So I had been meaning to write up a Sasquatch review, but have been way too busy. So I am just going to send you to Jason’s writeup instead. I think he covered things well:

http://www.thisallencompassingtrip.com/2009/05/26/sasquatch-festival-at-the-gorge/

Things to note. The Decemberists new album in full was amazing. I will possibly write a blog post about that in the future (but yeah you know how it goes). Explosions in the Sky were amazing, “We’re not trying to bum you out, we’re going to try and bliss you out”.

“Party On Dudes!”

Better late then never a little recap of all the little things that I thought were great, funny or otherwise memorable.

I went down to Sasquatch with Lester and Dean. As well Randall and his friend Steve were also going down in Steve’s car. So we all met up in Vancouver and drove down together and setup a pretty sweet camping spot.

Friday Highlights

Drinking $8.50 beers, and having Randall and Steve get locked into a beer garden that wouldn’t let them leave until they finished their beers. Randall passed his off to me (over the fence), and for the next 20 minutes the security guard stared at us.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

I really like these guys, I saw them at Richards a while back, and was curious to see how they would do in front of a big crowd. They didn’t disappoint and put on a good show, with the usual drum destruction antics at the end.

Steve gathering up all the Canadians in the crowd

TV on the Radio

I really enjoyed their set, they are pretty decent live, and very passionate.

HIM and Bauhaus.

HIM was a complete joke. Reminded me of Jack Black making fun of metal bands. Bauhaus, also wasn’t too impressive. Was fun making fun of them though.

NIN

To cap off the night NIN played an awesome set, no wait an amazing set. This was my second time seeing them, and it only gets better. Reznor is just so intense live.

That night we pounded back some beers then headed to sleep. It poured rain through the night. Several times. All in all though my tent stayed quite dry.

Saturday Highlights

In the early morning (say between 7-8am) I half asleep heard a vehicle pull in, and two guys talking, “yeah lets park here; perfect location, right by the road, and all these tents, plus look at all the Canadians park around here, perfect location.” Later after waking up I noticed it was two guys who parked their big ass van right behind us. They introduced themselves to us, and let us know that if there was ANY type of drug we needed they could provide for our needs.

Rogue Wave & Architecture in Helsinki

Anyway Saturday I started out by checking out Rogue Wave and Architecture in Helsinki. I really enjoyed Rogue Wave live. Architecture was good to see, they play lots of instruments, and kinda make you bounce, granted I can’t say I am overly fond of these guys. After Architecture I went back and caught the last song of Gomez. Made me wish I saw their set instead of Architecture.

Sufjan Stevens & Iron and Wine

Sufjan Stevens had a very Americana act (everyone dressed in stars and stripes and big uncle sams all over the place) and Iron and Wine. Watched both these sets from the grass, and was somewhat napping for both of them. After that I met up with Lester who was down in the pit.

Neko Case & the wrath of God & the Hip

We decided to head down to the pit for the next show, Neko Case. Up until this point of the day it had been sunny all morning and really really hot. I was glad to be in my short. However now some really black clouds were moving in and the wind was picking up. About 2 to 3 songs into Neko’s set the sky opened up and god poured out marble sized hail. Neko Case tried to play through it, until she realized it wasn’t going to quit and that she was getting hurt in the process. At one point she even said “OUCH” in the middle of the song. Soon after they shut down the stage and told everyone to hang tight and wait it out. This hailstorm lasted a good 30 minutes, covered the ground in white ice and pools of water, and pretty much sent everyone into hiding, looking for cover. When it finally stopped I found myself pretty wet, especially my shoes, they were soaked completely through. My top wasn’t too bad as I had a raincoat on, but my shorts were pretty soaked as well. Lester and me decided to walk back to the entrance and see if they would allow re-entrance due to this extreme weather. To our luck they did, so we headed back to camp and got a nice change of clothes and had some lunched. I did my best job of drying up my shoes, then made an insole of plastic bags to keep my socks dry. We headed back to the venue just as the Hip started into Grace Too. We got into the pit about 3 songs into the Hip’s set. They put on a good show, however it was quite rushed, it looked like everyones sets would be shortened for the day.

The Shins

I hadn’t really heard any of there stuff, except the one song or two on a movie here and there, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Not knowing what to expect or what their music was like they really blew me out of the water (or hail for that matter!); I was very pleasantly surprised.

Flaming Lips or Ben Harper?

Anyway after the Shins while they were setting up the stage everyone was cheering for the Flaming Lips. They were suppose to be up next, however right away I noticed the stage was being set for Ben Harper. They had both drum sets up, and the chair out front had Ben’s signature blanket on it. A few moments later it was announced, due to time constraints and Ben having to be in Vancouver the next day he would play next.

The Ben Harper set was probably the best set I have ever seen Ben play. Some highlights were Glory and Consequence, Morning Yearning, Black Rain, Pleasure and Pain, and a fantastic closing with Better Way.

Flaming Coldness!

Waited 1 hour for the Lips to setup the stage. Finally the started the show with Wayne in the bubble tromping all over the fans. Was fantastic. Sidestage he had aliens and Santa Claus’s battling with flashlights. Played an awesome cover of Bohemian Rhapsody. Eventually me and Dean were too fucking cold to hang out any longer and decided to head back to camp where some fat burgers and beer awaited us.

Sunday Highlights

Sunday saw the departure of the drug-o-van and the arrival of the frat girls with beer bong. This had bad written all over it.

After the ritualistic 4 beers for breakfast we head into the venue for the noon shows.

Pretty Girls Make Graves & Nada Surf

not very remember able.

Arctic Monkeys

Finally got to see what all the fuss was about. These kids (they are kids, really really young kids) can flat out rock. While there songs may not be full of depth, they can play pretty intense, and put on a good show.

The Decemberists

Having to follow the Arctic Monkeys must have been a bit tough, but they pulled it off. I actually wasn’t a big Decemberists fan coming into the show, deleted all their stuff I had a while back. This show just changed my mind on them. They were fantastic. At one point the lead singer actually got the entire pit to sit down on the ground after making all the band members fall down and become motionless. Great Show.

Matisyahu

God made a Rainbow appear for us during his set to let us know we wouldn’t drown, according to Matisyahu anyway.
Queens of the Stoneage

Caught most of this show, left nearing the last 2-3 songs to catch Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Queens were putting on a fantastic show though, really heavy, and rocking. They fucked up the lyrics on a couple songs (really badly during Burn the Witch), however I still really enjoyed their show, not to mention Josh calling the security guards gay. “Could you guys just pretend for a little while that your not gay and leave these guys in the pit alone?”

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

A lot of people at this show. I think it is called the Pitchfork effect. Anyway also according to Pitchfork these guess stink live. It didn’t show at Sasquatch though. I enjoyed their set, at least what I saw and heard of it. There was so many people there that I had to stand on a picnic bench in the eating area to catch a view. Also from where I stood the sound from Queens playing on the other stage was battling CYHSY. It was so bad at times that I could hear more of the Queens show then the CYHSY show. The lead singer’s voice for CYHSY continued to get more and more destroyed as the set went on and on. I think it is because he sings out of key. At the end he could barely speak when he was talking to the crowd; Lester thought he sounded like Aunt Selma from the Simpson! Ha

Death Cab for Cutie

Lead singer said it best when he said, “Playing after Queens of the Stone Age makes a band feel like a bunch of sissies”. Regardless they did their best to put on a ‘rocking’ show. I enjoyed it. Not a huge Death Cab fan, but another band that has impressed me with their live show.

Beck

Beck finished the night. Was awesome, one of the best shows of the weekend. He had full puppets of all the band members, showed a video he had made just that day about the gorge and the show. Played a wicked cover of Do You Realize, and all out rocked the show. Sadly he played a really short set at just over an hour, and two songs being videos and mascots. Regardless really good set, and I will definitely have to see a Beck show non festival.

Summary

Sasquatch was awesome, it rocked my ass off; lots of beer consumed, great bands were heard, all with some really great friends. So who is in for next year?

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah video:

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Video

Wayne in a bubble:

link to Flaming Lips video

Ben Harper doing a tag of Pearl Jam’s Indifference:

Link to Video

NIN Video 2

You can find the best of my Sasquatch photos at photos.kloppmagic.ca

NIN Video Link