You Should Have Gone: Sasquatch! Music Festival 2010
I have attended the Sasquatch! Music Festival for the past 5 years. This year had the best weather and some great artists.
Saturday, May 29th
The opening act on the Main Stage was Shabazz Palaces and one of our near-by neighbours had come early just to see them. He described them as “the next Outkast.” I describe them as forgettable.
Brother Ali is a big, white rapper who kept the crowd’s attention and told us to love ourselves so now I do. He was engaging and had an adorable DJ Snuggles spinning for him. Truly entertaining set.
We made our way up the hill to the Bigfoot Stage to see Mumford & Sons. They play such comfortable, American-style folk music that it is a surprise to find out that they are from the UK. It felt like the true start to the festival with warm guitar and beautiful harmonies.
Broken Social Scene took the Main stage to a guarded crowd but soon won everyone over with their atmospheric tunes and self-deprecating Canadian humour. Kevin Drew closed the set by telling everyone to have a good time and drink lots of water. Oh, Canada, even your rock-n-rollers are polite and considerate.
Broken Social Scene
The tight, near-perfect set was followed by The National. They grabbed the crowd with “Mistaken for Strangers” and didn’t let go until the end. The Husband tells me that Matt Berninger jumped off the stage and went over the barriers into the crowd at the end of the set. I did not see this since I had skipped out a little early to catch some of The Hold Steady at the Bigfoot Stage.
The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady could arguably be called the most exciting live band today. Their driving guitar and fully animated front man make it hard not to pump your fist in the air and dance along. So, I did.
I returned to the Main Stage for Vampire Weekend and My Morning Jacket. One was predictable but played catchy songs that got the crowd dancing. And the other was completely surprising and required a commitment to go along with them to the world that they had created. It is evident that Jim James of My Morning Jacket enjoys performing as much as we enjoy going along for the ride.
My Morning Jacket
Sunday, May 30th
Day 2 began with 2008 Canadian Polaris Music Prize Winner, Caribou. Dan Snaith is still one of the most underrated Canadian artists despite his Polaris win. His psychedelic brand of electronica is embracing and interesting. Despite the fact that he went on at noon, he was still able to maintain an intimate, club feeling with the crowd gathered in front.
Caribou
Our day actually began at the hotel around 8:30 when Husband and I went down to the complimentary breakfast and I got to the waffle iron JUST ahead of an exhausted-looking, scruffy guy with a MAIN STAGE wristband. After receiving glares for getting my waffle off first, I looked up the acts for the day and discovered that he was a member of Midlake who took to the Main stage at 1:10 pm. Their acoustic guitars and chanting harmonies were a decided change from the vibe created by Caribou but were pleasant and fit well with the setting of the Gorge. It didn’t sound like my waffle iron accosting had made them late for sound check.
Seattle’s The Long Winters are a Sasquatch! Festival favourite and played a great set of rock and roll. A guy raced through the crowd with a huge Canadian flag during the set causing frontman John Roderick to say that it wasn’t very Canadian of him to have burst into the crowd in the middle of the set waving a flag. He concluded by saying that Canada had finally arrived at the festival.
The Long Winters
Kid Cudi is hardly worth mentioning since he ‘sang’ along with back tracks and had very little presence; however, he had the line of the day with: “I’ve got 99 problems and they all bitches.” He also initiated crowd response with “When I say Kid, you say Cudi.” which in turn, gave Tegan of Tegan & Sara the idea to open their following set with “When I say Tegan, you say Sara.” We all played along and had a bit of a snicker at Kid Cudi’s expense.
Tegan & Sara played a “best of” set with all the old favourites along with a few from the new album Sainthood thrown in. Their onstage banter is funny and odd since they look and sound so similar it’s like watching split personalities interact. They have a really tight sound and seem like they could play in their sleep but still give 100% because they are having such a good time.
Tegan & Sara
The next act to take the Main Stage was LCD Soundsystem who was the highlight of the weekend. James Murphy was able to reach to the farthest edge of the amphitheatre audience and get them grooving. I like the LCD Soundsystem albums, Sound of Silver and the recently released, This Is Happening but I had no idea how much I would enjoy listening to their funky, repetitive tunes live. The largest crowd that I saw of the entire weekend was for this act and they were richly rewarded.
The Bigfoot stage had Dirty Projectors immediately following the LCD Soundsystem set. I had seen Dirty Projectors last year in Calgary opening for TV on the Radio where they seemed slightly hesitant and nervous; however, after many months of touring under their belts, since the release of Bitte Orca, they seemed to know just what they were doing as the sun came down on day 2. The vocals of the 3 female singers seem otherworldly and the jarring guitar shouldn’t work but most certainly does.
Public Enemy was plagued with sound issues. The sound only seemed to function when Flavor Flav was telling us about his reality TV appearances but cut out when Chuck D brought us back in time with “911 Is a Joke” and “Welcome to the Terrordome”. For some reason the experience reminded me of hitting the record and play buttons together on my tape recorder to record songs off the radio in the ‘80’s.
We made our way back to the Main Stage for Massive Attack and listening to the two opening songs before leaving for the day. Honestly it was difficult to enjoy anything in that genre after the stellar LCD Soundsystem show. Massive Attack had a great lightshow and theatrical thing going on but I chose sleep.
Monday, May 31st
The last day of Sasquatch 2010 opened with The Heavy on the Main Stage. When they visited the Late Show in January David Letterman showed them the love, making an unprecedented encore request. Many Sasquatch goers were questioning the early performance time because of the recent buzz about this group. It was a great way to start the day grooving to their bluesy rock. They don’t seem to know exactly what musical direction they are headed in but we can enjoy them while they try to figure it out.
The Temper Trap followed on the Main Stage but I made my way to the Bigfoot Stage for Seattle Rock Orchestra. They are a volunteer group of musicians who perform The Arcade Fire songs with a full orchestra. I have been eagerly anticipating The Arcade Fire’s album due this year and the subsequent tour so I was interested to hear their interpretation of Funeral. I loved hearing “Tunnels” and “Crown of Love” performed live again and the music was beautifully done. The vocals from the female leads were not strong enough though. The male lead was phenomenal, however, and I would have preferred to hear him sing everything.
Dr. Dog played the Bigfoot stage to a large crowd. This band recorded one of my favourite albums from 2008, Fate and the recently released Shame, Shame, among others. Dr. Dog is a straight up rock-and-roll band that brings something new to the table with their gritty vocals and stick-in-your-head melodies.
Dr. Dog
The Husband and I were disappointed to miss Vancouver’s Japandroids but She & Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward) were playing the Main stage. I like the She & Him albums but I liked her voice even more live. M. Ward is an indie favourite and this initially surprising collaboration really works well especially on a sunny day at the Gorge.
She & Him
I cut out of the pleasant She & Him set a little early to catch The Mountain Goats at the Bigfoot Stage. This band is probably the reason that I made the trek to the Gorge again this year. I have only been a fan since the 2005 album Sunset Tree, which should be required listening for any victims of childhood abuse as it is a truly healing, beautiful album. John Darnielle fans are fierce and adherent. And he gives it right back. His set was upbeat and offered all the favourites including “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton” and “This Year”. I was more than happy to see them perform again in Calgary a scant week later.
Mountain Goats
We maintained our position at the Bigfoot for Scotland’s Camera Obscura who is one of the Husband’s favourites but I have always found to be a little dull. I was pleasantly surprised by how captivating their sound was live. The lead vocalist has a voice that I found uninteresting on the album but in the setting of the Gorge with the tight sounds of the band I found to be perfect. She conveys true bittersweet emotions and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. When a rainbow appeared over her right shoulder in the middle of the set it seemed like a perfect backdrop for a near-perfect set.
Camera Obscura
Most of the crowd at the Bigfoot stage cleared for MGMT who were playing the Main stage so I was able to move to the front, centre stage for The New Pornographers. I have seen this Vancouver band live at least 3 times and I was going to see them again the following week with The Mountain Goats in Calgary but I couldn’t miss their set as they always create a big dance party sing along. We were treated with a few oldies and a lot off of 2005’s Twin Cinema with a few songs off the recently released Together album. Neko Case and Dan Bejar are both touring with the group and the onstage banter added to the friendly, dare I say Canadian, atmosphere. It was the perfect festival setlist and the perfect closing to a great year at Sasquatch! Music Festival 2010.
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The New Pornographers
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