My Top 5 Sasquatch Moments

Sasquatch Festival at The Gorge Amphitheater

Yesterday the lineup was announced for the 2015 Sasquatch Music Festival at The Gorge in George, Washington. This is one of the premier fests in the Cascadia region and my personal favourite of the 4 different ones I have been to within reasonable driving distance of Lower Mainland, BC.

For those who have never been, The Gorge Amphitheater is a massive stage that literally is sitting on the edge of a massive gorge that contains the mighty Columbia River. There is a large "floor" standing section right in front of the stage that gradually slopes up and away from the stage until it reaches the giant grass hill. This is the ultimate place to take in the full beauty of this venue. Whether laying back on a sunny day listening to some chill tunes or standing up and rocking out it is the spot to be at the Gorge. This year's lineup is amazing as usual, highlighted by Kendrick Lamar, Robert Plant, Modest Mouse and Lana Del Rey. You can check out the full lineup and poster here: http://www.kelownanow.com/the_bin/lifestyle/news/Entertainment_News/15/02/04/2015_Sasquatch_Line_Up_is_Unreal?fb_action_ids=10155171281520646&fb_action_types=og.shares

This announcement got me thinking about the many incredibly ridiculous and fun memories that I have from the 4 times in which I visited the Gorge Amphitheater for Sasquatch Festival. Here are my top 5 moments and, of course, a song for each:

5.) First time seeing the Gorge in all her beauty (2008)

Fleet Foxes - Sun It Rises

There truly is no experience quite like seeing The Gorge on a beautiful sunny day for the first time. It is something that I will always remember and cherish. Fleet Foxes were the very first band to play the main stage that year; they only had their Sun Giant EP out at this point. I knew and liked a few of their songs, along with only one other person from our crew, so just the two of us headed down, shortly after noon. The rest of the crowd apparently shared the sentiments as the rest of our crew, leaving the whole amphitheater and band to ourselves and a few others. Fleet Foxes opened with "Sun It Rises"; its sweeping harmonies, strummy acoustic guitar and gorgeous melody were the perfect ingredients for a perfect moment. The Washington outfit were on point that afternoon, so good in fact that they got an encore performance later that night when The National's bus broke down, causing them to be late. They were excellent once again and I was glad that the rest of my friends and the crowd got to see them after all, although they didn't quite have the same magic as their earlier performance.

4.) Supnet and Keelan go H.A.A.M. (2009)

King Khan & The Shrines - Land of the Freak

After an absolutely insane night out and very little sleep my friend Supnet and I were still somehow going hard and were ready for a hectic day. After a quick shotgun and some afternoon lettuce at the campsite we all headed into the main grounds to catch the day's action. Up first on the main stage was Gogol Bordello, an international band of gypsy punks based out of Brooklyn. Supnet and I quickly left the rest of our crew on the hill and went straight for the mosh pit up front. Gogol Bordello know exactly how to throw a riotous, bombastic party. Their upbeat, lighting fast renditions of punk and dub sent us and the rest of the pit into a frenzy for the entire set. They even got the entire hill up on its feet for the classic anthem "Start Wearing Purple", which was quite a sight to behold. 

Immediately after Gogol we made our way up to the second biggest stage for King Khan & The Shrines. Supnet is a huge fan and promoter of King Khan, a crazy Indian guy from Montreal who fronts the Shrines, a wild group of German musicians that put on one helluva show. Just as we made our way to the middle front of the crowd the band and King Khan blasted onto the stage at 110%. They opened with "Land of the Freak", a high-energy, brass heavy number that evokes 50's surf music with a 21st century punk edge. Like Gogol Bordello these guys know how to work a crowd and put on a wild show that included go-go dancers, wacky costumes, stage dives and good ol' European nudity. Somewhere in the middle of the show Supnet somehow managed to roll a doob amidst all the chaos and madness, which was quite legendary indeed. Such a great show and it completely drained us of all our energy. By the time we made it back to our friends on the hill we both passed out through the entirety of, ironically, Fleet Foxes.

3.) The Killer Crew and Convoy (2012)

Wolfgang Gartner - Illmerica

In 2012 I had originally planned to go with just two other friends, but when one backed out last minute we were forced to make different arrangements. Enter the Killer Crew from Kits. My buddy knew two girls who needed a ride and were going up with a bunch of their friends so we said "why not?" and suddenly my vehicle had joined a 7 car convoy down to The Gorge. This group was incredibly well prepared, much better than any festival I had been to up until that point. They had everything from felts to draw all over the vehicles, to a massive canopy complete with Christmas lights, to even an entire DJ mixing board and loud ass speakers, manned by the awesomely named Wolf each night as our campsite turned into an after hours rave. We had an epic leader who was incredible at getting shit done, especially when it came to getting into the site as he sweet-talked all 7 vehicles into skipping a 2 hour plus lineup to get into the campground. He also managed to find even more of their friends, making our crew 30 people strong.

This gang loved their EDM, something that I have always enjoyed to a certain extent and when in the right mood or frame of mind. The majority of them lived in the dance tent that weekend, soaking up every molly-infused, glowstick-chucking drop. Wolfgang Gartner headlined the tent on the second night to what was apparently the best crowd of his career (I was at the main stage watching Jack White...). But this particular song, "Illmerica", became something of an anthem for that weekend. I remember blaring it in my car when we had finally arrived at the campsite, creating our own mini-rave, as well as several other times while hanging at the tents. Definitely a badass track that will always get you pumped up; it has been on high rotation in my car on the way to soccer games ever since. I had a total blast with this crew and would be more than happy to accompany them on another Sasquatch adventure if they'd be so kind to bring along this goof.

2.) The Eight Hour Extravaganza (2011)

Gayngs - Faded High

The 2011Sasquatch Festival for me and my friends was marred by incredibly long lineups and disorganization, sickness due to lack of preparation for the extreme weather changes and a late entrance and early exit due to half of us not being able to get the full time off of work. But of course we couldn't let these hardships completely ruin the weekend and on day 3 quite possibly the greatest lineup of back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back concerts ever was laid out for us:

Beach House kicked things off at around 5pm on the mainstage. Chilling on the hill and listening to Victoria Legrand's gorgeous voice was the perfect way to start the night. Tracks such as "Zebra" and "Take Care" swept up over the hill as we were engulfed by beautiful melodies and sultry keyboards. Up next on the second biggest stage was the true surprise of the weekend, Minneapolis' Gayngs. A mix of 80's soft-core electronica (yes they did a George Michael cover and nailed it!) and 21st century dance music. Gayngs put on an incredible show complete with trippy light shows, sexy smoke machines, and even sexier saxophone solos. "Faded High" was the standout for me that had everyone dancing their ass off at the end of the set; a beautiful mix of keyboards, electric guitar and male and female lead vocals.

Now it was time to head to the dance tent for the guy that all of us collectively were the most stoked for, Flying Lotus. We were all humming at this point and Flylo delivered a killer set that featured some of his staples like "Melt!" and "Do The Astral Plane" plus a mind-melting remix of Tyler, the Creator's "Yonkers". Unfortunately in order to catch everything we had to ditch the last few songs and head back to #2 stage for Yeasayer. They put on an unforgettable set, highlighted by a psychedelic "Wait For The Summer" and dance party inducing "O.N.E.".

Finally it was time to head back to the hill at the main stage where we could sit down to take in the night's headliner, Modest Mouse. They did a great set of classics like "Doin' the Cockroach" and "Float On" but my favourite had to be an awesome, slowed down rendition of "Bukowski". Ratatat were the final band of the night, headlining the #2 stage. However, they started before Modest Mouse was over and, by some divine act of wizardry, during the lengthy encore break we got to hear the entirety of Ratatat's "Wildcat" clear as a bell behind us. One of those amazing music moments that can only happen at a festival. It was an incredible way to end an incredible night; I'm not sure I'll ever get to see 6 concerts in a row like that ever again.

1.) The Epic Van and Sunrise (2009)

Action Bronson - Actin Crazy

After an amazing day of shows and some crazy after hours partying, myself and 2 friends decided to continue on after after hours. We roamed around with beers in hand meeting many merry party people along the way. Our quest featured a shot-gun challenge that was bravely won by my friend, for which we received a chocolate prize pack, a rowdy game of flip cup, and a tour of an insanely pimped out bus. But then we found the holy Sasquatch grail: Epic Van. Inside the van were 3 cool chicks from Spokane and the greatest and loudest sound system I have ever heard. We spent what seemed like hours in there in a drunken, cloudy haze, listening to the coolest music that I simply have no idea what it was. 

By the time we finally emerged it was starting to get light out, but we were by no means ready to turn in. For starters we were completely lost and spent a little while just stumbling around, giggling in our fucked up stupor. Then we ran into the guy that had sold my buddy chocolate... let's call them turnips. He was even more goobered than us, shrtless and long straggly hair going everywhere. He was carrying a massive zip-loc of turnips from which my friend offered him $50 for a handful. After getting the green light he dug in with both hands and retrieved a massive amount and then proceeded to tell the guy he only had $20. Like I said before, dude was mucked and thankfully did not seem to care as he stumbled off into the morning. We ate some turnips and headed out to the edge of the gorge to watch the sunrise. Words cannot truly describe what it was like; I'll just say that it was awesome and that I highly recommend it.

There was no specific song from this moment so I went with the obvious title of "Actin Crazy" by Action Bronson, who will be at Sasquatch this year. This latest single, off his forthcoming debut album Mr. Wonderful, is one of the best rap songs I've heard in a while. It features production by Canadian wunderkid and Drake pal 40, a trippy beackbeat with horn blasts, and Action's clever wordplay and rhyming as always. Be sure to check this guy out if you're unfamiliar and if hip-hop isn't your cup of tea then I would recommend his excellent VICE Munchies web series, Fuck, That's Delicious.

This weekend's beer is, for me anyways, an American staple: Rolling Rock. When it comes to cheaper than comprehension booze from the states, this simple, refreshing lager takes the cake. Shout out to Miller High Life as a close second; Fuck Bud and Busch Light, unless you're going for a personal best in beer drinking that day and just want alcohol-flavoured water. Anyways I've yammered on for way too much for one day, guess I really love Sasquatch Festival. Kudos to you for making it to the end and now get out there and enjoy your weekend!