Photo by Ted Maider

Most people who came to Sasquatch! camped in tents and RVs in either the more peaceful VIP camping section or the favela on the hill camping section. Fellow writer/photographer Harley and I were in the very small minority of people who drove home every night after the whole festival was over. During the night drive back to Quincy, WA, we’d try to suss out and synthesize the day’s music, the people we saw, what costumes they were wearing, what native culture those costumes were appropriating, the things that were mumbled to us by a guy two vials deep into the evening, or “did you see that husband just yelling at his wife just then?” and were we possibly the only sober people there and should we just try to buy some drugs at the camp grounds tomorrow and oh look there’s the fourth ambulance of the week coming toward us racing back to the festival grounds. Then we argued for a long time about Bon Iver. Maybe we should stay sober.

All this handwringing led to this: You can’t really report honestly about a music festival unless you really allow yourself to accept the festival culture, which, for better or for worse, is what prevailed at Sasquatch! this year. Much of the middle card included fantastic bands finishing up long tours with a stop at The Gorge (e.g. Explosions in the Sky, tUnE-yArDs, Charles Bradley, Kurt Vile, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The War On Drugs, The Head & The Heart, The Joy Formidable, etc..) and despite the lack of non-Seattle hip-hop and any kind of metal/hardcore/punk band, the four-day holiday weekend appeared to be less about connecting with the music of the festival and more crafting an “epic weekend” to remember forever.

I don’t think it’s hyperbole to call the first view coming up over the hill of the Gorge breathtaking. The topographical setting of the festival lends itself to a larger-than-life experience, which is certainly what the sequencing of the lineups were aiming for:  swelling lines of guitars, big beat stompy folk rock, Girl Talk b/w Pretty Lights, and Tenacious D being the most metal thing at the festival. There were a few magnetic moments, some special little minutes from the days that resonated in the realm of music, like Deer Tick’s impromptu covers set, or Jack White’s flawless headlining set, or Spiritualized closing the second largest stage playing to a crowd of less than 200. But in the end, Sasquatch! went for the big feelings and for the most part scored. The music heard at The Gorge just sounds better, feels better, is better because of Sasquatch! being what it is: a vacation.

Since I didn’t go all Vice Magazine and paint my face, don a poncho and a day-glo trucker hat, and get “mangled” as one guy told me, Sasquatch! was really what you made of it. It’s your trip and how much of it you want to remember is entirely up to you. I think the lineup this year wasn’t as strong as it was in previous years, but you’re surrounded by people who are trying — chemically or otherwise — to have a good time. There was a group of people who asked me to take a photo of them with their phone as the sun set on Monday night and against my exhaustion, frustration, they all looked so happy. That’s how you do it.

-Jeremy D. Larson
Managing Editor 

Friday

honeyhoney – Yeti Stage – 5:05 p.m.

As one of the first artists of the day, honeyhoney was late for load-in thanks to the traffic entering the festival. Fortunately, they arrived just in time to tackle the unenviable task of opening a festival. There may be shades of country to honeyhoney, especially in the voice of banjo-shredding frontwoman Suzanne Santo, but their brand of Americana was delivered with a spirited rock energy that captivated the few and faithful among the crowd. At the halfway point, guitarist Ben Jaffe marveled at how the view from the stage looked like a Bob Ross painting, but without the “crazy people.” Also under the spell of the Gorge’s unparalleled beauty, Santo commented that she would have painted us into such a work. -Frank Mojica

Of Monsters and Men – Sasquatch Stage – 6:05 p.m.

The topographically stark Gorge was the perfect backdrop for Icelandic six-piece Of Monsters and Men, who have stepped into a Mumford and Sons-sized footprint with their high-stepping version of the folk power ballad. Vocalist and guitarist Ninna Hilmarsdottir—who bore an uncanny resemblance to Maggie Gyllenhaal, especially on the basketball court-sized screens flanking the Sasquatch Stage—led the band in anthems like “Little Talks”, which roused the sizable audience with “Hey!”s punctuating trumpet rotundas and acoustic guitars. They closed with “kind of a new song” (which doesn’t seem to be new at all, since it appeared on My Head Is An Animal along with the rest of their set), “Mountain Sound”, whose title and repeated mantra, “Sleep until the sun goes down,” seemed appropriate in light of the soon-to-be-setting sun and the venue’s rocky acoustics. -Harley Brown

Poliça – Bigfoot Stage – 6:30 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

After the ominous intervals of set opener “Fist, Teeth, Money”, vocalist Channy Leneagh’s voice had dropped a few octaves. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that it was later pointed out to me that she simply didn’t Auto-tune her set. It’s a choice reveal that the band’s confidence has grown even since South by Southwest in March. The dual drums and Chris Bierden’s bass thundered as always, but Leneagh allowed herself to depart from their compartmentalized rhythm, riffing on “Lay Your Cards Out” and new song “Raw Exit” (formerly “Exit Raw”), which they’ve been playing live for a while and hopefully will make it onto their next album. I couldn’t tell if the audience knew of Polica or simply happened to wander over in a substance-induced stupor, but given the applause and bodies movin’, it appeared that many left converted. -Harley Brown

Little People – Banana Shack – 6:40 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

The Banana Shack was dismally underdeveloped this year. Shortening and widening the tent was great for the late night sets, but if you were slated for a day slot at the Banana Shack, that basically meant you were in for an all too sunny electronic appearance. Little People was among the first of many to experience this misfortune. He looked so out of place, sitting in the sun with his mixing board, a whimsical array of looping instruments. He even messed up on recording the looping segment on one of his songs, and took about a full noticeable minute to correct it, but he got there, against all odds. Impressive stuff live and in the flesh. -Winston Robbins

Santigold – Sasquatch Stage – 7:10 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Whenever conversing with my international festival-going friends about covering Sasquatch!, the response was always along the lines of “That’s the one with the dancing guy, right?” That viral video of the dance party to Santigold’s 2009 performance of “Unstoppable” has become a festival legend and was the top conversation topic among fans on the hill and in the pit over what would happen for a sequel. Such a follow-up never happened, as Santigold left that moment preserved in time and pushed forward for a new adventure. Supported by a band in aquamarine Egyptian costume and backup dancers whose choreography seamlessly flowed from retro to hammer-wielding robotic stylings, Santi White created an all-inclusive carnival that offered something for even the pickiest music aficionados. Drawing upon everything from rock to dancehall to hip-hop, Santigold distilled various genres down to what makes each uniquely fun and blended them into a breathless 45 minute party that reassured the crowd that they didn’t need to follow anyone’s lead to let loose and just dance. -Frank Mojica

Mark Lanegan Band – Bigfoot Stage – 7:45 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

It’s fitting that at least one critic has compared Mark Lanegan’s voice to leather, specifically something along the lines of “a well-oiled baseball mitt,” because he took the stage like an all-star up to bat: His gargantuan frame was clad in a straight-brimmed Starter and windbreaker, and he gripped the mic stand like a—you got it—baseball bat. Ball-playing metaphors aside, Lanegan’s supple rasp texturizes more than anything else, and lacking anything substantial to rub up, makes for a boring performance. His Band’s slow jams showcase its uniqueness but don’t add anything even close to Screaming Trees’ screamadelia or his scary/sweet collaborations with Isobel Campbell. -Harley Brown

Girl Talk – Sasquatch Stage – 8:30 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Greg Gillis has one of the most simple business models in music: a compendium of popular samples that run the scales from Biggie Smalls to Kelly Clarkson, and a straight “party or die” attitude. Feed The Animals and All Day were well represented, with prominent samples like Lil Wayne and Birdman’s “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy” to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer”. Far more intriguing, however, were the new samples, which involved M83’s “Midnight City” versus Missy Elliott’s “Work It” and Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” juxtaposed against Drake and Lil’ Wayne’s “The Motto”. In other words, look out for some great mixes from Girl Talk in the near future. There’s a time and a place for each genre of music, and Greg Gillis takes it upon himself to make it that time and that place whenever he dons his sweatsuit and picks up his confetti cannons. He pulled out all the stops for Sassy, though, closing out the night with an impressive firework show that included a spark shower straight out of a Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial. -Winston Robbins

Explosions in the Sky – Bigfoot Stage – 9:15 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

It took more than a little willpower to tear myself away from Girl Talk’s piece-by-piece striptease and onstage dance party to go see Explosions in the Sky, which I knew would place me squarely back in the time when Explosions graciously provided the soundtrack to my final thesis. One of the first things I noticed was that I have never seen a band take themselves so seriously: Bent over their instruments, all the members of the band kept their eyes closed for the duration of their songs. Their fingers stretched wide across the frets, enormous on the Bigfoot Stage’s screens, to achieve those raw, open chords that make listening to their prog-rock so visceral.

It was the perfect time of night to listen to them, too, since the darkness allowed everyone to fully absorb their resonance without visual distractions. Explosions closed with “The Only Moment We Were Alone”, putting their dubstep neighbors to shame with that nine-minute build—which in and of itself climaxes several times—before finally, finally unleashing a wall of noise that shuddered through everyone at the same time. It was one of many moments reminding the festival attendees that we weren’t alone. -Harley Brown

Pretty Lights – Sasquatch Stage – 10:15 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

After Explosions in the Sky, Pretty Lights’ variations in dubstep minor were a whole different exercise in tension and release, starting with the countdown to his set flashing on Sasquatch’s aforementioned giant screens. Derek Vincent Smith’s one-man electronic outfit deals more in mid- and down-tempo than some of his EDM contemporaries, but he still sprinkled enough wubbery drops to satisfy what must have been the attendees raining confetti of glowsticks down from the hillside. Even though his set lacked the immediacy and WTF factor of Girl Talk’s instantly recognizable mashups just a half hour before, I appreciated Pretty Lights taking its time, segueing into “Finally Moving” as the glowsticks rained down in wave after wave. -Harley Brown

Saturday

Charles Bradley – Sasquatch Stage – 1:05 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

Charles Bradley was born in 1945, making him a dogged 67. And instead of worrying about hip replacement, he’s more concerned with pelvic thrusts – a great way to gauge his performing ethos. The “Screaming Eagle of Soul” hit the stage looking slick with a grateful smile running from ear to ear. As he ran through hits from his solo debut, No Time For Dreaming, the crowd (a healthy mix of devoted fans and innocent morning passers-by) grew increasingly more receptive to his illustrious showmanship. It was wildly apparent that Bradley has the pipes to match his stage persona, especially as he crooned “The World Is Going Up In Flames” to a just-rousing Gorge. -Winston Robbins

Rob Delaney – Banana Shack  - 2:00 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

“Always open with not a joke,” Rob Delaney remarked, after commenting on a fan’s Montreal Expos hat. As a Twitter sensation, Delaney has posted countless laugh-out-loud moments under 140 characters, but onstage he proved equally adept at spinning a short story long. He seamlessly transitioned from an all too-revealing critique of anal sex to Danzig fan letters, selling him as a captivating teller of the dirtiest and most personal of stories. -Frank Mojica

Portlandia – Banana Shack – 3:00 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

Sasquatch!’s Portlandia live experience began with a simple but memorable gem of awkward humor as Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein each read alleged text messages from the other to the crowd, with Armisen’s increasingly affectionate closings rebutted by more and more cold formality from Brownstein. The slideshows of old family photos, second-place Dracula poems, and cycling, and the Q&A session that followed all proved chuckle-worthy to some starstruck fans, but the shortage of surprise guests and traditional skits increasingly dwindled the over-capacity crowd to a more modest showing. -Frank Mojica

The Civil Wars – Sasquatch Stage – 3:15 p.m.

After the trashy beats and flashing lights of Girl Talk and Pretty Lights just the previous night, I was a little skeptical that a folk duo from Nashville could fill Sasquatch!’s cavernous depths with just two voices and a guitar. But once again, the screens saved the day, broadcasting images of the happy (and pregnant) couple, which made up for what they may have lacked in ingenuity with charm. Onstage, the Civil Wars’ carefully harmonized folk alternated between the embarrassingly honest choruses of contemporary country and Bible-belt stompers like “Barton Hollow”, and the latter fit the Gorge’s craggy, unforgiving landscape much better than the majority of the songs they played. But then frontman John Paul White would say something like, “This is the biggest audience we’ve ever played to, and we’re so happy to be here, and there’s a lot of times when people really don’t give a shit, so thank you so much!” and I’d have a hard time finding fault with their music because it was too pretty. -Harley Brown

THEESatisfaction – Yeti Stage – 3:30 p.m. 

Photo by Harley Brown

Across the festival from the Civil Wars, another couple was making their version of baby-making music at the Yeti Stage. Catherine Harris-White and Stasia Irons, otherwise known as Seattle future-funk duo THEESatisfaction, were bumping, grinding, and talk-singing over an engaging backbeat that drew just as much from variegated African percussion as it did 808s. I usually approach vocalists with a pre-recorded soundtrack with trepidation, but Irons and Harris-White assuaged any fears I had with synchronicity between verses along the lines of MC Lyte and the group’s instrumentals. Even though Shabazz Palace’s Palaceer didn’t make an appearance for his guest spot on “Enchantruss”—girls can dream, can’t they?—lyrics like “You’re breaking my bad habits/So we can wake and bake instead” still went over just as well, especially with this crowd. Unfortunately, awE naturalE’s subtleties, like the duo’s subtle mouth sounds and call and responses on “Bitch”, were lost live. -Harley Brown

Kurt Vile and the Violators – Bigfoot Stage – 4:15 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

It was still a sluggish afternoon at the Gorge as Kurt Vile began his sound check, and he wasn’t about to change that mood. Sluggish is Vile’s bread and butter. His shoegaze folk kept the pace evenly for his set’s entirety, and as he sported cuts from last year’s Smoke Ring for My Halo, the crowd wasn’t unresponsive, but they weren’t ecstatic by any means. They were somewhere in the middle for “Jesus Fever”, but by the time he closed with “Freak Train”, the webbed-shoes and the bare feet started moving and kicking up dust. -Winston Robbins

Dum Dum Girls – Bigfoot Stage – 5:10 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

In the five o’clock hour, the sky at the Gorge was heavily overcast with rays of especially bright light peeking through the clouds. Similarly, the ’60s girl group-themed vocals of Dum Dum Girls were wrapped in a garage and shoegaze haze. While the pieces fell into place on set highlights “Bedroom Eyes” and “Only in Dreams”, the lively choruses aimed for catchy but lacked sharpness in their hooks, while harmonies were lost in a sea of reverb and persistent sound issues. Like a Dum Dum Pop, the set offered a little sweet but not completely satisfying treat. -Frank Mojica

Childish Gambino – Sasquatch Stage – 5:25 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

We all know Donald Glover is a jokester, but the more you listen to his raps and see his performances, you start to feel he’s found his true niche. On Saturday afternoon, Gambino took to the Sasquatch stage as a blazing force in hip-hop, opening with the club-influenced “Firefly”, which automatically sent the crowd into a frenzy. After that, everyone was bobbing up and down as he dropped a new jam for Questlove, touched fans with “Freaks and Geeks”, and sparked a riot of a crowd with “Bonfire”. Gambino knows how to throw down on the mic, and it might not be long before Donald Glover becomes something of the past and Childish Gambino becomes his true identity. -Ted Maider

araabMuzik – Banana Shack – 5:40 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

And now for something completely different: Not only did araabMuzik, the MPC-destroying performing and recording moniker of Abraham Orellana, take the stage after Portlandia, he suddenly became a dubstep artist when I had been expecting Instrumental University’s low-slung trap claps and airy synthpads. After araabMuzik’s hype man took the stage, providing a bigger, louder version of his recorded hypewoman (“You are now listening to araabMuzik” with the frequency of a radio personality), Orellana took the distorted piano that opens “1, 2, 3 Grind” and dropped it into that telltale wub-wub. Crowd control staff got involved shortly thereafter, practically lifting people out of the way to attend to multiple flower-tiara’d girls atop their boyfriends’ shoulders, who couldn’t have been more than 12 or 14 years old. You’d be hard pressed to say araabMuzik didn’t know his audience, but the question is, which audience? -Harley Brown

Metric – Sasquatch Stage – 6:40 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

After playing a very brief acoustic set in the Kokanee Tent comprised of “Help I’m Alive”, “Youth Without Youth”, and the world debut of “Synthetica”, Emily Haines and co. took to the Sasquatch stage to play to the masses at a very boisterous Gorge. Metric has gained a considerable following, and sure as the sun, they all showed up to sing along with every word – even the songs off the group’s forthcoming effort, Synthetica. In fact, their set was very Synthetica heavy, which weighed down the pacing for casual fans, but with help of old favorites like “Satellite Mind” and “Dead Disco”, they still made it a full-fledged pop-rock extravaganza. -Winston Robbins

tUnE-yArDs – Bigfoot Stage – 7:30 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

Among a small sampling of people I talked to at Sasquatch!, all had polarizing views on tUnE-yArDs’ music. “Oh, you’ve got to see them live,” I said, knowing that Merrill Garbus is a theatrical virtuoso that will mesmerize hapless bystanders with her clarion yawp. Sadly, the sprawl the Bigfoot stage and the dubious acoustics proved somewhat of a foil to tUnE-yArDs’ set, as jittery onlookers around me enjoyed bopping to “Gangsta”, but were definitely looking for something that hit harder. Even “Powa”, which was played early in the set and usually silences whole clubs, came out tepid (the vocal loops Garbus recorded in the beginning didn’t seem to ignite later in the song, as evinced by Garbus’ big goofy grin to the bass player at the end). All the elements were there, though– her gesticulations, her spot-on voice, her theatrical flair — everything that made tUnE-yArDs so impressive when she started this very same tour over a year ago. -Jeremy D. Larson

The Shins – Sasquatch Stage – 8:10 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

The Shins’ set was nearly upstaged by a hang glider. First one, and then a few, and then many people suddenly pointed at what seemed to be a flying go-cart zooming low over the canyon toward the setting sun (Choice excerpt: “What the fuck? Did you see that or were you too busy looking at your hand?” and a few seconds later, noticeably more distressed, “What is happening?”). But Mercer’s tenor commanded attention no matter the surroundings, especially while wailing the chorus on “Kissing the Lipless”, which opened the Shins’ set. For this performance, the band upped classical piano keys in the mix, softening the edges around the clipped enunciations on “Caring Is Creepy”. It still sounds smoother on record, but I appreciated the experimentation. The Shins played a good mix of old and new songs, indulging in “New Slang” and taking the time to jam out on tracks like “The Rifle’s Spiral”. The Sasquatch himself even made an appearance: Toward the end of the Shins’ set, he snuck out from behind the stage setup, essentially Port of Morrow’s album art. But Mercer is a professional and, of course, the band played on. -Harley Brown

St. Vincent – Bigfoot Stage – 9:00 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

Once the night finally rolled in, St. Vincent took the crowd at the Bigfoot stage to an even darker place. Annie Clark ferociously pummeled her guitar until it surrendered its utter jagged wickedness, jolted along like a haunted robot to her band’s twisted rhythms, and even attacked a theremin on “Northern Lights”, all while unleashing angelic cries. The effect was akin to being kicked in the gut and hugged simultaneously. After tearing through a cover of The Pop Group, Clark left the safety of the stage to be thrown around like a rag doll by a completely enthralled crowd during the riot grrrl rager “Krokodil”. As hard-hitting as the juxtapositions between the hideous and the gorgeous on the live interpretations of Strange Mercy and Actor highlights were, it was this set-closing one-two punch of punk rock appropriation that stole not just the St. Vincent show but the weekend as well.  -Frank Mojica

Jack White – Sasquatch Stage – 10:00 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

If anyone’s going to break the set-in-stone festival set times, not to mention his own rules about live performances, it’s Jack White. After playing almost until his allotted time of 11:30 p.m., he left the stage with his all-male backing band and returned with the same when I had been expecting his all-female band, since he almost always switches halfway through his set. And then he blew through his end time with “We’re Going to Be Friends”, “Hotel Yorba”, and “Seven Nation Army”.

But that wasn’t nearly the best part of Jack White’s set. Nor was his ability to noodle through rock and roll’s evolution over the past 60 years or so years, or the prodigious talent of the predominantly Nashville- and Detroit-based Los Buzzardos, nor was it the millions of dollars worth of equipment on stage. No, the best part was probably when he played the Raconteurs’ “Steady, As She Goes”. “Here’s the part where I ask you to sing along. I don’t care if you don’t know the words, or if you don’t want to sing the words, or if you can’t sing the words, or if you don’t know what the words mean, or if you won’t know what they mean until you drive home tonight.” With that, he commanded the audience to sing, “Are you steady now?” At the third repetition, White and Los Buzzardos crashed into the final verse and got two thousand people to jump up and down, hands in the air, in unison. No glow sticks necessary.  -Harley Brown

The Roots – Bigfoot Stage – 11:30 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

Saturday was stacked in terms of artists that warranted seeing. It seemed as though I was running all day to catch so and so’s set at a different stage, and I don’t think I was the only one. As a result, there was not much energy left in the reserves of most of the festival-goers. Those that stayed were yawning and standing on weak legs, but it was no fault of The Roots. They, as always, brought their “A” game and then some. In fact, as the masses migrated from Jack White back to camp or their cars, many were sucked in as The Roots crew dipped into their back catalogue, playing their anthemic “Proceed” followed by a funky off-the-cuff version of “Jungle Boogie”.

Drummer/hip-hop guru Questlove was sporting a different haircut (I guess he decided on cornrows for the evening), but the sound remained the same. Both Quest and Black Thought kept the ensuing massive hoard entertained throughout, dusting off more oldies like “The Seed 2.0” and “Mellow My Man” both of which were folded into choice cuts from their previous two albums, How I Got Over and Undun. By the end of the night, they were playing to the largest audience The Bigfoot stage saw all weekend. And yes, they played the Jimmy Fallon song. -Winston Robbins

Sunday

Hey Marseilles - Sasquatch Stage  - 12:00 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Fully aligned with those squinty-eyed early birds, the seven-piece Seattle chamber met the first crowd of Sunday with warm cello, fiddle, squeeze box, trumpet, and acoustic guitars backed with that big beat stomp. Props to their arrangements, which despite the all too familiar sound, flow in and out of the music without lulling a song into a weepy sleep. Eager, earnest, and polite — perfect for the first smile-and-nod of the day. -Jeremy D. Larson

Reignwolf – Yeti Stage – 1:20 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

He’s the kind of band that makes other bands roll their eyes at him — but that’s part and parcel why I stood and watched Reignwolf’s whole set. He’s Jordan Cook from Saskatoon, clearly a Jack White acolyte, and a complete cock-ass showman on guitar, playing pentatonic riffs with one hand and holding the mic with the other. For the first part of the show, it was Cook alone on stage, stomping on a drum, pleasing the living shit out of himself playing guitar and singing unabashed blues. His band came on a couple songs later and added a bit of a Black Sabbath via Spinal Tap groove-metal to the sound– a foreign vibe for most of the bands playing Sasquatch!. Of course, he was wearing a black leather jacket, doing The Lip Curl, pointing to screaming women in the crowd, standing on the bass drum, and sitting on the security guy’s shoulders. He’s without a record, but full of so much unabashed spirit, theatrics, and style that his live show is all he needs for now.  -Jeremy D. Larson

Here We Go Magic – Bigfoot Stage – 3:00 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

“Is everyone stoned?” Everyone probably should have been for this colorless start to the afternoon, which evaporated almost as soon as it pulsed from Jen Hunter’s admittedly formidable bass. I don’t know if it was the fact that Here We Go Magic’s bass-heavy blend of krautrock and psychedelic afterthoughts should be heard in a dark, enclosed space (i.e. headphones) as opposed to the blinding light and wind of midday in the Gorge, but the heavy atmosphere the band was trying to drive home with rhythm fell flat. They were effective when combined with more engaging foils, like vocalist Luke Temple’s Hayden Thorpe-like falsetto on “Tunnelvision” or the uptempo “Collector” with its synthesizers and catchy repetition of “I’ve got a mild fascination.” -Harley Brown

Blind Pilot – Sasquatch Stage – 3:30 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

Sunday was a bit of a slow morning, so to hear Blind Pilot’s keen harmonizing and to see their smiling faces was truly a much-needed energy booster. Since last playing at The Gorge, they released We Are the Tide, a far more ambitious album than their debut and one that’s primed for a live setting. The best of the new bunch was the astoundingly beautiful “Half Moon”, and they left just enough time to play some of their golden oldies like “Oviedo” and “The Story I Heard”. Their tight, Northwest folk struck a chord with the Northwesterners at ease, who all came out in droves to see local rock on the mainstage. -Winston Robbins

The War On Drugs – Bigfoot Stage – 4:10 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

The hairs were grayer in the crowd for The War On Drugs’ set as Adam Granduciel’s humbuckers made their bossgaze music spiral out across the field. This was my first time seeing the band at a big festival on a sizable stage, though they hardly seem suited for any other environment. Their rolling guitar lines, no longer tangled in a small club, are given the chance to stretch and breathe in the wind. “Baby Missles” could stand tall next to any Springsteen song at Wrigley Field, and even the moseying “I Was There” wrapped around the crowd as Granduciel merely suggested the melody for those great lyrics: “I was there to catch a man/I thought I had him by the hand/I only had him by the glove.” Oh, and a fairly large dance circle broke out during “Come To The City”, instigated by a guy in a top hat wearing a black shirt with neon letters that read, “I’m In Cancun, Bitches.” Won’t find that at a rock club. -Jeremy D. Larson

Beat Connection – Banana Shack – 4:40 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

Sunday was the windiest day of all at Sasquatch!, so to hole up in the Banana Shack to catch Beat Connection’s electro-savvy surf rock was a major relief. Not only did it get everyone out of the wind, it invited them into an atmosphere of rock ‘n’ roll straight from the beach. They ran through most of their Surf Noir EP over their short set, hitting triumphant strides during “In The Water” and “Silver Screen”. -Winston Robbins

M. Ward – Sasquatch Stage – 5:25 p.m.

Among the list of names that could have potentially headlined the festival over Pretty Lights was M. Ward, a man who needs very little introduction. If you’re a rock enthusiast, the man shreds like there’s no tomorrow. If you’re an indie vet, he’s written some of the best indie folk of our generation, and to the layman, he’s the other half of Zooey Deschanel’s She & Him project. I feel like any one of those criteria would deem him an eligible suitor for headlining, but alas, he was mid-day on the mainstage. None of that mattered once he started plunging deep into his enormous back catalogue. His latest effort, A Wasteland Companion, was well represented, but he also played a surprising amount of 2009’s Hold Time. What’s more, “For Beginners” and his cover of Buddy Holly’s “Rave On” were greeted with special warmth. He and his band (which included Bright Eyes mainstay Nate Walcott) played a tight, enjoyable set to finish off the afternoon at the Gorge. -Winston Robbins

Active Child – Yeti Stage – 5:40 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

Admittedly, I was hesitant about how Active Child could pull off their affecting, unconventional sound live. Any doubts promptly dissolved upon witnessing Pat Grossi belt “You Are All I See” with a power only hinted at on the album of the same name. Instruments outnumbered people by at least a two-to-one ratio, but the trio switched back and forth to recapture the intricately layered nature of the album. The pacing picked up after Grossi switched from harp to synth for “Playing House”, with the crowd breaking out in one of the weekend’s unlikeliest sessions of clapping and dancing along. -Frank Mojica

Wild Flag – Bigfoot Stage – 6:20 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

Right after Wild Flag’s set, I tweeted “Wild Flag > Jack White,” which elicited more responses than I’ve ever gotten, with people asking, “Are you sure about that?” I’d like to blame such an inflammatory statement on the comedown from Flag frenzy, but the truth is, the post-Sleater Kinney/Helium/Autoclave supergroup singlehandedly overturned my predilection for male-fronted rock. Their whole set simply annihilated, acting as the antithesis to White’s testost-rock: On “Racehorse”, Carrie Brownstein stretched open her red-lipsticked mouth and screamed, “You’d better RIIIIDE!” after commanding her rapt audience to “pony up” and “put your money where your sweet, sweet mouth is.” She and fellow guitarist and singer Mary Timony held their instruments aloft, letting the feedback buffet an audience slightly older and tamer than the festival’s general population but no less appreciative (“They fucking rocked it!”, “That was sick!”).

Despite the sanctity of Wild Flag’s performance, the foursome indulged in light moments like the falsetto harmonies on “Electric Band” and Brownstein’s infamous Portlandia humor (“We’re happy to be here in this Whitesnake video wind tunnel onstage”). During a cover of Patti Smith’s “Ask the Angels”, Brownstein took a moment to push against Timony’s forehead while the latter riffed, finally butting her away to finish the song. It was such a classically rock ‘n roll moment that reminded me of the age-old question: Are men necessary? Probably, but the ladies onstage certainly made me think twice about it. -Harley Brown

The Walkmen – Bigfoot Stage – 7:30 p.m. 

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Anyone who had the foresight to stick around at the Bigfoot Stage for the early evening also had the privilege to see the veteran musicians of Wild Flag and The Walkmen put on two of the weekend’s best sets back-to-back. While the former technically hasn’t been around for that long, The Walkmen have been playing together for a decade, and it shows. Hamilton Leithauser moves seamlessly from the Bing Crosby croon of brand new material like “We Can’t Be Beat” to throaty favorites like A Hundred Miles Off’s “All Hands and the Cook”, all the while busting the veins in his neck with his signature wail. Cuts off Heaven bounced with enthusiasm, but older songs sounded well-worn with years of experience and ceaseless touring. After such a professional performance, it was surprising to hear Leithauser say dryly, “We’re rarely invited in the first place, so it’s an honor to be invited back.” But when several shirtless young men crowd-surfed during “The Rat”, slamming the front row into the barricade, I think I understood where he was coming from. -Harley Brown

Apparat – Banana Shack – 8:00 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

I’m going to come right out and say it: I have a very rudimentary knowledge of Apparat and its history. All I know is that someone handed me a copy of The Devil’s Walk earlier this year, and I was infatuated by Apparat’s collected combination of the sentimentality of Aqualung with the beat-centricity of Modeselektor. I don’t want to jump the gun and say anything prematurely, but there were some serious Radiohead vibes coming off the Berlin outfit’s stage. As they drifted in and out of songs it was easy to get lost in their melodic beats. “Sweet Unrest” even evoked chorus chanting from those fans who were relishing the opportunity to see the out-of-towners play Sasquatch. And like I said, I’m not overly familiar with the band’s complete works, but I know for certain they put on a hell of a show for a very big audience (many of whom were just lining up early to see Mr. James Murphy).  -Winston Robbins

Beirut – Sasquatch Stage -8:10 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Meanwhile, over at the Sasquatch! stage, every single couple at the festival was settling into what would be three hours of some of the most unabashedly romantic indie music today, starting with Beirut (which one friendly, older gentleman in a tie-dyed Pink Floyd t-shirt next to me called “tragically romantic”). I got to Beirut’s set just in time for “Postcards from Italy”, as Zach Condon’s ukulele washed over a field of blankets and ketchup-stained curly fry containers with the setting sun. And then the horns kicked in, mirroring the tenor and vibrato of Condon’s own warble, which should be patented or put in a glass case somewhere for future generations—I’m sure more than a few were conceived that night—to marvel at. I was pleased that synth-based songs, like “My Night with the Prostitute from Marseilles” and Gulag Orkestar’s version of “Scenic World”, which sound thin on record, were fleshed out with a live drum and Beirut’s copious instrumentation.

When I asked my musically-trained fellow correspondent why “Scenic World” was so good, he didn’t have an answer. Instead, he asked, “Why is Beirut so good?” Maybe like the Gorge, both have an inherent beauty that’s difficult to explain or scientifically reconcile. The bassist, who threw his hands up in ecstasy during “Rhineland (Heartland)”, seemed to think so, too. -Harley Brown

James Murphy – Banana Shack – 9:30 p.m.

Photo by Ted Maider

And then it was time to choose. Do you go with the uber-hip funky disco of James Murphy or the crowd-friendly fest of pristine folk that Bon Iver had to offer? It might be the most important decision you ever make. This decision could ostensibly define you as a person. Okay, maybe not. But there were enough bodies in the Banana Shack to consider that the ratio may have been much, much closer to 50/50 for Bon Iver/James Murphy than one might have guessed. And those in attendance to see Mr. Murphy were certainly not let down. He began his set with a humble question – “Can I play some records now?” – not aimed at the crowd, but at the sound guy.

Regardless, both gave him their adamant approval, and that’s how it was for the next two hours: Murphy in his headphones, going back and forth between his turntables and the table he had set up behind him, full of vinyl (a formidable collection, to be sure) and drinks. The man brought the party so nonchalantly, it was easy to forget he was the ringleader. What wasn’t easy to forget, though, was the constant flux of disco and rave he kept thudding for the next two hours. And perhaps the most endearing part of his set was that he didn’t play a single song that anyone was familiar with, and it was still a solid two-and-half-hours of non-stop dancing. After going half an hour longer than he was scheduled for, he announced that this was “the most fun festival show in a long, long time,” and I doubt anyone in attendance would argue. One of the strongest sets of the festival, through and through.-Winston Robbins

Bon Iver – Sasquatch Stage – 10:00 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Full disclosure: “Skinny Love” made me cry. Right after a guy wearing what appeared to be a faux-fur head wrap and a tie-dyed tank top asked me if I was “journaling” and asked me for a hug, this hardened journalist got a little verklempt. It’s hard not to when thousands of people shout, “Now all your love is wasted/Then who the hell was I?” at the top of their lungs. Like the other cuts off For Emma, Forever Ago, it received the Bon Iver backing band treatment, swelling with lush strings and horns that would have sounded out of place on Justin Vernon’s mostly acoustic debut. Fortunately, he didn’t take himself too seriously, pausing after “Perth” to say, “This is pretty fucking cool!” and admitting that “Towers” was about “sweet, sweet college” while “Holocene” was about drugs and alcohol.

Another disclosure: I did not enjoy Bon Iver’s set on Saturday night, Colin Stetson’s mind-bending circular breathing aside. The swaying burlap curtains hanging from the light fixtures, glowing tiki lights onstage, and “Towers”’ 10-minute jam session was all too much. I was probably the only one who felt that something was missing—except the people next to us who wondered if this was a dubstep show—but I had a hard time finding For Emma-era’s emotion behind songs like the almost unrecognizably orchestral “Blood Bank”. After a performance so far removed from Vernon’s original intent, I wasn’t surprised to hear he’s taking five years off from Bon Iver. -Harley Brown

Monday

Gary Clark Jr. – Sasquatch Stage – 2:10 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Before he even started his first song, the crowd down in the pit chanted “Gar-ry! Gar-ry! Gar-ry!” It’s an unusual reception for someone playing so early in the day, but Gary Clark Jr. is the latest guitar god. Under a scorching sun, Clark shredded some vicious guitar solos and scraped his guitar strings with wild abandon in a manner more intimidating than anything in the swamps of the Delta. The blues may have been around for decades, but Clark proves that there is still freshness and innovation to be drawn from that world. -Frank Mojica

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Sasquatch Stage – 3:15 p.m.

 I last saw Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Bonnaroo in 2006, fresh off the success of their self-titled debut. Even though the tent had been dark and hot as a jockstrap and the set was plagued with technical difficulties, the band’s wild-eyed enthusiasm made it worthwhile. Six years later, I approached another Clap Your Hands Say Yeah festival set, this time post-Hysteria, with some reservation. Even though the band members stayed static onstage, “Same Mistake” and “Hysteria” swept big and clean across the dancers—two of which held their right hands and clapped their left hands together, embodying the happy-go-lucky spirit of my first CYHSY show—in the front section, and old cuts like “Heavy Metal” still invigorated in a live setting. The telltale buzzing keys cuing “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth”, however, sounded old and tired, as though the band couldn’t muster the energy to play their most popular song anymore. It only reminded me that there will never be another Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. -Harley Brown

The Joy Formidable – Sasquatch Stage  - 4:20 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Thankfully the rocky landscape of the Gorge is a sturdy one, because The Joy Formidable fired a set of catchy pop backed by the kind of shoegaze noise that could cause an avalanche. The Welsh power trip performed like rock stars and were given a likewise response, especially for set high point “Whirring”. After a promise of a return and a completed album, the Welsh power trio ripped into “A Heavy Abacus” for a fast-paced, roaring close, which ended with drummer Matt Thomas pummeling solo for the finale. If anyone in The Joy Formidable deserved their own time in the spotlight, it was Thomas because his especially frantic style was one of the hardest-hitting of the entire weekend. -Frank Mojica

fun. – Bigfoot Stage – 4:40 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

After reading lackluster reviews of Some Nights, judging the album tracklist by its cover, and getting sick of the person who drives around my block blasting “We Are Young”, I didn’t have high hopes for fun.’s Monday afternoon set. I was the only one, apparently, since the band drew the second-largest crowd to the Bigfoot Stage after the Roots’ performance on Saturday night. And I have to admit, everyone else was right. Fun.’s set was, well, fun. Frontman Nate Ruess, who sported a “FUN.” basketball jersey with his name on the back, sounds uncannily like Freddie Mercury. His band also specializes in Queen’s bombastic, theatrical rock, minus the sense of humor. Their arena rock gets people singing along to ridiculous lyrics like “my friends are higher than the Empire State” (although that was probably because in this context, it was true). It’s true that Ruess’ stale soliloquy on “Some Nights”—“I sold my soul for this/Washed my hands of that for this/Miss my mom and dad for this?”—is kind of cringe-worthy, but who has time to think about that when you’re singing along? -Harley Brown

Feist – Sasquatch Stage – 5:30 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

On the Sasquatch stage, Leslie Feist illustrated how she can grip a crowd while actively avoiding shortcuts, even going as far as to omit obvious old favorites such as the iPod commercial sensation “1 2 3 4″ and reinvent others. For opener “When I Was a Young Girl”, Feist took the stage backed by only a drummer as she gave the song a makeover with country-tinged guitars, while “Mushaboom” was stripped down to an almost unrecognizable form. For penultimate “Comfort Me”, Feist asked the crowd to channel Bon Jovi or their favorite ’80s band to wave their hands and sing along all the “na na na’s”. The result may have reminded her of New Kids on the Block, but for the crowd it was the latest in a nonstop series of engrossing moments. -Frank Mojica

The Cave Singers – Bigfoot Stage – 6:50 p.m.

Photo by Colin Athens

Seattle-based folk outfit The Cave Singers both managed to follow fun.’s anthems and set the stage for Deer Tick, whose covers set was to take Mogwai’s place after them. Frontman Derek Fudesco even sounded like John J. Macaulay, spitting gravel into the mic while he shook duct-taped maracas. The group’s more angular cuts, like “Black Leaf” and “At the Cut” from several years ago, got a four-day-tired audience on their feet—literally, a guy was wrapped in a blanket at my feet, rising only to tell his friend, “I’ve never been so tired in my life” before going to lean against the barricade—more than their quieter, more acoustic ballads. All in all, though, it was a good mix. I was just disappointed they didn’t have time to play their 10-minute version of ZZ Top’s “Legs”, which they promised they would later play acoustically next to the frozen margaritas. -Harley Brown

Silversun Pickups – Sasquatch Stage – 7:00 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Sometimes a band’s meant to play a festival at a certain point, and the Silversun Pickups were destined to perform at the Sasquatch stage, amidst the sun’s last plunge into the Gorge on this Memorial Day weekend. As exhausted as the crowd was, the California rockers’ loud fuzz breathed some life into the wary spectators, and frontman Brian Aubert even offered some comedic respite. ”Be excellent to each other and party on, dudes,” he exclaimed, quoting Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, all before launching into classics like “Panic Switch” and Lazy Eye”. How could we not oblige? -Ted Maider

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists  - Yeti Stage – 7:50 p.m.

Like The Cave Singers, Ted Leo also realized he was fighting a battle against festival fatigue. “Thanks for sticking it out for all four days,” he said, peppering his high-wattage set with Paul Stanley quotes and regret that there wasn’t an Erin Esurance hologram onstage with him (“But in this light, it probably wouldn’t work anyway”). The knot of fans clustered against the oncoming cold yelled things like “More of the same! Similar to before!” after Leo ripped through fan favorites like “Me and Mia” and “The One Who Got Us Out”. His band rocked so hard that they broke a bass drum pedal on “arguably their wimpiest song,” “Bottled In Cork”. Even though the crowd was small and the night was getting cold, Ted Leo’s warm stage presence and brutally intimate performance gave off enough energy to last the rest of Sasquatch! 2012. -Harley Brown

Deer Tick – Bigfoot Stage – 8:00 p.m. 

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Mogwai’s performance was cancelled due to travel issues, and Spiritualized was promoted to their closing timeslot, while a second Deer Tick set was added to the schedule. “We’re not here to play any Deer Tick songs”, announced frontman John McCauley before tearing into a special covers set that included Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline” and The Replacements’  ”Waitress in the Sky”. High points were a raucous rendition of “La Bamba” and becoming Deervana for “On a Plain”. It may not have been the post-rock giants, but Deer Tick’s cover set was still a special treat that made the most of the moment. -Frank Mojica

Tenacious D – Sasquatch Stage – 8:15 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Those who remained Monday evening quite possibly stuck around just for Tenacious D. Not only did they attract one of the largest crowds of the weekend, but also the liveliest. When JB and KG arrived on stage in comedic white fur coats, everyone surged (like an At the Drive-In reunion sort of surge), and things got tough. “We want to shut this motherfucker down,” Jack Black screamed, backing this statement up with on-target renditions of “Tribute”, “Kickapoo”, “Senorita”, and plenty more. The set’s true highlight, however, was when the festival’s mascot arrived for Pick of Destiny gem “Sasquatch” to shred some mean guitar solos in the name of rock. Only at the Gorge– and only with Tenacious D– could such a memorable performance take place. -Ted Maider

Spiritualized – Bigfoot Stage – 9:30 p.m.

 Photo by Colin Athens

Due to Mogwai’s late cancellation, Spiritualized was moved back an hour and a half, forcing everyone to wait longer, but giving them the last slot on the Bigfoot stage, with plenty of time to go over – which they did. After opening with a blistering rendition of “Hey Jane”, Jason Pierce and his band ran through a very sizable portion of their latest LP, Sweet Light, Sweet Heart. The party didn’t really begin, though, until they dropped “Ladies And Gentlemen, We’re Floating In Space” in tandem with the quiet ballad from the same album, “Stay With Me”. At 11:00 p.m., half an hour after they were supposed to be finished, they began a rousing live version of “Come Together” that had the dismally small crowd rocking back and forth in unison. That would be their last song of the night, but it was as triumphant a note to end with as the one they rode in on. In all seriousness, there should have been a lot more people at The Bigfoot stage to see the legendary UK outfit (to be fair, he was competing against Beck’s headlining set), but Pierce was unphased by the small turnout, and he rocked just like everyone knew he would. -Winston Robbins

Beck  - Sasquatch Stage – 10:00 p.m.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Before the final set of the weekend, the main stage screens ceased the cycling of advertisement slides for corporate sponsors and upcoming concerts to show footage of a raccoon climbing the rafters. The surreal moment was the perfect segue for a performance by a weirdster chameleon such as Beck. Earlier in the week in Los Angeles, Beck reunited with his Sea Change band for the first time since it was recorded, and at the Gorge they took advantage of this special assembly to perform album standouts “Lost Cause” and “Sunday Sun”. As stirring as the renditions of these heartbreak odes were, it was the more upbeat hits like “Devil’s Haircut”, “E-Pro”, and “Loser” that predictably drew the biggest response, even if the man himself seemed somewhat disinterested.

Near the end, Beck and company were joined by Tenacious D for a rare performance of “Mutherfuker”, giving this year’s Sasquatch! its final “can you believe that happened?” moment. Beck may have been an odd choice for a headliner, namely for the lack of any new material, but he showed how fun it can be to just hear the crowd-pleasing hits combined with oddities for the more seasoned fans. -Frank Mojica

Gallery

Photographer(s): Jeremy D. Larson, Ted Maider

Dave Matthews Band will hit the road this summer for its first U.S. tour since 2010. The massive trek spans over 40 dates, kicking off in The Woodlands, Texas on May 18th and ending in Mountain View, California on September 9th. Along the way, Dave and co. will share bills with The Avett Brothers, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Delta Spirit, Fitz and the Tantrums, Gary Clark Jr., and a number of other acts.

A fanclub pre-sale for members begins Thursday, February 16, at 10:00 AM ET, with a public on-sale following on Friday, March 9th. Visit DMB’s website for specific on-sale dates and complete ticketing information.

An issued press release also reports that the band and producer Steve Lillywhite recently began work on a new studio album, the first since 2009′s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Stay tuned for more details.

Dave Matthews Band 2012 Tour Dates:
05/18 – Woodlands, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion *
05/19 – Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavilion *
05/20 – Gulf Shores, AL @ Hangout Music Festival
05/22 - Atlanta, GA @ Aaron’s Ampitheatre at Lakewood ^
05/23 – Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre ^
05/25 – Hartford, CT @ Comcast Theatre %
05/26 – Hartford, CT @ Comcast Theatre $
05/28 – Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain $
05/29 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center $
06/02 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Ampitheatre ~
06/03 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center ~
06/05 – Manfield, MA @ Comcast Center $
06/06 – Mansfield, MA @ Comcast Center $
06/08 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center !
06/09 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center !
06/12 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre #
06/13 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre #
06/16 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live +
06/17 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Farm Bureau Live +
06/22 – Noblesville, IN @ Klipsch Music Center +
06/23 – Noblesville, IN @ Klipsch Music Center >
06/26 – Camden, MA @ Susquehanna Bank Center ?
06/27 – Camden, MA @ Susquehanna Bank Center
06/29 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
06/30 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts >
07/03 – Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center ?
07/06 – E. Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Center
07/07 – E. Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Center ?
07/10 – Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Center ?
07/11 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre ?
07/13 – Burgettstown, PA @ First Niagara Pavilion &
07/14 – Burgettstown, PA @ First Niagara Pavilion &
07/18 – Tampa, FL @ 1-800-Ask-Gary Ampitheatre /
07/20 – W. Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Ampitheatre /
07/21 – W. Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Ampitheatre /
08/31 – George, WA @ The Gorge Ampitheatre ()
09/01 – George, WA @ The Gorge Ampitheatre ()
09/07 – Chula Vista, WA @ Cricket Wireless Ampitheatre <
09/08 – Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre <
09/09 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Ampitheatre <

* = w/ Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
^ = w/ The Head and the Heart
% = w/ Mariachi El Bronx
$ = w/ Carolina Chocolate Drops
~ = w/ Blind Pilot
! = w/ Lettuce
# = w/ Fitz and the Tantrums
+ = w/ Gary Clark Jr.
> = w/ Delta Spirit
? = w/ Brandi Carlie
& = w/ SOJA
/ = w/ Tower of Power
() = w/ The Avett Brothers
< = w/ Allen Stone

The 11th annual Bonnaroo Music Festival runs June 7-10th in Manchester, Tennessee. This year’s bill is headlined by Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, and the reunited Beach Boys, with Bon Iver, The Shins, Dispatch, Foster the People, The Avett Brothers, Skrillex, Feist, and Aziz Ansari among the other heavyweights.

Other notables include The Roots, Ben Folds Five, Black Star, Alice Cooper, St. Vincent, Mogwai, Major Lazer, Flying Lotus, Alabama Shakes, Dawes, Flogging Molly, Childish Gambino, Ludacris, tUnE-yArDs, SBTRKT, Battles, Black Lips, Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown, The Joy Formidable, Young the Giant, Kurt Vile and The Violators, EMA, The Antlers, Delta Spirit, Das Racist, The War on Drugs, Laura Marling, Here We Go Magic,  Yelawolf, and Mac Miller.

Also playing are Umphey’s McGee, The Word (featuring Robert Randolph, John Medeski, and North Mississippi Allstars), Bad Brains, Mariachi El Bronx, The Devil Makes Three, Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Gary Clark Jr., Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Kathleen Edwards, Phantogram, Two Door Cinema Club, Fitz and the Tantrums, The Civil Wars, City and Colour, The Kooks, Big Freedia, K-Flay, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Grouplove, White Denim, SOJA, Big Gigantic, Fruit Bats, Moon Taxi, The Soul Rebels, The Lonely Forest, ALO, Blind Pilot, Ben Howard, Trampled By Turtles, Mimosa, and Spectrum Road (featuring Santana, John Medeski, Jack Bruce, Cindy Blackman, and Vernon Reid.)

This year also promises another one of Bonnaroo’s trademark superjams; however, the participating artists have yet to be announced.

In all, over 125 bands and 20 comedians will perform across 13 stages during the four-day event. Additional artists and comedians will be revealed in the coming weeks. Below, you can watch the lineup announced by ESPN’s John Anderson.

Tickets go on sale beginning Saturday, February 18th at Noon ET via the festival’s website.

Update: Here’s the poster:

As reported, The Shins return on March 20th with their fourth LP, Port of Morrow, via Columbia Records and frontman James Mercer’s own Aural Apothecary imprint. We’ve already heard the album’s lead single, “Simple Song”, along with its b-side, “September”. Now, BPM points to a recent solo performance by Mercer for San Diego radio station 91X, which included the premiere of the album track “It’s Only Life”. The entire four-song set, which also featured “Simple Song”, “Young Pilgrims”, and “New Slang”, is streaming below; scroll to the 3:49ish mark to hear “It’s Only Life”.

In more Shins news, the band recently confirmed the openers for their upcoming U.S. tour: The Antlers, The Head and The Heart, and Blind Pilot all win. Check out the updated tour docket below.

The Shins 2012 Tour Dates:
03/13-18 – Austin, TX @ South by Southwest
03/22 – London, UK @ HMV Forum
03/23 – London, UK @ HMV Forum
03/25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
03/26 – Paris, FR @ Bataclan
04/28 – Berlin, DE @ Huxley’s
03/30 – Stockholm, SE @ Berns Salonger
04/13 – Las Vegas, NV @ Cosmopolitan
04/14 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
04/17 – Honolulu, HI @ Blaisdell Concert Hall
04/18 – Maui, HI @ Castle Theatre
04/21 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
04/22 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium
04/23 – Davis, CA @ Robert Mondavi Center
04/25 – Reno, NV @ Grand Sierra Resort & Casino
05/25 – Bend, OR @ Les Schawb Ampitheatre #^
05/26 – George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
05/28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Red Butte Garden Ampitheater #^
05/29 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Ampitheatre #^
05/31 – Council Bluffs, IA @ Harrahs Council Bluffs *^
06/04 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant *
06/05 – Columbus, OH @ LC Indoor Pavilion *
06/06 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore *
06/08 – Cleveland, OH @ Masonic Auditorium *
06/09 – Louisville, KY @ Iroquois Ampitheatre *

# = w/ The Head and The Heart
^ = w/ Blind Pilot
* = w/ The Antlers

The trio of Vermont-originating ladies open up their tour with a spot on the Winnipeg Folk Festival lineup. They’ll head to Minneapolis, MN for a free show at Cedar Cultural Center before hitting Milwaukee, WI, Chicago, IL, Sante Fe, NM, and Denver, CO.

After playing Telluride, CO, they’ll move back east through St. Louis, MO and Indianapolis, IN and on to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, PA, Arlington, VA, two New York shows, and one in Massachusetts.   Their last date in the summer months will be at the Newport Folk Festival, and they’ll play England’s End of the Road Festival in September.

Three of these shows will be opening slots for Portland indie-folk band Blind Pilot. See which ones by checking out Mountain Man’s complete tour schedule down yonder.

Mountain Man 2011 Tour Dates:
07/08-09 – Winnipeg, MB – Winnipeg Folk Festival
07/10 – Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center (Free Patio Show)
07/11 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
07/12 – Chicago, IL – Schuba
07/13 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck *
07/15 – Santa Fe, NM – Brewing Co Patio *
07/16 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
07/18 – Telluride, CO – Sheridan Opera House *
07/21 – St. Louis, MO – Firebird
07/23 – Indianapolis, IN – Radio Radio
07/24 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café
07/25 – Philadelphia, PA – Chapel at First Unitarian
07/26 – Arlington, VA – IOTA Club and Cafe
07/28 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
07/29 – Hudson, NY – Club Helsinki
07/30 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse
07/31 – Newport, RI – Newport Folk Festival
09/02-04 – North Dorset, UK – End of the Road Festival

* = w/ Blind Pilot

In all seriousness, though, Austin stayed true to both its claims to fame; it maintained its DIY aesthetic and its no BS policy. The combination of these two ideals created the glorious Austin City Limits Music Festival. Considered one of the four biggest music festivals in the country (Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo being the other three), it played house to seven stages, over 130 bands, and somewhere around 70,000 people. Needless to say, it was an event that needs some serious re-capping.

This festival is unique in its nature because it’s such a united front. Everyone is completely in agreement when it comes to the importance of this festival. Entering Austin, there are signs everywhere you turn in support of the festival. Businesses change their marquees to support the onslaught of people, people set up shops all up and down the ways in an out of the festival, and even the airport was nice enough to welcome all foreign ACL-goers with a pleasant sign as soon as we stepped off our respective planes. The city genuinely wants this event to happen, and they genuinely go all out. Even within the festival, things are different. People are more pleasant, more accommodating (not like Coachella, where I felt like I might get cut at any second for accidentally stepping on someone’s toes). This festival truly belongs to the city, which makes it truly special.

It wasn’t all fun and games, however. The logistics were unbelievably bad. The festival layout was straight out of an M. Night Shyamalan film – that is to say it was big, bizzare, and full of holes (ba-zing!). We may as well have all been blindfolded and left to the sense of feel to find our way anywhere. The lines in and out were misleading and literally miles long. The stages were far too close together, which made for frequent sound-bleeds, which is a big no-no at any reputable festival. And worst of all, they allow (take a deep breath) chairs. This was my first ACL, but it was not my first festival rodeo. Sweeping in and out of massive gangs of camping chairs reduces mobility to about a half of what it usually is at festivals. Getting from stage to stage was an absolute cluster-cuss. The set times were way too long for some bands and way too short for others, and the placement of hype bands on adjoining stages made for some confusing and maddening situations.

But we’re above logistics here at CoS, because at the end of the day, it’s still about the music. And that’s one thing this festival couldn’t have done more right.

Friday, October 8th

Miike Snow
Honda, 3:00 p.m.

The sun was relentlessly blaring down upon Miike Snow and their abnormally large crowd. The combination of the innate drawing power of heavy electronic beats and the close proximity of the Honda Stage to the AMD stage made for an absurdly large crowd at Miike Snow. Dressed in all black, with a black banner behind them, the six man electro-pop crew was sweating bullets in the Texas heat. Multiply the heat and their costumes by their intense sound and that makes for one supremely blazing performance. I mean that past sentence literally and figuratively, but mostly literally. Miike Snow only had a decent debut album, and performed slightly above par at ACL. Maybe it was the heat, but the show seemed to slump a bit after they inched a few songs into the set.

Girls
ZYNC Card, 3:00 p.m.

An unreasonably small crowd (considering the 70,000 people at ACL) gathered to hear one of the best acts to come out of 2009. Sporting a new haircut, Girls‘ Chris Owens was almost too calm as he and his band ran through their fairly small catalog. I’m sure that touring the same material for two years would be taxing on anyone, but they seemed downright bored. Don’t get me wrong, it sounded spot on, and I always love seeing Girls live, but I think the rumors of disharmony that surfaced at Matador at 21 might hold some water. They need to get off the road and into the studio soon. “Hellhole Ratrace”, “Laura”, and “Lust For Life” all got the crowd pumped, but it was only an intro to the great day that was to come.

The Black Keys
AMD, 4:00 p.m.

One of the more prominent victims of the strange scheduling was The Black Keys. They did get the amount of standing space to accommodate the massive hoard that came to listen to their unique style Blues-Rock, but the early slot was perplexing to me. Why book such a large act so early in the day?  No sense in playing the blame game, though, especially because The Black Keys took it in stride and rocked Austin to its knees. With hits from all over their vast back catalog, the Akron duo wowed everybody at the festival. “Your Touch”, “I Got Mine”, and newbie “Everlasting Light” all saw plenty of applause, and rightfully so. The Black Keys were one of the best acts booked at this year’s ACL, hands down.

Beach House
Honda, 5:00 p.m.

Photo by Paul Woodruff

In theory, Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally’s dreamy pop tunes should not have fit in well with the blistering heat of Texas. It’s a bit more suited for a mirthless trip to the moon. But for whatever reason, the sights and sounds of Beach House went down blissfully smooth despite the dusty Texas heat. LeGrand’s never sounded better, and when the band arrived at their climactic version of “Norway”, the crowd couldn’t help but be sucked in by the stark musicianship and the star-show being put on as a background. The biggest cheers, surprisingly, were for their older songs “Gila” and “Heart of Chambers”.

Spoon
AMD, 6:00 p.m.

Photo by Paul Woodruff

Local Austin heroes Spoon took the stage to what was easily the biggest crowd at the AMD stage all weekend. But 16 years and counting behind the plate has given Britt Daniel time to polish his poise game. Completely at ease onstage, the natural-born frontman led the crowd through a set fraught with hit after hit. The hour long set played like a greatest hits album with the exception of when he invited The Fiery Furnaces’ Eleanor Friedberger for a duet version of “Someone Something”. That song was not only poorly delivered, but it received noticeably less fanfare. Every single other song, however, riled up the crowd. “I Turn My Camera On”, “The Ghost of You Lingers”, “Don’t You Evah”, “I Summon You”, “Don’t Make Me A Target”, and countless others made everyone remember why Spoon remains such a constant presence in independent music. They announced that this would be their last tour date for some time, and what better way to celebrate a wonderful album and ensuing tour than at one of the biggest festivals on earth which just so happens to be in their hometown.

Amos Lee
Austin Ventures, 6:00 p.m.

Mr. Amos Lee also fell victim to scheduling, easily out shined by Spoon, but that’s to be expected for an act as small as his. That’s not to say his performance was anything short of masterful, though. His particular brand of music is something of a dying breed, and the fact that he’s even keeping his head above water, let alone drawing a sizable crowd during one of ACL’s premiere acts, speaks volumes about this man’s talents. After he closed with “Seen It All Before”,  he thanked everyone for sticking with him, and you could tell he meant every word he said.

Photo by Paul Woodruff

Vampire Weekend
ZYNC Card, 7:00 p.m.

Poor Sonic Youth. Their entire crowd wasn’t even half of Vampire Weekend’s. I’m not a huge Sonic Youth fan or anything, but they are pioneers and deserve their fair amount of respect. But, in reality, Vampire Weekend deserves their fair share of props as well. They beat the hell out of the concept of having a sophomore slump by releasing an album twice as good as its already incredible predecessor. Contra remains one of the best albums of the year, however many times we have to hear the songs. This was my fourth encounter with VW this year alone, and I was still impressed with how tight their sound is these days. Contra tracks “White Sky”, “Cousins”, and “Giving Up The Gun”, when performed live, will never cease to impress me.

Sonic Youth
Honda, 7:00 p.m.

Photo by Jac Malloy

As mentioned, the majority of the people who could have been at Sonic Youth were at Vampy Weeks, for better or worse. Didn’t phase Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, and friends, however. They played through a fairly solid set that was unfortunately a bit Eternal-happy. “The Sprawl” and “’Cross The Breeze” represented the old days pretty well, but had there been any actual teenagers in the audience, I think a teenage riot would’ve occurred at the fact that they didn’t play, well, “Teenage Riot”.

The Strokes
AMD, 8:00 p.m.

Fifty-five minute set, and still they were the best of the fest. In true Strokes fashion, the boys swaggered onstage nearly 15 minutes late, and proceeded to jump into an insane set that had people going bananas. Much different than their previous reunited tour dates of 2010, the band seemed to act as one cohesive machine. Nostalgia ensued as Julian Casablancas, clad in a leather jacket with a hoodie underneath, took the mic stand and made love to it during opener “Is This It”. He seemed to regain a bit of that lost youth that everybody’s been yearning to see, and so did the other members of the band. Back to sporting Chuck Taylors and frayed jeans (except for Albert Hammond, Jr., in his signature white three piece), the boys were back.

Casablancas acknowledged their youth by introducing “Someday” as a song they used to play in empty bars. Throughout the show, they were pitch-perfect on every classic hit and had only one awkward moment, when everyone went off for an encore, except Casablancas who wasn’t helping anything by his awkward rant about how cool The Thundercats theme song was (although his argument does hold water). They even played songs that they hadn’t played since touring in 2006 – “Evening Sun”, “Between Love And Hate”, and “Trying Your Luck”. It was a sizzling performance. Which is why I, along with the 10s of thousands of other fans, was perplexed when Casablancas announced 20 minutes ahead of schedule that this would be their last song and jumped into “Take It Or Leave It”.

On paper, they were allotted 90 minutes to do with what they pleased, yet they only used 55 of them total. Frustrating, sure, but it was still hands down the best set of the entire festival. Quality over quantity, I suppose. At the very least, it was a glimpse into the past that made me (a cynical a-hole) hopeful for the future of The Strokes.

Photo by Paul Woodruff.

Saturday, October 9th

First Aid Kit
Honda, 12:00 p.m.

Rabid Records label members, and sister duo First Aid Kit made a nice name for themselves on what would turn out to be a massively talent-filled day. The very first act of Day 2, they came on towing some unexpected confidence, especially for an act with as little experience as them. It actually reminded me of the first time I saw Fleet Foxes way back when. Strong, confident harmonies all following a confident melody. They played their still most popular song to date, “Tangerine”, with expertise, and debuted an ornate new song called “Lion’s Roar”, indicating that the follow-up to their debut, which dropped in January of this year, is close at hand. Best part of the show came when they covered labelmate (and technically label owner) Fever Ray’s “When I Grow Up” with a folk twist.

The Very Best
Budweiser, 12:30 p.m.

My favorite kind of performer is one that is having more fun than the audience. The Very Best‘s Esau Mwamwaya is exactly that kind of performer. He was all smiles in his 50 minute performance that was largely made up of Warm Heart of Africa tracks and samples of other popular tunes that he’d sing over. He did a rendition of “Paper Planes” that ended up being better than M.I.A.’s. He also sampled Yeasayer’s “Ambling Alp” and the late Michael Jackson’s “Will You Be There”. I was hoping Ezra Koenig would show up to do “Warm Heart of Africa” with him, but he didn’t. All the same, that song got the party jumping and the crowd ready for the great things to come.

NINJASONIK
Austin Ventures, 1:20 p.m.

The Brooklyn natives went on to a fairly large crowd on the second smallest stage at ACL. NINJASONIK was a fantastic breath of fresh air because there was very little hip hop happening at this festival. They came out with their crazy eccentric (and often hilariously obscene) rhymes and moved the crowd to a chant of “We are Ninja f***ing Sonik, we are Sonik f***ing Ninjas”, which they repeated over and over. They apologized for their explicit lyrics (somewhat unapologetically), saying “I know there’s kids in the audience, but we’re straightforward people.” Indeed they were. Other memorable chorus chants from their electric performance: “Somebody gon’ get pregnant!” and “We don’t do bars/We don’t do clubs/We drink PBRs/And we do drugs.” Gotta love it when a little known hip hop duo completely wins over a crowd they probably shouldn’t have.

Bear In Heaven
ZYNC Card, 1:30 p.m.

Photo by Paul Woodruff

Whoever delivered all the acclaim for Bear in Heaven’s debut album stands as one the most generous men or women on Earth. On a good day, I only kind of like hearing this band. The sound acts as regurgitated noise rock over a shaky vocalist. Not much to it. They aren’t great showmen, either – barely saying the obligatory, “How you guys doin’ out there?” The hipsters made a full-fledged showing though, always keen on whatever the next buzz blog’s buzzin’ about. However, they didn’t seem happy to be hearing the music. Instead, they sort of just stood around with their hands in their pockets and looked at each other. Then again, maybe that’s just how hipsters celebrate good music. Regardless of the energy, the music stayed true to the dingy studio recorded versions, and “Lovesick Teenagers” won over the crowd; that is, if getting kids to shove their hands in their pockets and eye one another can be considered winning.

Pete Yorn
Honda, 1:30 p.m.

Ah, the sultry vocals of Pete Yorn. Somehow, his music just felt right in Texas, even though the majority of it’s about Jersey, where he grew up. The audience just reveled in his easy on the ears music, many taking the opportunity to sit down and slow the day down a little bit. Yorn put on quite a show, playing many tracks off his latest record, the eponymous Pete Yorn. But he didn’t forget to pay tribute to the tracks that made him who he is, playing “On Your Side” and “Lose You” from his acclaimed Musicforthemorningafter.

Broken Bells
AMD, 4:30 p.m.

Unfortunately, I wish I could say better things about this once in a lifetime show. But there isn’t much to be said about Broken Bells. It may have simply been that they kind of got the short end of the stick on stage choice and time of day, but I think it had more to do with being a boring live band. Obviously, it was fun to see Danger Mouse, and it was instant Garden State nostalgia every time James Mercer opened his mouth, but this was a lackluster performance on the whole. The good news – “The High Road” sounds awesome live, and they even debuted new material indicating that the alleged new album may be closer than we thought. If that weren’t enough, they played an awesome cover of The Black Keys’ “Everlasting Light”.

Local Natives
Austin Ventures, 4:45 p.m.

Does it seem like Local Natives have been on tour since the day their album came out like 10 months ago? I swear they’ve been at every festival I’ve been at, and come through my local venues twice this year. Regardless, I had to see what kind of game they’d bring to this huge festival, and it was exactly what I expected tit for tat. They played their regular set, did it just like it sounded on the record, and had pretty minimal crowd interaction. The more I see this band, listen to their album, and really think about it, I think they’re another band who really didn’t deserve all the hype. (That is, if you buy into that sort of media hoopla.) Solid album, solid performance, but nothing special here, which is an act murderer when you’re directly up against artists who excrete creativity (i.e. LCD Soundsystem, Monsters of Folk – individually, of course, and  The xx).

The xx
ZYNC Card, 5:30 p.m.

Man, The xx have the music world by the balls right now. They have such a unique sound that everyone seems to love, and that point made itself very clear by the unthinkable amount of people that showed up to hear their sultry tunes. I will admit that I did get pretty excited when I heard the first notes of “Intro”, even though I’ve seen them twice in the past six months. Their debut was just so enthralling that it struck a chord with me. And by the showing of people at their ACL performance, I’m not the only fan of the album. The living statues of indie rock and roll got particular love from the crowd for the tracks “Crystalised”, “Heart Skipped A Beat”, and “Basic Space”. But their performance was the first domino to fall in a series of dominoes that turned out to be the biggest logistical screw-up done by the festival.

Photo by Jac Malloy.

Monsters of Folk
Austin Ventures, 6:00 p.m.

Photo by Jac Malloy

Right next door, some of the most creative men of our generation came together to jam – or in other words, they put on a Monsters of Folk show. Donning their Sunday best, M. Ward and Mike Mogis looked right at home in their smartly chosen suits, as well as Conor Oberst, who sported a brown three-piece, the jacket of which he quickly disposed of to reveal that rustic vest look. The only one who looked like he’d been forced by his girlfriend to dress up was Jim James, who seemed a little out of place without his magic cape and moon boots. Attire and pretentious name aside, these truly are some of the best independent folk minds of our generation, and to see them collaborate live was a thing of beauty, although I was only able to stay for the first three songs (if I ever miss an LCD show it’ll be because I’m dead). They came out guns blazing with arguably the best track they created together, “Say Please”. Following this, they took turns at the helm, Ward playing “Slow Down Jo”, James fronting “In The Right Place”, and Oberst showcasing a bit of his solo work with an awesome re-worked version of Cassadaga cut “Soul Singer In A Session Band”. It was truly a spectacle for the brief time I was there. But reluctantly I slide away to join my new best friend, James Murphy.

LCD Soundsystem
Budweiser, 6:30 p.m.

Photo by Paul Woodruff

Why was this set not at night? Why was it right next to The xx? Logistical nightmare part three. Bad move, C3. LCD Soundsystem‘s James Murphy acknowledged the terrible conditions himself by saying “I apologize for the asshole behavior of wearing sunglasses onstage, but if you could see what I see… Just forgive me.” The sun hit directly on the Budweiser stage, where all the hipsters from The xx had migrated, creating an unreal amount of human flesh. Not one to let his own fans down, Murphy and co. (joined by part time LCD part time Hot Chip man Al Doyle!) made up for the bad conditions, jumping right into “Dance Yrself Clean”, arguably the best singular track of 2010. However, ACL screwed up yet again, this time not getting the sound levels right, making Murphy’s vocals too loud and the synth (which is the most important component of the song) not nearly loud enough. It was no matter, however, and we all danced ourselves clean right there in the sweltering heat anyway.

The setlist continued with surprisingly few Sound of Silver tracks, or track, I should say. After giving his shout out to the “Drunk Girls” and proclaiming “I Can Change”, Murphy jumped into the always emotional “All My Friends” just as the sun set. From there it was an all out dance party with a seamless “You Wanted A Hit”/”Tribulations” medley followed by “Movement”, “Yeah” and finally “Home”. As far as top to bottom setlists go, this one wins best of fest.

Deadmau5
ZYNC Card, 7:30 p.m.

Commence logistical nightmare part three. So, highly the infectiously danceable LCD Soundystem has just finished playing their 11 minute beat-building track “Yeah” and called it a night, so of course, everybody’s pumped to go see Deadmau5 and continue their dancing. Only problem: people coming in early to line up for Muse (oh, and crossing the sea of chairs). It was like a mass emigration of dancers with a small, very enthusiastic immigration of Muse-heads. It was utter chaos. Deadmau5 should have been on any stage but the ZYNC stage, which faced the Budweiser mainstage, but logistics aside, this is when things got real. Deadmau5 put on his usual dazzling display of lights and colors multiplied by a cube stage multiplied by an unbelievable mouse head multiplied by grade A house music. When he put on a ghost costume to usher in “Ghosts n’ Stuff” (and a little bit of “Moar Ghosts n’ Stuff”), the crowd went berserk. He maintained this same energy throughout the remainder of his show with tracks like “I Remember”, “FML”, and “Faxing Berlin”.

Photo by Paul Woodruff

M.I.A.
AMD, 8:30 p.m.

I know it’s, like, the cool thing to hate on M.I.A. right now, but she makes it nearly impossible not to. In 2008 when I saw her at Sasquatch! Music Festival, I was blown away by her natural swagger and obvious knack to work a crowd. She took the stage at that festival with all the confidence in the world. The music scene was truly at her fingertips and the world was her oyster. But somewhere between that day and October 9, 2010, something changed in Maya Arulpragasam.

Her album was tangibly less authentic than its predecessors (although it was better than everyone made it out to be), and her image was rapidly depleting. A big spat with the press, and she was sort of on the outs with everyone. I gave her the benefit of the doubt through this time, but I now see that I was wrong to do that.

She’s gone Lady Gaga on us, I’m afraid, her live show filled with overly elaborate pyrotechnics, unnecessary costuming, and minimal focus on the task at hand: the music. It was fun to hear classic M.I.A. tracks like “Boyz”, “Bamboo Banga”, and “Galang”, but her new material just doesn’t pop live. I gave it three chances. I was able to hear “Lovalot” (my favorite track from MAYA), “Teqkilla”, and “Born Free”, but I was unimpressed. Even hearing “Paper Planes” was sort of depressing. Especially because The Very Best did it better earlier in the day. Let’s hope she can pull herself out of this slump because she’s been a solid musician over the years.

Muse
Budweiser, 8:30 p.m.

Part four of the logistical nightmare. After Deadmau5, the hoards of people headed directly towards the Budweiser stage, creating further confusion in the mishmash of human beings and chairs (damn those chairs). It took quite an effort for me to swim upstream to catch a bit of M.I.A. so I could finish up with Muse. But I should have just stuck with M.I.A. the whole time.

Photo by Jac Malloy

Three times have I seen Muse this year, and three times have I left feeling like I just saw an old friend who used to be really cool that is no longer very cool. At all. The Resistance easily makes my top five list for biggest let down albums of the past decade, and for some reason everyone seems to get that except for Muse themselves and girls in junior high. And for some other reason, I decided that I’d give Muse one more shot at redemption, which they blew.

When they opened with “Uprising”, I knew I was in trouble. But then they pulled “Supermassive Blackhole” out of their arsenal and I was pleased. Things improved when they unveiled “New Born”, but it was a slippery slope from there on out. It’s a dangerous territory to be in when you’re touring an album that’s downright awful and you have a pretty impressive back catalogue. Song placements can make or break you. And I’m afraid that in the end, it broke Muse. “MK Ultra”, “Undisclosed Desires”, and “United States of Eurasia” were the straws that broke the camel’s back.

Photo by Jac Malloy

Placed far too close to one another and next to outright blasphemous covers of Hendrix’s versions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun”, the setlist proved to be an epic failure. One which could not be saved, even by at three hit combo of “Time Is Running Out”, “Stockholm Syndrome”, and “Starlight”.

Sunday, October 10th

Warpaint
ZYNC Card, 11:45 a.m.

Photo by Jac Malloy

L.A. art-rock up and comers Warpaint gave a dazzling early day performance. Despite not having much experience or even a debut album to speak of (it’s slated for release later this month on October 25^th), the all-female band played a solid set to fair share of folks. Logistically, they lucked out because Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were on an adjacent stage immediately following their set, which brought many onlookers unfamiliar with Warpaint’s small body of work. The incredible harmonies on the track “Bees” was especially moving.

Blind Pilot
ZYNC Card, 1:15 p.m.

Literally the only act that dropped my jaw early Sunday afternoon. Compared to day one and day two, day three was simply average. The allocation of talent over the three days was not proportionate in any way, but that’s not any of the bands’ faults, it’s the festival’s. So day three was a bit of a bummer comparatively. But a bummer at a music festival beats even the best day in the real world. Anyway, I digress. I’m surprised and disappointed that Blind Pilot hasn’t caught on with a larger audience yet. The audience at Zilker’s was pretty small, which is a shame because the Seattle folksters played some beautiful tunes as a cool breeze swept in to soften the rays of the blaring sun. “Oviedo”, “The Story I Heard”, and “Go On, Say It” were all received to big fanfare.

Photo by Paul Woodruff.

Portugal. The Man
Budweiser, 2:00 p.m.

This was a toss-up. On opposite ends of the park, Portugal.The Man and Devendra Banhart were playing. I’d tried my hand at experimental folk twice already at Warpaint and Blind Pilot, so I figured I’d go to see Portugal one more time before festival season was over. And I was greatly rewarded for doing so. They put on such an explosive live show. And they have such a devout following, who may have been the most impressive thing about the whole set. The 87 degree weather and the scorching sun did nothing to throw a monkey wrench in the sizable crowd that assembled to see The Man. Barnburners: “All My People”, “The Dead Dog”, and a sweet extended version of “My Mind”.

Dawes
Austin Ventures, 2:20 p.m.

The smooth harmonies sifted through the sweltering heat to match the mood perfectly. Now I know that Dawes are from L.A., but the music fit the outdoor Texas setting like a glove. Lead singer Taylor Goldsmith announced (after a spot-on performance of “When You Call My Name”) that this was their first show in about a month. He explained that their absence from touring was due to recording a new album. They promptly went into a new song entitled “Far Away” to close the set.

The Morning Benders
Honda, 3:00 p.m.

Well, I had no choice at this point. Well, technically, I did have a choice. Either I had to listen to the crap band that had to fill in for GAYNGS after the tragic theft of their equipment, or go see The Morning Benders. Either way, I’d be wishing I was seeing GAYNGS. But after seeing (and hearing) that the filler band used a mini-supercross motorcycle as one of their go-to instruments (sounds cooler than it was), I bounced. At least The Morning Benders wouldn’t make me feel like I was at a monster truck rally. Everyone who was hoping to see Justin Vernon’s side project decided to do what I did, so The MB’s was doubly packed. But they stepped up to the plate and didn’t hit quite a home run, but I’d say got at least a ground rule double with the spotless version of their acclaimed Big Echo track “Wet Cement”.

Yeasayer
AMD, 4:00 p.m.

Admonishing us with “Wait For The Summer” seemed like a cruel thing for Yeasayer to do, as there are like another nine months of chills ahead of us, but that’s what they opened with anyway. From there it was a thunderstorm of blissful power-pop that really picked the mood up for the day. Up until this point, there was not a whole lot of good that could be said about the day on the whole, due to a variety of reasons (mostly an unbalanced schedule that lacked anything entertaining). Yeasayer played a key part in lifting everyone’s spirits and getting us back into the jive. They stuck to their guts, playing some hits off Odd Blood “Ambling Alp”, “O.N.E.”, etc., but playing largely the good old tracks off All Hour Cymbals. Setlist aside, I couldn’t imagine a better primer for The Flaming Lips, who went on shortly thereafter.

The Flaming Lips
AMD, 6:00 p.m.

If you haven’t been to see The Flaming Lips, do so immediately. It’s not just a show, it’s an experience. The climax of the festival hit during the Lips incendiary performance, and it’s not mere happenstance. Wayne Coyne will take you on a zany ride you’ll never forget. He’ll preach to you (about how it’s important that we love each other and stay safe). He’ll make you laugh. He’ll get emotional with you (tears literally came to his eyes hearing the cheers from his adoring Austin fans during “Do You Realize??”).

Photo by Jac Malloy

This was my second Flaming Lips experience, and the Oklahoma natives have a knack for working a crowd, no doubt about it. First, can I say how impressive it is to me that they drop the whole “I’m better than you, I’m a Rock Star” bull? Each of the members of the band, including Coyne, came out and set up their own equipment, with the help of an experienced team of roadies (there’s a lot of equipment involved in these shows). Next, I’d like to openly criticize the festival for not only putting The Flaming Lips while the sun was still out, but only giving them one hour. Wayne Coyne was even irked by this, saying, “Honestly, from the bottom of our hearts, we would stay here and play all night for you guys. But the festival’s giving us one hour, which we thank them for, and we’re going to make it the very best experience possible for everyone involved.” He then went on to say, “This is a beautiful night in a beautiful city. You’re all beautiful and we’re at a festival where the point is we all get to do whatever the fuck we want, and we get to do it together.” His preach was powerful, but not nearly as powerful as the ensuing music and visuals.

Although it was a largely un-danceable Embryonic-heavy set, the crowd was kept incredibly involved. This was partly due to Wayne’s signature bubble ride, the band’s entrance through a large vagina, and about thousand pounds of confetti. The only tracks that were non-Embryonic were “She Don’t Use Jelly” and “Do You Realize??”, which were both sung along to with unshakable gusto from the Austin audience. Too short, sure, but man what a show.

The National
Honka, 7:00 p.m.

Coming directly off the highest of highs from Flaming Lips closer “Do You Realize??” and coming into The National’s earthy, ominous tones is like going from an especially nostalgic acid trip to a high you get from some skank weed. Maybe that’s too harsh. But truly, how could anything The National had to offer compare to what the crowd had just experienced together? Once the initial shock of the brutal comedown wore off, people were able to enjoy The National’s show. Matt Berninger and friends played solidly (are they capable of anything less than great?) through a setlist that incorporated songs from their last three (incredible) albums. Obviously, there were some higher points (“Abel”, “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, and “Mistaken For Strangers” come to mind quickly), but on the whole, they played a standard National show: packed with talent and flawless.

The Eagles
Budweiser, 8:00 p.m.

This was about the point in the night/three day experience that all the college age kids who had been partying way too hard threw in the towel. What was left was still enormous, from the entrance of Zilker Park all the way to the Budweiser stage, but it was mainly made up of people over the age of 30 and their children. I’ll give generation LOL their due credit, however. Peppered in the sea of graying faces were young music enthusiasts who wanted to see one of the most talented and influential acts of the 70’s play their relentlessly catchy folk-rock. And that’s exactly what they got. Kind of.

Photo by Jac Malloy

The Eagles took the stage with an impressive dive into their beloved cover of “Seven Bridges Road” before pulling out the more recent songs, which were highly less regarded by the crowd, even though lead single “How Long” is a pretty solid track top to bottom. Then they did something that I still don’t understand.

They jumped into a six song course that basically used up a great deal of their best material. Back to back to back (x6), they played “Take It To The Limit”, a trumpet intro-ed “Hotel California”, “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, “I Can’t Tell You Why”, “Witchy Woman”, and “Lyin’ Eyes”. It’s like they used all their magic early on, and then left the crowd bored for a long, long time. After two or three more new songs, people began to shuffle out of the park by the multitudes. Why they would play all the songs everyone wanted to hear so early in the set is perplexing. It was like an invite to leave early and beat the inevitable downtown Austin post-show madness.

Photo by Jac Malloy

For those who stayed and braved the not-so-good Long Road Out Of Eden material, though, they had a couple more tricks up their legendary sleeves. The band rolled out with closers “Heartache Tonight” and “Life In The Fast Lane” before coming back to a blistering encore of “Take It Easy” and “Desperado”. The legends finished out in style, rounding out what will certainly go down in the history books as one of the most incredible Austin City Limits festivals in years.

Having already been scheduled for an extensive US tour with The Low Anthem, Blind Pilot have just announced a string of 18 additional headlining dates that start up on November 13th at Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont. The band will work their way down the East Coast with stops at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. After some shows in the upper Mid-West,  the tour will conclude with a performance on December 3rd at the Media Club in Vancouver, British Columbia. Blind Pilot will bring along fellow Portland recording artist Laura Veirs for this final leg of the tour.

Head on over to Ticketmaster to score some tickets in advance.

Blind Pilot 2009 Tour Dates:
10/09 – Astoria, OR @ Liberty Theater
10/19 – Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall &
10/21 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall &
10/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour &
10/24 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah &
10/25 – Tucson, AZ @ Plush &
10/27 – Houston, TX @ Bronze Peacock at HOB &
10/28 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater &
10/29 – Austin, TX @ The Parish &
10/30 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon &
11/02 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder &
11/03 – Orlando, FL @ The Social &
11/04 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl &
11/05 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge &
11/06 – Asheville, TN @ University of North Carolina &
11/07 – Norfolk, VA @ Attucks Theater &
11/09 – Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle &
11/11 – Washington, DC @ The Black Cat &
11/12 – Boston, MA @ Paradise &
11/13 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground #
11/14 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse #
11/17 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s #
11/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live #
11/19 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
11/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bell House #
11/21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Cafe #
11/23 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark #
11/24 – Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio #
11/25 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall #
11/27 – Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot #
11/28 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater #
11/29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge #
11/30 – Boise, ID @ The Linen Building #
12/02 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos #
12/03 – Vancouver, BC @ Media Club #

& = w/The Low Anthem
# = w/Laura Veirs

Dropkick Murphys 2009 Tour Dates:

Boston’s Dropkick Murphys have mapped out a late fall U.S. and Canadian tour. Dates begin November 4th in Anaheim and will take the Irish punk rockers up the west coast and through Canada in the weeks that follow. So far, no east coast dates, but with a new album likely coming soon, those should be coming soon rather than later. Select tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com. Also on sale are all your necessary back to school items. Get those at dropkickmurphys.com.

11/04 – Anaheim, CA @ The Grove
11/05 – San Diego, CA @ Soma
11/06 – San Francisco, CA @ Fox Theater
11/07 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
11/08 – Bend, OR @ Midtown Ballroom
11/09 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
11/10 – Spokane, WA @ The Knitting Factory
11/11 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
11/13 – Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall
11/14 – Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Event Centre
11/15 – Saskatoon, SK @ The Odeon Event Centre
11/16 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
11/19 – Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
11/20 – Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
11/21 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros 2009 Tour Dates:

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros have sprinkled in a few U.S. tour dates around their upcoming festival appearances at the Monolith Festival, Musicfest NW, and Treasure Island Festival. For the better part of September, the Los Angeles based psych-folk collective will take its acclaimed, high-energy live show to a hodgepodge of venues across the U.S. Select tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com.

08/16 – Manchester, UK @ Ruby Lounge
08/17 – Glasgow, UK @ King Tuts
08/18 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds
08/20 – London, UK @ The Lexington
08/22 – London, UK @ KOKO
08/23 – Hasselt, BE @ Pukkelpop
08/23 – Biddinghuizen, NL @ Lowlands Festival
08/25 – Berlin, DE @ Bang Bang Club
08/26 – Munich, DE @ Atomic Cafe
08/27 – Paris, FR @ Nouveau Casino
08/30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/01 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
09/02 – Cleveland, OH @ Case Western Reserve University
09/03 – Athens, OH @ Casa Cantina
09/05 – Milwaukee, WI @ Club Garibaldi
09/06 – Ames, IA @ The Maintenance Shop
09/08 – Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Music Hall
09/11 – Lyons, CO @ Wildflower Pavilion
09/12 – Morrison, CO @ Monolith Festival
09/15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
09/17 – Portland, OR @ Musicfest NW
09/22 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
10/03 – Pioneertown, CA @ Manimal Festival
10/18 – San Fransisco, CA @ Treasure Island Festival

The Low Anthem 2009 Tour Dates:

Fresh off a summer full of festival appearances, Rhode Island trio The Low Anthem will spend the latter part of 2009 in mostly intimate settings. The band has plotted out extensive leg for both Europe and the U.S. which will have the Anthem on the road from early September to mid-November. Joining them on the U.S. component of the trek will be Blind Pilot. Select tickets will be available via Ticketmaster.com.

08/14 – Richmond, VA @ The Canal Club
08/15 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
08/16 – Philadelphia, PA @ Philadelphia Folk Festival
08/17 – Pittsfield, MA @ Word X Word Festival
08/18 – Block Island, RI @ Captain Nick’s
08/27 – Fall River, MA @ Narrows Center For the Arts
08/29 – Plymouth, MA @ Plymouth Waterfront Festival
09/03 – Dublin, IE @ Gaiety Theatre *
09/04 – Dublin, IE @ Gaiety Theatre *
09/05 – Stradbelly, IE @ Electric Picnic
09/06 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
09/08 – Newcastle, UK @ Cluny
09/10 – Oxford, UK @ Bullingdon Arms
09/11 – Larmer Tree Gardens, UK @ End of the Road Festival
09/12 – Larmer Tree Gardens, UK @ End of the Road Festival
09/13 – Isle of Wight, UK @ Bestival
09/15 – Munich, DE @ Atomic Cafe
09/16 – Milan, IT @ La Salumeria Della Musica
09/17 – Zurich, CH @ El Lokal
09/18 – Frankfurt, DE @ Broftabrik
09/19 – Cologone, DE @ Gebaude 9
09/20 – Berlin, DE @ Lido
09/21 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
09/23 – Amsterdam, NL @ De Duif
09/24 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
09/25 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
09/26 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
10/02 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/15 – Providence, RI @ Avon Cinema
10/17 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
10/18 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
10/19 – Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall ^
10/21 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall ^
10/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour ^
10/24 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah ^
10/25 – Tucson, AZ @ Plush ^
10/27 – Austin, TX @ The Parish ^
10/28 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater ^
10/29 – Houston, TX @ Bronze Peacock ^
10/30 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon ^
11/02 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder ^
11/03 – Orlando, FL @ The Social ^
11/04 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl ^
11/05 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge ^
11/06 – Asheville, NC @ University of North Carolina ^
11/07 – Norfolk, VA @ Attucks Theater ^
11/09 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle ^
11/11 – Washington, DC @ The Black Cat ^
11/12 – Boston, MA @ Paradise ^

* = w/ Ray Lamontagne
^ = w/ Blind Pilot

Throughout the months of August, September, and October, The Decemberists will hit venues and music festivals across North America, joined by Heartless Bastards and Laura Veirs & the Hall of Flames along the way. The fun will run until mid-October at which point the band will take a much deserved break before heading to Europe for more touring in November.

A limited number of pre-sale tickets will go on sale today, first-come, first-served, via Musictoday.com. Tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning Saturday, August 1st. Select dates via Ticketmaster.com.

Looking to save a buck? You could always just stream the band’s performance at this weekend’s George Wein’s Folk Festival for free via NPR.org.

The Decemberists 2009 Tour Dates:
08/01 – Newport, RI @ George Wein’s Folk Festival
08/02 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music Festival
08/03 – Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus *
08/05 – Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theater *
08/06 – Chicago, IL @ Metro *
08/07 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/08 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Egyptian Room *
08/10 – Louisville, KY @ W.L. Lyons Brown Theater #
08/11 – Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Theater *
08/13 – Buffalo, NY @ UB Center for the Arts *
08/14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Byhan Theater *
08/15 – Schwenksville, PA @ Philadelphia Folk Festival
08/16 – Holyoke, MA @ Mountain Park *
09/20 – Burlington, VT @ Flynn Theater ^#
09/21 – Montclair, NJ @ Wellmont Theater ^#
09/23 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa ^#
09/24 – Charlottesville, VA @ Charlottesville Pavilion ^#
09/25 – Asheville, NC @ Thomas Wolf Auditorium ^#
09/27 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium ^#
09/29 – St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheater ^#
09/30 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live ^#
10/02 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues ^#
10/03 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/04 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom ^#
10/06 – Lexington, KY @ University of Kentucky ^#
10/07 – Columbia, MO @ Ninth St. Fall Fest
10/18 – San Francisco, CA @ Treasure Island Festival
11/18 – London, UK @ Forum
11/19 – London, UK @ Coronet

* = w/ Heartless Bastards
^ = w/ Laura Veirs & the Hall of Flames
# = w/ Blind Pliot