from playing their narrative. Security eventually helped them find their clothes and then I imagine jail cells for the night...probably seperate ones.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - I had only heard one song of theirs and that was thanks to Rock Band. Good little song. I tried to listen to more of them, but couldn't get into them. As such I didn't have too high of expectations, but they were better than I thought. Much more fun than I expected. That Karen O is a pretty decent lead. At least you know they are having a good time up there.
Kings of Leon - I'm glad that someone convinced Sasquatch to have an actual rock band at their music festival. I was given a copy of their new album and it is pretty good. I guess they are a literal band of brothers. They closed out the night. Loud and better live than on the radio for sure. And they also had lots of lights...multi-colored lights. My favorite of the festival.
It was a fun and tiring day. Tons of people. I now have total Seattle music street cred. Thanks to Sarah for giving us a place to stay while there and thanks to Adam and his brothers for letting me tag along.
1 comment:
From the picture it looks like a really beautiful spot for a festival. It also looks like you were surrounded by people who invested way too much time making it look like they didn't invest any time into what the were wearing. Typical music fest fashion for ya.
I've gotta agree with you on Animal collective. The Decembrists and Kings of Leon would be fun to see. The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs played Redfest at the U a few years back and put on a pretty good show.
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