The start of Festival Season is always signaled by the announcement of the Coachella Festival lineup, the annual Better Than Burning Man And With Better Music three day bacchanal in the California desert outside of Palm Springs in Indio, CA. If you study the Coachella lineup carefully, it tends predict the bulk of festival acts for the summer, and this year is no different. "So what?" you say, "Coachella was announced a MONTH ago; go back to reblogging Pitchfork!"
Oh really? Out here in the Northwest, what really matters is not Coachella (too far, too dusty, and too expensive), but Sasquatch. Sasquatch, which is hosted at The Gorge in George, WA, started in 2002 as a one day kinda hippy festival then evolved to showcasing the best and the brightest of the indie, transitioned into a two day event, and, this year, offers us three whole days of amazing music. Not only that, but the lineup was officially announced yesterday, which, while we may be a day late, we are still timely!
The lineup this year is absolutely stellar, with very little filler material at all, and I am thrilled, thrilled I tell you, to tell you that it's a Duck and Cover wet dream. Destroyer (remember how we wanted a SEA date? well, this is the closest that we get), The National, REM (well, WE still like them), the Cure, Beirut, Okkervil River, Dengue Fever, MIA (please, baby, work out those visa problems this year; we don't want a repeat of '07!), the lovely Sera Cahoone, Flaming Lips, Breeders, Throw Me the Statue, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, New Pornographers, Stephen Malkmus, Modest Mouse, the Cave SIngers, Grand Archives, Battles.... And likely a whole mess of other artists, as well as a... a... um, well, a comedy tent. (Which is likely where HBO quirky kiwi darlings Flight of the Conchords will play; or am I being unkind?)
To view the entire lineup, as well as purchase tickets and camping, visit the Sasquatch site. May 24-26th, Memorial Day! (To be honest, the lineup seems a little sparse for three days, but perhaps this means we won't have to run [literally] between stages to catch competing faves.)
Some favorite Sasquatch moments over the past several years:
My Morning Jacket, hair blowing in the wind and shredding like the country heshers that they are
Joanna Newsom solo on harp
Neko Case belting "Deep Red Bells" into the vastness of the Columbia River valley
The Pixies playing everything that you would want them too -- and doing it well (brilliantly, really)
Modest Mouse at sundown, debuting material from Good News
The Flaming Lips with all of their plushy friends
Manu Chao -- being done so that we could get on with our evening
the Arcade Fire, twice (the first time was amazing!)
The Hold Steady, starting the morning right
The Be Good Tanyas, just because
Calexico, because, hell yeah!
Kanye, late late late, but putting on an awesome show nonetheless
Bjork ending the night right, with lasers and crazy hippy fans (the latter could have been done without), but we still saw it almost front row, which was better than good enough
Coldplay and their over the top light show - which was viewed from our campsite, ten plus miles away (also, a friend of a friend being bullied by Gwyneth's security detail).
(As an aside, I was on an island in the Pacific for the uber lineup of 2006, if that list seemed a little lacking, but the weather was shite, and it hailed, so, whatever.)
A note, however, about the Sasquatch festival: the ATMS will run out of money. Plan ahead for drinks and food; also, plan on paying $8 for a silver bullet tallboy -- prices that are much easier to swallow after about the third beer.
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