Photos by Matt Riley

Sasquatch Festival
The Gorge Amphitheater
George, WA
May 27-30

Aside from Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival and a handful of smaller events, the Northwest corner of the country is far removed from a majority of the national festival circuit. What it does have is Sasquatch Festival, four days of music and camping spanning the Memorial Day weekend at one of the premier outdoor venues of the country, Washington’s Gorge Amphitheater. The event has its drawbacks: a high ticket price (not to mention the $12 beers), no re-entry into the venue for the day if you return to your campsite, and an absurd amount of security that even go out of their way to shut down campsite after-parties starting around 2 AM. If you’re willing to sift through the overbearing venue rules, indie-pop darlings and high school raver crowds, however, you’ll find four stages packed with a wealth of neo-soul revivalists, innovative folk practitioners, groove-laden rockers and heavyweight electronic acts that make this festival worth the trip.

The first day of Sasquatch featured fewer acts than the rest and showcased a predominantly rock ‘n’ roll focus, with some fantastic exceptions. Mariachi El Bronx helped kick things off, performing traditional mariachi renditions of L.A. hardcore band The Bronx‘s tunes. The spirited performance was perfect for boosting the audience’s pre-festival euphoria was particularly entertaining when juxtaposed with The Bronx’s more straightforward set later in the day: muscular hardcore injected with sunset strip swagger and bolstered by frontman Matt Caughthran’s eloquent, street-preacher charisma when he spoke between songs. Former Husker Du front man Bob Mould warmed up the mainstage armed with nothing but an electric guitar and plenty of balls. “Is that too loud for you already?” he chided his audience. “It’s pretty fucking early.”

Though they wrote the book on over-accessible, radio-friendly hard rock, the Foo Fighters’ headlining show payed plenty of homage to a more classic, bluesier era of rock ‘n’ roll, including a howling version of The Who’s “Young Man Blues.” Just over the hill, the dance party was warming up to Portland’s DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid’s outstanding breed of South Asian-influenced electronica. The duo might as well have been Sasquatch’s house band, cranking out a set every day of the festival.

Alberta Cross

Saturday started off strong, with New York’s Alberta Cross delivering a powerful rock set on the mainstage effortlessly shifted from jangly to progressive without blinking an eye. The Secret Sisters delivered one of the most mesmerizing sets of the weekend, with a stripped-down, classic country sound with haunting vocal harmonies and plenty of southern charm to go around. Laura and Lydia Rogers can nail the country soul of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline effortlessly, but it’s their originals, like the stirring, gospel-influenced “River Jordan,” that really shine.

Indie stalwarts Death Cab For Cutie took the headlining slot of the evening, but a good portion of the festival’s crowd were already at the Bigfoot stage, waiting in anticipation for Bassnectar’s late night set an hour before he took the stage. On top of delivering a set of dubstep guaranteed to shift your spine, the DJ won over his audience with his abounding graciousness and had an entire field of people moving to his show closing hit, “Basshead.”

Jeff Tweedy, Wilco

Sunday once again started the party early, with the old-school funk and soul of Wheedles Groove, a collective of musicians that had been stalwarts of the Northwest soul circuit in the ‘70s before disco moved in. “We all made 45s back in the day. Do you know what that is?” one member asked, obviously aware that he’d been making music before most of his audience was even alive. Fitz and the Tantrums brought their own breed of David Bowie-inspired hipster soul to the mainstage, creating a thriving dance party early in the afternoon with on-point musicianship and top-notch showmanship.

Despite having a reputation of delivering outstanding shows, The Flaming Lips’ performance was one of the weakest points of the weekend, with Wayne Coyne offering a string of long-winded, melancholy speeches that left most of the audience demanding more music (which it should be noted was good: a complete cover of their album, Soft Bulletin. Once again, the smaller stages came to the rescue: Yeasayer created an ethereal atmosphere with a baffling array of sounds and the tremendous vocal presence of Chris Keating, and MSTRKRFT brewed up the most solid DJ set of the weekend that turned the dance pit into an intensely tribal affair.

While Monday’s crowds showed signs of typical festival weariness, Black Mountain’s dirty psychedelia channeled new energy into their crowd with bombastic guitar riffs and organ swirls and siren Amber Webber’s transfixing voice. The Vancouver band’s nod to the foundations of heavy rock ‘n’ roll sounded as if Jefferson Airplane never came back out of the rabbit hole and decided to turn their amps up to 11. Sharon Jones had the audience eating out of her hand as she boogied across the stage and wailed soul numbers as her band, The Dap Kings, turned up the energy with blazing horn lines and a rhythm section as tight as a clenched fist.

Rodrigo y Gabriela pumped out more sound than most could believe came from two people wielding classical guitars and precious few effects. The storm clouds that had circled the festival for the entire weekend finally unleashed a torrent of rain during Gabriela’s solo showcase, but most of the audience just embraced the shower and remained transfixed by the unparalleled virtuosity playing out before them. The wind and rain was joined by thunder later in the evening, creating an impressive natural light show as Wilco took the stage for the final set of the festival. Those that stuck around to the end were glad they had; frontman Jeff Tweedy was in top form as he joked around with his audience, and the band’s two hour set was packed with their more muscular songs that had the diminished crowd dancing to stay warm and already looking forward to another year with the Northwest’s favorite hairy beast.