Sasquatch! 2013 Day Four Recap

Thousands upon thousands of people, Coors Light in hand, descended on the world-famous Gorge Amphitheater in The Middle of Nowhere (George), Washington for the behemoth Sasquatch! Music Festival....
Sasquatch! 2013 Day Four Recap

Sasquatch! 2013 Day Four Recap

Thousands upon thousands of people, Coors Light in hand, descended on the world-famous Gorge Amphitheater in The Middle of Nowhere (George), Washington for the behemoth Sasquatch! Music Festival taking place over Memorial Day Weekend, Friday to Monday, May 24th through the 27th.  Many people have argued that this year’s lineup, featuring the likes of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Mumford & Sons, Sigur Rós, and The Postal Service to name a very few, is the best it has ever been.  Not to mention, the scenery at this festival may just be better than any other festival our fine country has to offer.  Unique to the Pacific Northwest, festival goers hailing from the region come prepared for both rain and shine as both literally can occur within minutes of each other.  Cans of beer cost $11, margaritas cost $14, and many, MANY people are smoking weed.  Yep, it’s a festival all right.  Good thing there are tons of great bands to keep us entertained.

 

 

Ryan BinghamRyan Bingham @ Sasquatch! Stage, 2:45 PM to 3:45 PM

For a guy from Los Angeles, Ryan Bingham sure has a country-western vibe both in look and sound that you wouldn’t expect from someone hailing from the City of Angels, but good for him for being original.  When he and his backing band took the main stage to help close out Sasquatch! on Monday, it was easy to see that they meant business.  And despite a turn in weather, it didn’t dampen his or the gathered crowd’s spirits.

Bingham has gained a good measure of notoriety in the last few years for his involvement in the film Crazy Heart, namely, penning the song “The Weary Kind” for which he won an Academy Award.  Even though that helped bolster his career, it doesn’t take a genius to see that he may be trying to distance himself from that and prove that his talent is far more reaching.  “The Weary Kind” was not one of the songs played; instead many cuts from his latest studio album Tomorrowland were included in the set.

There was a lot of beer and whiskey sippin’ and some good old fashioned gettin’ down to be had.  But all jokes aside, Bingham is a talented songwriter and guitarist and his passion for what he does completely shows up in his live performance.

 

Imagine DragonsImagine Dragons @ Sasquatch! Stage, 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM

Imagine Dragons pack more energy into their performances than a lot of bands that are out there right now.  They work hard and have an undeniably positive vibe.  Lead singer Dan Reynolds made sure that the crowd knew that they are just a bunch of “regular guys” who love to make music and who feel lucky to be in the position that they are in.  It all sounds a bit on the cliché side, but there’s was a certain amount of genuineness not seen in a lot of other acts that state such things.

There was lots of auxiliary percussion on the stage.  That seems to be more and more the thing to do these days.  There were many drum breaks and drum line solos between and during songs, which wasn’t the most original thing in the world, but still kept things interesting nonetheless.

Due to that Azealia Banks canceled her Sasquatch! appearance, Imagine Dragons were bumped to a later time slot and actually given the standard hour and a half that the festival headliners got.  It was quite the opportunity for them, indeed.  It was easy to see that they weren’t taking it for granted.  They obviously played their huge radio smashes “Radioactive” and “It’s Time”, but the gathered crowd basically got to hear the entirety of their debut album Night Visions due to the extra amount of time.

 
CAKE @ Sasquatch! Stage, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

CAKECAKE’s Sasquatch! set was a treat – there are no two ways about it.  Fans got to hear to some of the greats like “Short Skirt, Long Jacket”. “Love You Madly”, and, of course, their set-closer “The Distance”.  Lead singer John McCrea confessed that they don’t use a set list so it was a bit of a refreshing free-for-all vibe, where he even took a request from the crowd at one point and played the deep cut “Stickshifts and Safetybelts” from their debut album Fashion Nugget.

There were a couple of moments where McCrea spent a little too much time playing ‘this half of the crowd vs. that half of the crowd’ singing games, when they could have just packed a couple more songs into their set, but his dry sense of humor made up for that.  Overall this was one of the treat sets of the festival.

 

The Postal ServiceThe Postal Service @ Sasquatch! Stage, 10:00 PM to 11:30 PM

There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the reunion of The Postal Service.  Between the last Death Cab For Cutie album Codes and Keys (QRO review), his solo album Former Lives (QRO review) and subsequent tour (QRO photos), and now this reunion and 10th anniversary reissue of The Postal Service’s classic album Give Up (QRO tenth anniversary reissue review), Ben Gibbard has been one busy guy the last few years.  Perhaps he’s trying to keep busy in order to keep his mind off of losing Zooey Deschanel (a.k.a. The New Girl and ‘She’ of She & Him – QRO live review).  I still say he’s the one better off in that situation, but that’s a discussion for another time entirely…

By Monday night, the crowd had noticeably thinned out a bit from what it had been earlier in the weekend, but many stuck around to watch the iconic group close out the 2013 incarnation of Sasquatch!.  After all, who knows when the next time we’ll see these guys will be.  Well, after their massive reunion tour, that is.

Jenny Lewis (QRO solo live review) of Rilo Kiley (QRO album review) was in tow due to that her vocals were featured on so many songs throughout Give Up.  Obviously, attendees saw the likes of many of the tracks off of Give Up including “Such Great Heights”, “Nothing Better”, as well as ‘new’ songs “Turn Around” and “A Tattered Line of String”.

Overall, it was a good performance.  It wasn’t necessarily the most high-energy way to close out such a big festival, but a good way nonetheless.  Perhaps the intention was to end things on a bit of a nostalgic note.  For most of the 21-ish age people there that might not have meant anything, but for the 30-ish crowd it was probably quite the night.

 

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Concert Reviews
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