There is question to whether or not the Sasquatch is real. Many have looked, but I found it this weekend.
The Sasquatch Music Festival happened this past weekend at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. Headlining were Nine Inch Nails, Ben Harper, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, and Beck. There were also five Canadian acts that showed up to bring some maple: The Hip, The Constantines, Chad VanGaalen, Bedouin Soundclash, and Sam Roberts.
I checked out the show and like a young Cameron Crowe writing for Rolling Stone got to experience what it was like backstage, on stage and in the dressing room.
Day 1: 05.26.06
After driving seven hours from Vancouver I got to the festival and missed the only band I wanted to see on Friday, TV on the Radio. After setting up the tent in a field with porta-potties with the other 20,000 people, I headed down to get my first sights of the stage, Bauhaus and NIN.
Bauhaus. Well I must admit that they still know how to put on a show, even if they do take themselves and their music too seriously. It was a lot of the lead singer, Peter Murphy, clad in a Georgian blouse dancing and posing like a swan. Entertaining to watch.
Nine Inch Nails was another spectacle. I am not much into their sound but I liked the instrumentation and the phenomenal light show they put on. They had what essentially looked like a garage door of LED lights that would lower in front of them and light up in sections that made it look like blood was cascading down.
Day 2: 05.27.06
In the morning I interviewed and watched a great performance by Architecture in Helsinki and their 25 different instruments. After that I ran to the main stage to see Sufjan Stevens play and throw out inflatable Supermen. It was then that I got backstage because of my inside man, The Ice Cream Man. I handed out some free ice cream with him and then got to meet and interview Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips.
It was around then that the Gods got jealous of the free ice cream and sent down their own, hail...icy hail. It postponed the show for two hours and cancelled Neko Case's performance.
Once the clouds closed back up, the Tragically Hip paid tribute to the natural occurrence by opening their set with "The Nautical Disaster". They were followed by The Shins, which is a surprisingly captivating act to watch on stage. Their songs are just nice to hear live. Ben Harper played a nice long set with an extended drum jam on "Burn One" down and a solo set with just an acoustic guitar. To finish off the tempest of a day, the Flaming Lips warmed the audience with a great rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Day 3: 05.28.06
The sun shone all day. I checked out Jamie Liddell which was easily one of my favorite acts. He is a one man soul machine. I then watched some Nada Surf with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Sean from Harvey Danger.
Back at the Ice Cream truck I saw Adam Brody from the O.C. and Tegan of Tegan and Sara. I ran into We Are Scientists as well and watched their set which was full of humour and high-kicks. Then, we had a post show brew with the Artic Monkeys in their tour bus. By then it was time for the final act of the weekend, BECK.
He may have been brief but Beck rocked the fest, so much that I think he deepened the Gorge. He covered The Flaming Lips "Do you Realize?", showed a video that he shot earlier that day, and, the coolest part of all, had a full marionette version of the band that played along the entire set.
The Sasquatch ain't no myth, it's a reality and it rocks. Don't take my word for it. Check out the pictures.
