WHEN DROPPED INTO a massive field with thousands of seemingly likeminded music enthusiasts for several days, one must either embrace the blunt reality of outdoor festivals—by removing one’s shirt and taking a handful of parking lot-purchased mushrooms—or at least pretend to. Given this publication’s inability to reimburse its staff for hallucinogenic expenses, I decided to go with pretending.
SATURDAY, MAY 29
During a harmony-rich set from buzzing folksters Mumford & Sons, a nearby fan screamed for the band, paused, and then dramatically crumpled to the ground. This either crowns Mumford & Sons as the leaders of a new Beatlemania, or illustrates the importance of proper hydration on a warm day. Such levels of knee-buckling fandom were not received by cumbersome rock act Brad, whose midday set on the largest stage was either the result of backroom nepotism or a deliberate guerilla marketing scheme to funnel people over to the competing stage to witness a blistering show from Portugal. The Man, who kept the sun-drenched crowd enthralled with an expansive array of material.
Portland’s Nurses debuted new material and made the case that their off-kilter sunny pop should always be performed outdoors. Meanwhile, Broken Social Scene’s finely perfected rock anthems took advantage of the large stage, filtering in a revolving door of members and borrowed musicians (including the National’s horn section). Speaking of, the National seized the opportunity to recklessly engage in onstage behavior you’d never expect from such a restrained bunch. Dressed to the nines, the New York band torched through material from Boxer and High Violet while singer Matt Berninger took a dip in the crowd, emerging from the sea of outstretched hands with dress coat and tie perfectly intact.
SUNDAY, MAY 30
Onetime muse for Tricky, Martina Topley Bird was filed away on a small stage during the early afternoon while most of the crowd was still blearily trickling in from the vast camp cities speckling the horizon. A true festival highlight, Bird nobly battled to be heard against the ricocheting clatter of neighboring stages as she playfully looped vocals, toy drums, and beatboxed rhythm. Her flowing red prom dress made her a beacon in the monochromatic swath of gray clouds that engulfed the Gorge. Meanwhile, the Tallest Man on Earth would have been easier to spot onstage if he weren’t the shortest man in Sweden and surrounded by a few thousand eager fans, but his inspired cover of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” has never sounded better.
Never known for their onstage abilities, Pavement’s reunion was met with complete indifference from the youthful crowd, who streamed for the exits following an absolutely ferocious preceding set from LCD Soundsystem. Stephen Malkmus battled a series of technical difficulties—”Rattled by the Rush” took three attempts to complete—before eventually calling either bassist Mark Ibold or the soundman “pathetic.” Either way, it was sort of awkward. Following that, the band gently launched into a long set that mapped their storied career and included rousing versions of “Summer Babe,” “Gold Soundz,” and “Range Life.”
MONDAY, MAY 31
An enthusiastic crowd was quick to cluster on the sloped grass hill for Phantogram’s beat-heavy disco pop, a more spirited performance than their Doug Fir show from a few months back. Despite the sheets of rain that blanketed the crowd, dispersed, then returned again, the band was frantic and beaming onstage. That level of excitement was not maintained by old-guard festival band the Drive-By Truckers. It’s hard to come to terms with the cold reality that DBT’s greatness walked out the door with Jason Isbell in 2007, but weighed down with songs from The Big To-Do, they were an undeniably far cry from their earlier days as the greatest rock act on God’s green earth. Meanwhile Passion Pit’s jittery digi-pop cacophony delighted the masses, even including an inflatable whale that Michael Angelakos fished from the swarming crowd. Worry not—the inflatable orca was fine, the crowd hoisting the pool toy into the air and carrying it off to safety.
1) This is the most succinct Squatch wrap up I’ve ever read, and may be the shortest in existence.
2) I would have pooped myself if I had the opportunity to hear Gold Soundz live.
@CC: Totally agree with #1, but I don’t go in for the self-defecation thing. A great line-up this year, wish I could have gone (except for the whole “three-day festivals are totally exhausting and I’m no longer 17” bit). I was glad Tune-Yards swung through town, though.
@tk: Yeah, I went in ’04, ’05 & ’06, but I’ve been officially “too old” since then. By 2006, we were too old/lazy to stay in the campground, so we stayed in a motel in Yakima. Fun fact: I may have saved everyone in our car’s life (most critically my own) after grabbing the wheel when my friend fell asleep just before a hairpin turn while driving back to Yakima at 2 a.m.
Now, since it’s our sacred duty to tell these professionals how to do their job, simply because we have the ability to do so (anonymously):
I read reviews of stuff like this so I can get a sense of being there, now that I’m too old/cheap/lazy to go myself, and this capsule summary just doesn’t do it for me. This is a fine piece length for a show in town (when I just want to know if a show was great/good/meh/bad/did they play a great version of my favorites/etc), but see the AV Club’s SXSW daily summaries for a good example of what I’m after as a reader when it comes to multi-day stuff.
Yeah, I would have loved to hear anything about… I guess half the stuff going on on Sunday and Monday. Saturday had the most “meh” lineup IMO, but… Camera Obscura, Ween, Public Enemy, The New Pornographers, Bobcat Goldthwait, Quasi, Massive fucking Attack? Surely something interesting happened there.
Also, good job on saving everyone’s lives.
Well, maybe I can be of some assistance. Ezra correctly described LCD Soundsystem’s set as ferocious, they absolutely rocked Sasquatch and didn’t break a sweat doing it.
A few other noteworthy performances were by The XX, Local Natives, Mumford and Sons, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros and Kid Cudi. Out of that group, Kid Cudi’s set had the most moxie but all were very enjoyable shows from bands with real talent.
Patton Oswalt stepped in to replace a no-show Aziz Ansari in the comedy tent and proceeded to offend everyone in the crowd with sour jokes aimed at the co-gender community.
These are the bands that topped the shit list at Sasquatch – Minus the Bear, Ok Go and Vampire Weekend.
Thanks Mucinex; I would really like to catch Local Natives one o’ these days.
@Commenty Colin
I would have loved to write more, but I had a few things working against me: 1) Computer. My hard drive crashed about 48 hours before leaving, so I had to take a loaner laptop that I couldn’t even log into until Saturday evening. 2) Internet. The wifi never worked (makes sense, considering the location) and the media trailer had sporadic access at best. I decided I wasn’t about to spend two hours inside the trailer missing bands just to post more. 3) Space. It’s our anniversary issue and space in the print edition was very limited.
4) I was sucking Wampire’s collective baby dicks.
@joejackson Uh, sure. That too.
I can confirm the spotty Internet. Here’s my Pavement review below. LCD were indeed incredible but I didn’t have enough AC power/internet to write about both. (And as I said on the End Hits post, great picture)
http://www.spinner.com/2010/05/31/pavement…
I did all my coverage via my Droid, which was getting 3G just fine all weekend. Really saved my ass.
Mucinex, I’m not sure what you mean about Patton offending everyone, I didn’t get that vibe at all. He was great and everyone seemed to be loving it, especially the “I want all the ham” story. I’m also not sure why you think Vampire Weekend’s set was lacking: they had some of the best sound of any of the mainstage performers, in part due to how simple their arrangements are.
Tk, Camera Obscura played a very average show. Not bad or anything, just unremarkable. Bobcat Goldthwait did better than most of the indie-set in attendance seemed to be predicting, but his set was rife with self-indulgent callback jokes about his setting the Tonight Show on fire. Of the big name comics (Goldthwait, Oswalt, Riggle, Birbiglia, and Robinson) Bobcat was easily the worst.
I agree with Ezra in that LCD and Phantogram were some of the best performances of the weekend. Looking over my shoulder from the pit at LCD Soundsystem and seeing everyone on the slope waving their hands to the beat of “All My Friends” was a fucking sight.
Edward Sharpe baby!!!!!!That was the shizzles.
No mention of Ween’s performance? Well it was awesome and more easily appreciated given that all the college kids in neon clothing who wouldn’t even understand how to appreciate Ween’s musical expertise bolted after MGMT’s painfully boring performance. One exceptionally danceable cover accompanied by 2 hours of Gener’s rare vocal performance, Deaner’s guitar mastery and Claude’s, one of the greatest drummers in rock and roll today, ability to back them up – it was a solid show. One of the best I’ve seen in 11 years (and I’d rather see them in a venue like Dante’s so I can be engulfed in the fog machine). Epic performance boys!!