The last weekend in May is Memorial Day weekend in the USA. We chose to honour America's fallen by journeying to Sasquatch Music Festival in the state of Washington. Four departed Vancouver Island: Sarah, myself, and our two friends Quinton and Simeon. We drove down in Simeon's van, leaving Friday evening, catching the last ferry off the island and hitting the Canada-US border around 1.00am. Simeon drove through the night while we slept, dozed, talked and stimulated our driver. We crossed the Columbia River soon after dawn and arrived at our destination, the Gorge Amphitheatre, situated in a natural half bowl above the river. We pitched camp, met our neighbours, drank tasty American microbrews - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Moose Drool Brown Ale, amongst others - and made our way into the festival.
The midday sun shone down as we climbed over the hill and surveyed the amphitheatre. The venue was beautiful, the carved walls of the gorge and the flowing Columbia River back-dropping the enormous stage at the bottom of the amphitheatre. Fleet Foxes, the opening act on the main Sasquatch stage, were partway through their set. Their melodious vocal harmonies filled the amphitheatre. We found a space on the grassy slope and relaxed in the sun. Dengue Fever were next up, a band blending Cambodian pop and psychedelic Californian surf rock. The lead singer, Chhom Nimol, is Cambodian and sings predominantly in Khmer. The music is cool but each song tends to sound the same, especially when the lyrics are indecipherable.
We decided to explore the other stages. Playing at the second stage - Wookie - were Dead Confederate, rockers from Athens, Georgia (the home town of R.E.M.). They rocked hard, and impressively. Beirut called me back to the amphitheatre. They feature otherwordly orchestration, with brass instruments, violins, an accordion and an ukelele and influences ranging from the Balkans to France to Central America. More cruising led us to the third stage, the Yeti stage, where we found a skinny 15 year old boy named Vince Mira singing Johnny Cash covers and his own originals with an amazing voice deep as the Mariana Trench. I kid you not. His balls dropped when he was three and he's never looked back. We bounced around the stages, catching Canadian acts Destroyer and The New Pornographers, and finding a couple of Vancouver friends. A highlight of the festival was catching Crudo at the Wookie stage.
The majority of the acts at Sasquatch were North American indie rock bands. Crudo were something else: Mike Patton, formerly of Faith No More, with Dan The Automator, known for his work with Gorillaz, and a collective of music makers. They played funky fun hip hop. Best of all was their keyboard player, Butterscotch, who laid down the sweetest beat boxing. She kicked The Automator's arse. Back on the Sasquatch stage was M.I.A. Her energy had the entire amphitheatre standing and bouncing. We hooked up with another handful of friends from Vancouver dancing on the slope.
On my festival hitlist was The National. Their bus had broken down and they had been relegated from the Sasquatch stage to the closing slot on the Yeti stage. This smaller more intimate space suited their sound. They played tight and hard, the violinist dropping his bow during the encore and playing his instrument like a guitar. Their set was a stand out. Sarah and I returned to the amphitheatre as Modest Mouse broke into "Float On". We caught the last half of their set. They play with two drummers on stage. I love percussion. Finally, as the rain began to fall, and then to fall sideways (Stephen Malkmus made a reference to crooked rain the following night), R.E.M. came on. Michael Stipe immediately slipped over on the slick stage. He proceeded to remove his shoes and socks, and the band went on to play a strong vibrant set. Stipe bantered with the crowd, made some political statements. Almost surreal to see and hear a band that's been kicking about as long as I've been alive, playing songs that have slipped into the cultural consciousness.
Sunday opened with 65daysofstatic. They played hard and fast instrumental (math) rock, variously described as progressive, post-industrial, post-punk, post-post...with a drummer who looked like he was breaking himself in half with each hit. 65daysofstatic, from Sheffield, England, were opening for the Cure on their US tour. More hip hop hit us courtesy of Blue Scholars, an MC-DJ duo from Seattle. I left their show and checked out the action at Yeti, and then caught two bands at Wookie stage, The Heavenly States from Oakland, California, and White Rabbits of Brooklyn. Both bands were unknown to me, and both impressed with distinctive sounds. White Rabbits had three percussionists on stage. Two bands to watch. Back at the Sasquatch stage I saw a little of Cold War Kids, nothing that moved me, and Tegan and Sara, Canada's favourite sisters. Next up were a band that took me back to the late summer days of 1996. I got to hear The Presidents of the United States of America sing "Peaches come from a can. They were put there by a man, in a factory downtown." They played an energetic set, lifting the crowd in the late afternoon.
Franti and Spearhead followed up, raising the energy level further and the crowd to their feet. They play mostly uncomplicated music with feeling and reggae grooves. Death Cab For Cutie had a hard time following those two acts, their sound failing to fill the amphitheatre. I went to the Wookie stage to see The Jicks. They were led by Stephen Malkmus, former frontman of Pavement, and featured Janet Weiss, of Sleater-Kinney, behind the drums. They jammed, producing long and loud rock songs with Malkmus playing around with chord progressions. Last act of the night was The Cure, definitely a band older than me. They played a long set, two and a half hours, with the last half dozen songs all old school singles. They didn't talk to the crowd at all, busting from one song to the next.
Monday, Memorial Day, and my pick of the weekend. We were woken early by a lone tent rolling through the field like a tumbleweed, coming to rest against our tent. Quinton took it away only for it to return like a friendly ownerless dog. Quinton went in early to score us a spot on the rocks above the mosh pit. We followed soon after as I was keen to see the band playing at midday, Yeasayer. I caught the last few songs of their set, including "2080" and "Sunrise". Wicked songs. They describe their music as "Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel". We cruised to Wookie to see Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, driven purely by the band's name. They were infectious, their music making people move. Back at Sasquatch, The Hives were rocking everyone's socks off. Dressed in matching black suits, these Swedes sweated in the sun while their narcissistic front man climbed amps, jumped around and strutted the stage, all the while talking up The Hives. Their set was sweet though, with three guitars assaulting the crowd.
Built To Spill had a hard time following The Hives. I left to catch a band called Siberian at Yeti and The Cave Singers at Wookie, more friendly "campfire folk" music. I returned to the Sasquatch stage for Rodrigo y Gabriela. This Mexican duo play classical guitar, but they don't just strum. They play fast, cite Slayer and Megadeth as influences, and cover songs by Led Zep and Metallica. Their guitar work was amazing. There were closeups on the big screens on either side of the stage of Gabriela's hands as she played; her strumming hand was a blur, simultaneously stroking strings and striking the guitar body percussively. Battles called me back to Wookie. They were sonic. I like to listen to indie rock; I like to dance to beats. Battles got my feet kicking. "Atlas" was powerful. Their drummer is a human metronome. I loved the super high cymbal. They have lots of fiddly dials and the voice sampling was whack.
I cruised back to the mainer for the final few songs of Flight of the Conchords. They were getting plenty of laughs from the crowd, though the setting seemed to dwarf their kind of show. I skipped The Mars Volta (who, Quinton tells me, were beyond loud) and went back to the Wookie stage for Jamie Lidell. He was the grooviest man at the festival, with a sweet backing band - love the saxophones - playing r&b and soul music with an electronic twist. He was taking his own vocal samples, layering, splicing and mashing them up to create dance beats. We all had a boogie.
We returned to the amphitheatre at the end of his set for the final show of the festival, the Flaming Lips performing their famous UFO Show. The band descended from a UFO floating above the stage, backdropped by a half-moon video screen. Wayne Coyne, the iconic frontman of the band, descended from the top of the UFO in a Zorb and proceeded to walk/stumble/crawl over the mosh crowd. Costumed performers - aliens and Teletubbie-like creatures - gathered at the sides of the stage and danced through the set. Naked girls made an appearance for the duration of one song. The crowd sang "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" several dozen times, and "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1" was a huge singalong, Wayne exhorting us all along for the love vibe and world peace. Confetti flew; balloons floated; coloured lights flared and flashed. Two hours passed and the band ascended in their flying object.
Disclaimer: Not all photos came from the lens of Sarah and Matt. Simeon took the first pic, and the www provided its share.
