In the throes of a killer party at the Neptune last night, we were thrilled beyond belief to find out the details on another most excellent year for the Sasquatch! music festival, taking place out at the Gorge on Memorial Day weekend {May 25-28}. Sasquatch! is by far one of our favorite fests every year, and 2012 is going to be no exception.
We're particularly excited about partying down with the likes of Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Beirut, Girl Talk {hell yes!}, The Head and the Heart, Tune-Yards, Wild Flag, Blind Pilot, Mark Lanegan Band, The Cave Singers, Grouplove, Ted Leo, Deer Tick, Alabama Shakes, We Are Augustines, Shearwater {!!!!!}, Charles Bradley, Pickwick, Hey Marseilles, Sallie Ford, Dyme Def, Fresh Espresso, and Katie Kate -- but by no means does that even scratch the surface of the seemingly-zillion fantastic bands included on this year's lineup. As usual, there's a thoughtful mash of notable locals and squee-worthy headliners, so much so that slapping down the ticket price to spend the long weekend with twenty-plus thousand of your closest friends is an absolute no-brainer.
It's safe to say here at Three Imaginary Girls that we go to a lot of shows. Sometimes, two (or three) in one night, if there's more than one must-see happening going on about town. And so it's no surprise that in 2010 alone, just on my own, I managed to go to shoot at least two shows a week on average, attended another two dozen-ish (or so) sans camera, plus several festivals, house parties and a handful of KEXP in-studios. We're talking everything from nights at the Sunset and Neumos to four days in Portland for MFNW, out locally for long weekends at Bumbershoot and Sasquatch, and down to SXSW and back again.
On any given night there are plenty of shows taking place, in rooms across Seattle and across the country, where boys and girls and instruments and fans all convene inside four walls to make, appreciate, and experience live music -- but not all of them are Shows. When I reference shows in this post, I'm talking about the nights that we collectively See A Show, the nights that remind me us why we live in Seattle in the first place. Seeing A Show has the ability to alter the fabric of our respective existence, to leave us forever changed -- full of those everything-I've-ever-done-led-to-this-exact-right-now kinds of moments.
With a history timeline at the ready via flickr sets and hastily scrawled notes from stage right, I give you some of my greatest moments of 2010 as an appendix to the ever-popular top albums of the year lists that have been popping up all over our radars.
First place:
Neil Young (solo) at the Paramount
This might be construed as an easy out for a list-topper, but it was by far the most stupidly amazing few hours I spent in a venue all year. Not only was I among the lucky few that got to hang and shoot from the soundboard, but I also had the privilege of being allowed to watch the set after shooting (sans camera gear) from the third-level mezzanine. It may as well have been a live reel of Young in his prime, for how good he sounded -- without a doubt one of the top ten shows of my life, probably in the history of Ever.
Latest comment by: John in Ballard: "Wow, so many good shows I feel like I missed out on after reading this. I did however go to Sasquatch, so I'll just confirm that LCD Soundsystem are an awesome live band. Probably one of my favorite shows from 2010. Also fantastic at Sasquatch: Caribou, ...
[shearwater / by hot avocados photography]
Between the sweet and straight-out bite of Hospital Ships, the huge-guitar shred of Wye Oak, and the general everythingness of Shearwater -- I'm surprised that anyone left the Triple Door last Thursday night with any face left. The show was absolutely amazing, and easily makes my top five sets of the year so far. Without an instant of doubt.
The two openers, Hospital Ships and Wye Oak, were perfectly laid out as warm-up and direct support on the night's bill. There are plenty of bands that can (and do) sound fine next to each other, of course -- but when someone has put together a thoughtful lineup like this, the vibe of the night really translates. Hospital Ships' set was laden with sharp, smart lyrics and lovely, happy-to-melancholy chord changes that took us from "Aw!" to "Holy crap. YES." and back in a single song. Wye Oak, in contrast, stayed more on the angst-sound side, blowing us out of the front row with a gigantic sound that seemed much bigger than two people could possibly produce.
Some sentences are more satisfying to type than others.
'Shearwater is playing at the Triple Door this Thursday' is one of those sentences.
So, let's do it again: Shearwater is playing at the Triple Door this Thursday. (Wasn't that fun?) And we would love to give you the gift of experiencing this one-of-a-kind performance first-hand with us -- so we're giving away two tickets to one lucky imaginary reader! Yes, we're talking to you! So, act fast and drop us an email to tig@threeimaginarygirls.com sometime before 9am on Wednesday, with the subject line ShearwaterLovesYouBack. We'll choose a winner at random, but you're sure to score some bonus points by including a note about why we should pick you, how much you love Shearwater, and any awesome-slash-embarrasing "I carried a watermelon when I met Jonathan Meiburg this one time" tales.
In the meantime, check out this rad NPR Tiny Desk Concert with Shearwater, courtesy of our pals over at YouTube:
We'll see you at the show!
Sasquatch 2009 is a mere two days away. Go see bands all three days, cheer your head off, drink some beer and/or smoke a joint. Get dirty campin' toes and sweat through your forehead bandanna (or brave kilt-lifting style winds like in 2007). Come back harried and skip out on work Tuesday. Recount every last moment, with positive embellishments, to anyone fool enough not to attend. Buy the tshirt and flaunt the shit out of it.
Here is your big bad SASQUATCH 2009 PREVIEW.
Latest comment by: almost imaginary dan: "My Sunday schedule is so rad, and so simple. Check it: 1215pm Mike Watt EAT FOOD 205pm The Walkmen SERIOUS NAP 520pm Murder City Devils 600pm Airborne Toxic Event 715pm M83 8pm Nine Inch Nails 10pm Jane's Addiction "
It has now been 2.5 years since I moved out of Seattle for the Golden State. I've slowly drifted out of the NW music culture, so sometimes I wonder if I know what to say on TIG these days.
Combine that with the fact that I was so distracted from music for a lot of 2008, this year's "best of" lists were especially difficult. Heck, I don't even think I can make a Best of NW music list this year, not because there was insufficient music, but because I just missed so many of those important-but-not-well-known releases that make these lists. I did enjoy Fleet Foxes, Common Market, Colin Meloy live, Malkmus and the like, but really, that isn't a "Best of the NW" list but rather a list of albums I liked that happened to be from the NW.
That being said, I did get a last minute music revival for the year. Maybe it was the election being over (and the good guys winning), maybe it was finally getting a faculty position after many years of trying (lets just say Erik will be moving east in 2009), maybe 2008 just didn't mesh with me musically. Who knows? However, there was a lot of great music anyway, and here are my top 20 (for your praise or fist shaking). Feel free to read the full commentary.
KEXP know how to do it right. This year they are marking the holidays with not one, but two nights of yule goodness... and they are sharing the good times with us by giving us a pair of tickets for each night of Yule to give away to a lucky imaginary reader.
And in classic KEXP style, both evenings' line-ups are bumpin':
Friday 12/12 @ Neumo's
* Grand Archives
* Shearwater
* The Dutchess and The Duke
Saturday 12/13 @ Neumo's
* Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
* Shearwater
* Cancer Rising
You can enter to win tickets for each night, but you must enter each one seperately. To enter, email us at tig @ threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject line "KEXPYule-FRIDAY" or "KEXPYule-SATURDAY" before 4p (PST) on Monday, December 7th and you'll be entered to win.
***Please make sure to include your name in the body of the email***
Latest comment by: laura musselman: "shearwater = perfect in all ways. i can't get enough. if i'm crying while they play, i'll just pretend i'm taking pictures and hide behind the camera so you can't make fun of me. how are they going to follow cancer rising though? that's just... weird."
Enter to win a pair of tickets to see Shearwater at Nectar this Thursday (July 24th)!
Email us at tig @ threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject line "SHEARTix" by 3p today (Wednesday) and you'll be entered to win.
Latest comment by: River Phoenix: "Another great ablum from Shearwater, which to me have surpassed Okkervil River and I'm eager to see how they evolve now that Meiburg is going to concentrate only on this.."
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