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Sasquatch Festival Review

May 22-25, 2015, The Gorge, WA

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By Stephanie Roush

Whoa, what a long, incredible weekend of music Sasquatch was. As a veteran Sasquatch attendee and a Washington state native, the Gorge feels like home. Washington state’s Columbia River Gorge (the Pacific Northwest’s version of the Grand Canyon) served as the backdrop for a wild weekend of raucous dancing and high-level jamming.  It was a privilege to watch some of the best touring musicians in the world play in one of the most beautiful venues. This year’s lineup might have been the best Sasquatch has ever had: here are my highlights from the festival.  (editor’s note: Why did I not go to this?)

Day 1 – Friday, May 22, 2015

Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello always puts on a dynamic and rollicking live show. While they’re not a band that I would listen to on my own, they are not to be missed live. The pit was packed with an audience eager to start the weekend off right, with a huge dance party to the Eastern-European influenced gypsy tunes of Gogol Bordello. These guys are showmen and they never fail to get their audience riled up.

Of Monsters and Men

I’ve seen Of Monsters and Men a couple of times and their live show becomes more solid each time I see them. For a band that gets a good amount of Top 40 radio play, their live show doesn’t use their mainstream appeal as a crutch, but rather as a jumping off point for exploring new sides of their sound. The five-piece from Iceland is due to release another album in 2015, a follow-up to 2011’s wildly popular My Head is An Animal. If their live show is any indication, it will be another polished compilation of folk-rock.

Action Bronson

Action Bronson is known for throwing food into the audience during his shows. In the crowd there was more than one person placing their order. As people yelled variations of “throw me a steak,” Bronson put on a predictably fun show. With his hype man Big Body Bess on stage with him, he spit his nefariously ridiculous lyrics to a crowd that was jumping up and down the whole time. His energy and showmanship were well-suited to the first night of the festival, and although there wasn’t any food thrown into the audience to close it out, it was a stupid-fun show.

Other notable acts: Mother Mother, AlunaGeorge, Flume

Day 2 – Saturday, May 23, 2015

Sylvan Esso

The electro-folk duo from Durham, NC is having quite the year, after the release of their self-titled album last spring. Amelia Meath does some serious dancing while belting out the quirky, cute lyrics of songs like “HSKT” and “Hey Mami.”  Her stage presence is refreshingly down-to-earth and her chemistry with Nick Sanborn undeniable. Their upbeat setlist was the perfect first show of the afternoon on Saturday and they drew a packed crowd. I definitely have a friend-crush on both Meath and Sanborn and hope they can continue to evolve their trademark bubblegum folk songs as they grow as a band.

Diarrhea Planet

It took some convincing to make my friends attend a show for a band with the name Diarrhea Planet, but they definitely thanked me after. Diarrhea Planet is a six-piece rock band that hails from Nashville, TN and they know how to rock. Their unpretentious, stoner vibes made for a great rock n’ roll show that blended the best of garage and Southern rock. They were clearly thrilled to be playing the festival and were even gutsy enough to close out their set with a nearly ten-minute version of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.” (editors note: super jealous)

Father John Misty

The only son of a ladies man, Father John Misty (Josh Tillman) is a show boat performer who is honing his reputation as one of the best live acts of 2015. He lays on the stage with the microphone, makes passes at the audience, and croons like a lovesick teenager. His band provides polished, tight accompaniment to Tillman’s onstage antics. The whole show was an epic folk-rock spectacle and the perfect antidote to some of the festival’s disappointing electronic acts.

Other notable acts: Fuzz, Modest Mouse, King Tuff, Chromeo, Spoon

Day 3 – Sunday, May 24, 2015

St. Paul and the Broken Bones

St. Paul and the Broken Bones is a seven-piece soul band from Birmingham, AL. Lead vocalist, Paul Janeway looks like a grown-up version of Piggy from Lord of the Flies, yet sounds like a mix of Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. The whole band sweated it out in the 80+ degree heat in full suits. Their music harkens back to the soul and funk that the South was churning out in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were a welcome change from the litany of rock bands playing the festival. There’s a reason the Rolling Stones tapped them to open for them at a couple of their shows this summer.  Expect to hear a lot more about St. Paul and the Broken Bones in the future.

Jenny Lewis

If I could be any female rock star I would want to be Jenny Lewis. She’s a veteran performer and has collaborated with the likes of Conor Oberst, Ben Gibbard, and The Postal Service. Aesthetically, her performance paid the same attention to detail as any episode of Mad Men does. The rainbows and sparkly clouds that form part of her look become an afterthought once Lewis sings. Her voice is dually powerful and silky, versatile enough to shine on both acoustic folk songs and pop-rock showstoppers.

Ex Hex

Sunday was really the day of bad-ass female performers. Ex Hex is an all-female rock trio that plays with a reckless abandon that is mesmerizing. Their sound is somewhere between neo-glam and 80s punk, and they own it. There were guitar duels and drum solos and men in the front row professing their love for all of them. After their final song, the audience demanded an encore, the first and only encore of the festival. The women of Ex Hex are seriously talented musicians who have all been in different bands before this. With Ex Hex, they have hit the sweet spot.

Other notable acts: Shakey Graves, Milky Chance, St. Vincent, Jose Gonzalez, James Blake, Cashmere Cat, SBTRKT, Robert Plant & the Sensational Shape Shifters

Day 4 – Monday, May 25, 2015

Tame Impala

The Main stage was packed in hot anticipation for the psychedelic magic of Perth, Australia based band Tame Impala. They were awestruck to be playing the primetime slot on Sasquatch’s main stage, and it showed: the band genuinely thanked the audience after almost every song. Barefoot frontman Kevin Parker led the band through one of the weekend’s best sets, playing songs from their forthcoming album Currents as well as favorites from Lonerism and Innerspeaker. Tame Impala deserved every minute they had on the mainstage.

MØ

MØ was one of the surprise acts of the weekend for me. Danish singer Karen Marie Ørsted is a sensational pop vocalist with unwavering energy on stage and some killer dance moves. It’s the perfect combination of sweet-like-candy pop songs infused with electronic beats. Her cover of the Spice Girls “Say You’ll Be There” had the entire audience singing along with her. MØ is a born performer that knows how to work a crowd with her irresistible Danish charm. Keep a look out for her.

Hot Chip

To say I’m a Hot Chip fan might be a bit of a stretch, but I certainly have a greater appreciation for this British electronic band after seeing them live at Sasquatch. A prolific group known for its low-key electro beats and falsetto vocals, Hot Chip has been together for the last 15 years and it shows. They were the last band to play the festival and somehow the audience mustered up what little energy they had left to close out Sasquatch with an epic dance party.

Other notable acts: Schoolboy Q, Sharon Van Etten, San Fermin, Ryan Adams, Kendrick Lamar, The Glitch Mob