Was only able to go to Sasquatch for Saturday, but boy was it a blast. Love love love the New Pornographers and they were in fine form, including both Neko Case and Dan Bejar in attendance. Don't know how Bejar did it since his other band was playing at more or the less the same time at one of the other stages. Played a lot of their hits old and new.
I'm a huge Modest Mouse fan but unfortunately I thought their set was a little weak. Brock's voice was strained for much of the second half of the set, particularly on Doin' The Cockroach. And why why why do they always play We've Got Everything in their live shows? I love the song but there is no one in the band who can sing like James Mercer and therefore the live version always sounds pathetic compared to the album version. Still love the Mouse though and hearing what Johnny Marr adds to the songs off Lonesome Crowded West is fun. After the Mouse, skipped REM (who I saw at SXSW just a couple months ago), and caught the second half of the Breeders set. Got there just as they were starting to play Cannonball; what a great song.
Earlier in the day, Throw Me The Statue put on a fine set including all my favorite songs of theirs to a decent size crowd which kept getting bigger, on the Yeti stage. Fleet Foxes were excellent, playing two sets on the Main stage when the National wound up late for the party.
The one act I wasn't going to miss, though, having not managed to see them despite several opportunities over the last year, was Okkervil River. And boy am I glad I got my ass over the Wookie stage early. Managed to get right up next to the stage, in front of a large enthusiastic crowd. Will Sheff was just pouring his heart into every song and you could just tell that he and the band were absolutely thrilled to be there. Started with The President's Dead, which is pretty daring considering that the first 2/3 of the song is almost a capella, but he owned the crowd right from the start. Second song was Black, an emotionally devastating number and my favorite from Black Sheep Boy. Then a whole lot of tracks from The Stage Names, all excellent. Finished with a cover of Sloop John B, the old Beach Boys chestnut, except with altered lyrics, faster, and just rocking out to the max it sounded incredible.
And let's not forget the gorgeous view of the gorge and awesome people watching. Yeah, Sasquatch is great.
Reviews
randy said on May 28, 2008:
Was only able to go to Sasquatch for Saturday, but boy was it a blast. Love love love the New Pornographers and they were in fine form, including both Neko Case and Dan Bejar in attendance. Don't know how Bejar did it since his other band was playing at more or the less the same time at one of the other stages. Played a lot of their hits old and new.
I'm a huge Modest Mouse fan but unfortunately I thought their set was a little weak. Brock's voice was strained for much of the second half of the set, particularly on Doin' The Cockroach. And why why why do they always play We've Got Everything in their live shows? I love the song but there is no one in the band who can sing like James Mercer and therefore the live version always sounds pathetic compared to the album version. Still love the Mouse though and hearing what Johnny Marr adds to the songs off Lonesome Crowded West is fun. After the Mouse, skipped REM (who I saw at SXSW just a couple months ago), and caught the second half of the Breeders set. Got there just as they were starting to play Cannonball; what a great song.
Earlier in the day, Throw Me The Statue put on a fine set including all my favorite songs of theirs to a decent size crowd which kept getting bigger, on the Yeti stage. Fleet Foxes were excellent, playing two sets on the Main stage when the National wound up late for the party.
The one act I wasn't going to miss, though, having not managed to see them despite several opportunities over the last year, was Okkervil River. And boy am I glad I got my ass over the Wookie stage early. Managed to get right up next to the stage, in front of a large enthusiastic crowd. Will Sheff was just pouring his heart into every song and you could just tell that he and the band were absolutely thrilled to be there. Started with The President's Dead, which is pretty daring considering that the first 2/3 of the song is almost a capella, but he owned the crowd right from the start. Second song was Black, an emotionally devastating number and my favorite from Black Sheep Boy. Then a whole lot of tracks from The Stage Names, all excellent. Finished with a cover of Sloop John B, the old Beach Boys chestnut, except with altered lyrics, faster, and just rocking out to the max it sounded incredible.
And let's not forget the gorgeous view of the gorge and awesome people watching. Yeah, Sasquatch is great.