One day at Sasquatch

I’d never been to an outdoor rock festival before. As far back as the first Lollapalooza, I remember being jealous of friends who went, but somehow, I never got it together to attend one until yesterday. The Sasquatch Festival, at the Gorge.

Steve and I went with friends whose musical knowledge and experience with such events utterly dwarfs ours. So we prepared the only way we knew how: by buying Extreme Rain Gear.

During the drive, we began to think that we’d successfully propitiated the gods via the aforesaid purchases. The temperature rose, the sun came out, and by the time we arrived at the Gorge, it seemed like kind of a hassle to lug it all.

Sidebar: oh my god, the Gorge. It is awesome in both the original and modern senses of the word. I didn’t take any photos, but let me just say that if you have an opportunity to go to any events held there, do it.

Anyway, we did lug the gear, in backpacks, despite the sun. It was pleasant to lie in the grass and use the backpacks as pillows while we listened.

At the end of Vince Mira‘s first song, when everyone within earshot rushed the stage, I got a little choked up. The audience kept exchanging looks of astonished delight throughout his set. I had never heard of him before. He is sixteen, sounds uncannily like Johnny Cash, and was apparently discovered while playing for tips at Pike Place Market. My favorite parts of the set were his originals, and when he sang a verse of “Ring of Fire” en español. The link above is to his MySpace Music page. Click it, people, and if you can, see him live.

By the time Modest Mouse came on and Isaac Brock mused, “I can’t decide whether or not I want the weather to turn to total bullshit,” we were grateful for the gear. We put on our jackets and our rain pants and spent the rest of the night looking like a couple of flyfishermen who’d wandered up from the Columbia.

The rain, and the knowledge that we had another hour’s drive to the hotel, led us to flee during R.E.M.’s set, although what we heard was great.

This morning I was sort of wishing we’d decided to go for the whole three days. So many more great bands. We were discussing how when you get festival t-shirts you ought to be able to check off or circle the bands you actually saw. “Yeah,” said Michael, “and there should be a thumbs up/thumbs down option, too.”

But it’s good to be home. Maybe we’ll do all three days next year.

P.S. For the excessively curious, here are all the bands I saw. And they’d all get thumbs up on our hypothetical festival t-shirts:

• Beirut*
• Ozomatli*
• Vince Mira with the Roy Kay Trio*
• M.I.A.
• New Pornographers
• Modest Mouse
• The Breeders
• R.E.M.

*= bands I hadn’t heard of before