The
Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge in George, Washington is a lot of things—but mostly, it's just brilliantly beautiful. With four stages and almost a hundred bands, soaking up the sunshine is easy—deciding which bands to catch however is decidely more difficult. On Saturday alone, 32 bands played: here's a few notes on the 9 I caught (categorized by golf terminology).
Already known by the majority of the world for their
treadmill web video, lead singer Damian Kulash further pitched internet savviness over music after taking a picture of the crowd and telling everyone to log on to Facebook and tag themselves after the show.
The Canadian collective tore through their recent record with unusual restraint during their set, keeping songs tight and to their recorded length: an appropriate turn considering the group just released their most pop-accessible album to date. The only problem with the set was singer Lisa Lobsinger who looks the part a lot more than she sounds it. Sure, filling in for Feist, Emily Haines and Amy Milan ain't easy, but it seemed Lobsinger spent more time fixing her hair than preparing during soundcheck as it was nearly impossible to make out her whisper of a voice. Nevertheless, the absurdly relevant "Texico Bitches" and Kevin Drew's hilarious fawning over the National made the set a memorable one.
This Alaska band was exactly what I expected: big wailing solos and Robert Plant worthy vocals spaced out over rowdy and inspired jamming. The three- and sometimes four-part harmonies were excellent and the band's poppiest song, "The Sun," also proved to be one of its best live.
I knew nothing about English singer/songwriter Laura Marling before Saturday. That was silly. With fiery pipes that can hit the Joni Mitchell highs and the Neko Case lows, Marling's brand of folk may not have blown away the sun-drenched afternoon audience, but she certainly made plenty of converts.
The best show I've ever seen was Jim James & Co. at Bonnaroo in 2008 when they played for almost four hours and covered everyone from Kool & The Gang to the Velvet Underground, so my expectations are always skewed high. The crowd dissipated a bit before MMJ took the stage with the cold setting in, but the band nevertheless brought the goods with a Van Halen-worthy opening light and roaring guitar show and a set that spanned the band's entire catalogue, going back all the way to the early demo "Tonight I Wanna Celebrate With You." The only thing that hurt the set was the absence of a few more funky and upbeat numbers. By the time the much-needed "Highly Suspicious" funked onto the stage most people had either headed to their tents or over to Deadmau5.
Over the course of the day, there were two moments where the blood rushed to my head and chills engulfed my body. London's Mumford & Sons produced that feeling first with their ridiculously absorbing acoustic-based build-ups, most notably on "The Cave," "Little Lion Man" and an excellent unreleased song where lead singer Marcus Mumford traded his guitar for a turn on the drums (where he's apparently quite capable of tearing through a song).
Mumford & Sons - "The Cave"
The focus of every National concert should be Matt Berninger's absurdly sincere face, which can transform from pleased to tortured and full of anguish with a few strums from a guitar. Suffocatingly full of built-up energy before every vocal line— exhibited by fervent thigh or mic slapping—Berninger becomes a cathartic force when it's finally time to sing. Whether trembling with rage and hysteria on the Alligator classic "Abel" or a deep Leonard Cohen cool on the rumbling "Bloodbuzz Ohio," Berninger and his band certainly know how to play to a stadium-sized crowd.
The only time the main stage reached capacity Saturday was during Vampire Weekend's set—and it was rightly so. After a long day of drugs and drinking, what could be better than upbeat and peppy songs that you can dance and sing along to? Just as the sun was setting with pink and orange colors exploding in the sky, Ezra Koenig orchestrated an otherworldly tight set of his band's signature clean afro-ska-punk fusion that had crowd members dancing in conga lines up and down the grassy hills overlooking the stage. Sometimes bands are popular for a good reason.
