Check It Out Music
What else can I say other then that this show was amazing. Jack Johnson has the most soothing voice, he actually sounds better live than on a recording.
I was in a trance for almost 3 hours as Jack rallied through all the crowd favorites.
He was even nice enough to bring abnormally beautiful weather with him and bring his kids on stage to watch Dad!
Thanks for the Brushifire Fairytales Jack!
photos by Jason McCollim
The Avett Brothers, Keith Urban, John Mayer at the Gorge Amphitheater on Saturday, August 28th
Once again the Avett Brothers were incredible. I am so grateful I got to see them in the intimate Bing Crosby Theater, it wasn’t the same as seeing them on the Gorge Stage. However I am not saying it sounded bad, they still killed it energy wise and they sound grand. No one around us knew who they were and that was a little frustrating because I just wanted to stand up and sing along at the top of my lungs when they played songs like “I And Love And You,” “January Wedding,” “Kick Drum Heart,” “Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promises,” “The Perfect Space,” … yeah pretty much the majority of their set. It was funny that both Matt and I were like UM HELLO THEY CUT THEIR HAIR! They were the perfect band to get the evening started and Mr. John Mayer they were a HELL OF A WHOLE LOT MORE than an “Opener…” think before you speak love!
Keith Urban took the stage and everyone wearing a cowboy hat rose to their feat. The rest of the audience did too; they just seemed to be up a lot quicker. Keith Urban had quite the big screen and light show to go along with his beautiful highlighted hair and his set! He even had a lit up guitar! Keith Urban opened up with “Kiss A Girl,” and continued on through the night with songs including “Sweet Thing,” “Stupid Boy,” “You Look Good In My Shirt,” “You’ll Think of Me,” “Somebody Like Me,” and more! However one of the biggest perks about the show tonight was that Urban and Mayer played together! John Mayer came out during Keith Urban’s set and together they played “Til Summer Comes Around,” “Hit the Ground Runnin’,” and “I’m On Fire,” which is of course a cover by Bruce Springsteen. I love how Keith 
Urban said tonight we are going to have a hell of a good time… it’s about you tonight, my only request is security you be nice to these people! And you know what? We did have a hell of a good time Keith!
Another thing that stood out during Keith Urban’s set was how he introduced his band! One of his band members sang a lil Journey solo style, and his bass player did a little solo of “Ain’t No Sunshine,” by Bill Withers and it was like Keith Urban’s version of America’s Got Talent! Out of all of the concerts I have been too, I have never seen a band do that, loved loved loved it! Final Cheers to Keith… he got the name of the city right that we were in! He didn’t say Seattle like the rest of the kids, way to pay attention Keith! His set was packed full of energy and songs we could all sing along too (even Matt did) and dance too! Towards the end of his set he got up close and over the crowd and a chic fan got to sing in the mic, some of the lyrics to “You Look Good In My Shirt.” It was a great set, and we have come to the conclusion that Keith Urban is GREAT LIVE something you shouldn’t miss – even if you are not a diehard country fan!
Last but not least the beautiful, sexy guitar player, hunk John Mayer took the stage with his band. I love how John Mayer always has TOP TOP TOP musicians with him on tour. When you see him live it’s not like the poppy stuff you hear on the radio, it’s very classy blues rock mixed in with his hits. I love it! All of us saw Mayer last
time he came to the Gorge in 07’ so we knew what to expect and tonight he didn’t skip a beat! Though, he did do a lot of chatting with that mouth of his, which seems to get him into trouble. However he opened with “Vultures,” and managed to play some of our jams like “Clarity,” “Why Georgia,” “I don’t Trust Myself,” “Heartbreak Warfare,” and many others!
He also played a cover of “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and it was pretty funny because he compared playing the song twice (even though Keith’s bass player did like 30 seconds of it) as when two girls wear the same dress to a party. It was still cool to see live! We left a little early to beat the crowd out of the Gorge and hit the road home to Spokane. My one bummer was missing “Half of My Heart,” because it is kind of my jam but I am sure I will see John Mayer again! I was reading online that John Mayer and Keith Urban covered “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits and that probably would have been brilliant! I am going to look the video up on YouTube. The other AWESOME thing about John Mayer was he was wearing a headband… and he has his own John Mayer Silly Bandz that you can buy! I didn’t have enough cash saddest day ever, but I am set out to find them! Hopefully they won’t be $10 online!
Overall the night was a blast, I got to spend it with Matt, Jason and Sayrah and the music was wonderful! Three different bands that somehow fit together perfectly live! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity (or twice in a lifetime if you catch the John Mayer / Keith Urban Crossroads on CMT).
Photos courtesy of Jason McCollim.
Review By Andrea Williams.
Twenty Ten Vans Warped Tour – The Gorge Amphitheater on Saturday, August 14th
Running all over the place at the punk rock fair known as The Vans Warped Tour, sampling bands and hoping they stop by your town later on for club shows the day is busy and packed full of tunes. The Vans Warped Tour is now 16 and to celebrate here is our review of the Vans Warped Tour By the Numbers.
1. The number of Washboards broke by Breezy Peyton of Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band during their 2:30pm set on the AP/Advent Stage.
2. The number of complete sets that we saw at the Vans Warped Tour – The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band killed it during their ½ hour star filled set and we were very excited to see Agent Orange who was also fantastic and showed Warped what 80’s California punk rock is all about.
3. The number of people in Alkaline Trio. But you wouldn’t know that during their set because thousands of kids in the audience singing every word to every song.
4. The number of bands we saw destroy the Punk Rock Legends stage. Agent Orange, The Adolescents, Jack Grisham and The West Coast Dukes and Riverboat Gamblers. They were all great and I’m glad the Punk Rock Legends stage finally made it out to The Gorge this year.
5. 5$ for a CD featuring 75 band’s for sale when we were waiting to get into the venue. One kid yelled $5… I can download the songs off of Limewire for free! The CD’s were also name your price when we left the venue.
6. Number of minutes that we spent watching / taking photos of Mike Posner. Then we realized that yes, Mike Posner will be the biggest star in the world but, his music is not our cup of tea. He’s way cooler than us anyways.
7. The number of party hard songs performed by Andrew WK. He still kicked ass, was full of energy, sounded great and was the most fun of the day.
8. The number of stages on this year’s Warped Tour stop at the Gorge. We loved the Punk Rock Legends Stage but scratched our head as to why the hell the main stage was not in the Gorge Bowl that can hold up to 20,000 people. At times the main stage was very crowded.
9. Dollars for a Coors Light at the Gorge.
10. Suggested Price for a copy of The Science of Self-Realization book in the parking lot from a car to car sales man. Trucker Dave paid $1.
11. The Time the Warped Tour started. If you didn’t get there early you missed fantastic sets from Anti Flag and Andrew WK on the Mainstage and Funky Jah Punkys on the Kia Kevin Stage.
12. The number of people we counted on stage during Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band’s finale of their set. People on stage rocking out included members of Andrew WK, The Casualties and Fishbone.
13. The Number of people in the reverse daycare for adults when we stopped by to get some water and air conditioning. We even had the chance to watch a few minutes of the 80’s movie Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
14. The number of Warped Tour Bands We saw – Andrew WK, Alkaline Trio, Face To Face, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dropkick Murphys, Shiragirl, Funky Jah Punkys, The Casualties, Mike Posner, Riverboat Gamblers, Jack Grisham and The West Coast Dukes, The Adolescents and Agent Orange.
15. The Number of times counted by Matt during the first three songs that The Dilinger Escape Plan jumped off the stage, speakers, monitors, drum risers and anything else the band could find. This was the most high energy set of the day.
16. The age of the Van’s Warped Tour this year. Also, the average age of the audience at Warped Tour Twenty Ten.
The Vans Warped Tour is now old enough to drive from city to city but not old enough to watch an R-Rated Movie. It’s always fun to bring your friends down to the Gorge for Warped Tour. Expensive beer regardless, the tickets are cheap! We love going and look forward to the new bands we’ll see next summer. Until then Warped Tour… don’t text and drive.
Click here to check out our crowd shots!
Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair and Trucker Dave.
Van Morrison at the Gorge Amphitheater on Sunday, August 8th
After the busy weekend we had I couldn’t think of a better way to end it; at the Gorge watching Van Morrison. Tonight was the first time in a while that the three of us at Check It Out Music got to enjoy a concert together with some of our friends and family. It is a rare occasion for everyone’s schedules to line up and the company was grand. Van Morrison’s band walked out on stage just as the sun was slowly beginning to float behind the hillside. They all looked sharp in black suits with shiny shoes; it looked like they were getting a band photo taken. Then Van came out looking like a million bucks, never taking off his sunglasses and black fedora.
It was a disappoint that he is so serious about the no photo policy. People were getting in trouble for taking a photo on their cell phone. I thought that was ridiculous, people like photos it’s a way to remember the show. He looked great so I don’t know what the big fuss was about. We still managed to get a photo with an iPhone. Hello, it’s Van Morrison at the Gorge and we took it from our seat you can barely see him; he is like an inch big in the photo! The couple in front of us are in better focus… Psh.
No photo policy aside the show was impeccable. The weather was perfect for the evening with a smooth breeze and a colorful sunset. Not to hot on the floor, especially on the nice new paved Gorge floor! Also, they got new cushy seats that are super comfy. Everyone around us was sipping their wine and beers, laughing, talking, singing and of course dancing along. I felt like we were some of the youngest people on the floor, but the crowd still had some fire in them to holler things like “I love you Van,” or the best one “I love you more!”
Van’s band was seriously talented with everyone having solos and switching instruments. They had a flute, keyboard, piano, drum, stand up bass, bass guitar, electric guitar, violin, acoustic guitar, oh and gold microphones! Everyone was having fun on stage, except I didn’t see Van ever smile; he still looked like he was enjoying himself. I loved his monogram embellished gold microphone stand too; it complimented his white acoustic guitar effortlessly.
We got to hear some of our jams; “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Moondance,” “Into the Mystic,” “Talk is Cheap,” “Bright Side of the Road,” and “Gloria.” We had sneak out a little early to get everyone home before midnight. We all do have to work in the morning… and at some point our long weekend does have to come to an end. I wish we could have a show like that every Sunday. Absolutely lovely Van.
Joe Cocker with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Gorge on Saturday, June 12th
The first thing I noticed while we waited in line at the Gorge was how diverse this crowd was, I am talking from strollers to canes. I do agree that out of all the Gorge shows one could go to, Tom Petty would be a family friendly one. Today was perfect, the drive flew by, the sun was shining and there was a slight breeze; Mother Nature was on our side and we had no complaints.
England’s Joe Cocker opened the evening up with a lot of energy and some classic hits. He was all over the stage, air guitaring, air piano playing, jumping, moving his hands even from the hill you could see his excitement and movements. Joe Cocker had a huge band with him on stage including a female bass player and two sassy backup singers. Joe sang songs we all love and know like “You Are So Beautiful,” “Up Where We Belong,” The Beatles’ “Come Together,” “With A Little Help from My Friends” and many more. It was cool to see him live and to watch him have as much fun as he did.
I have been told that Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers is the best sounding show you will see. The first song I couldn’t here Petty’s vocals however by the end of the night everything was smooth sailing and it was a fantastic live show. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers still rock after all these years and have a great time performing. It looked like Petty never stopped smiling on stage. He told us “what a beautiful night at the gorge…(the crowd went nuts)…we are going to have some fun, I promise you that;” and we had more than fun. As soon as the show started it was hit after hit! We heard “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “I Won’t Back Down,” “Free Fallin’,” “Last Dance with Mary Jane,” “Breakdown,” “Learning to Fly,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” and “Refugee.”
“I am just dying to play new music,” Petty said. Sure enough they played a few songs that will be on their June, 15th (this Tuesday!) release called “Mojo;” which by the way is the first Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers studio album in eight years! They played “Jefferson Jericho Blues” and a song Petty and Mike wrote called “First Flash of Freedom.” They guy in front of us who had a few beers made a point to scream Hell Yeah Freedom, right before they played “First Flash of Freedom.” Overall the crowd was fun, everyone was there to sing along, dancing, relaxing and having a good time.
We left before the encore due to our drive back home but on our walk out we heard “You Wreck Me,” in which I did do the “whoa’s yeah’s” too. I am sure he had to of play “American Girl” and I bet it was fantastic.
Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair.
Sasquatch! Music Festival Day 3 Monday, May 31st at the Gorge Amphitheater
Well after two days of camping we decided to pack up this morning and head into Moses Lake for a hot breakfast. If there is one piece of advice I can share about camping at the Gorge… pay the extra to camp in premiere because it will save your life. This year was the first year we finally did everything right and camping was a breeze. Hot showers every morning, clean porta potty’s, a shuttle to camp, and a view of the Gorge. After divulging our cold tummy’s of hot food we parked the VW and headed in for day three!
Day three was probably the hardest out of all three because there were SO MANY great bands playing all at once. Twice we ran from the main stage after a few songs up to the Yeti stage for a few songs then back down to the main stage. A lot of moving but so worth it!
We started day three off with the Seattle Rock Orchestra. I am bummed I missed the end of Shadow Shadow Shade but hot food after a cool rainy morning is like winning the lottery. The groovy thing about the Seattle Rock Orchestra was that Spokane’s very own Kaylee Cole got to sing with them as they did an entire Arcade Fire set. Kaylee is a HUGE Arcade Fire fan and she looked like the happiest person on stage singing Arcade Fire songs to a big crowd at the Bigfoot stage. I have never seen her put so much energy into a set, she was so giddy and did a great job! It was a blast to sing along to No Cars Go, Rebellion, Neighborhood #3 Power Out and so much more! The one bummer to this wonderful set was we waited for the Temper Trap but they were late… any other circumstance we would of stayed to watch the Temper Trap BECAUSE I LOVE THEM… but dude Kaylee Cole rocks and we have to support our Spokane Artists, she killed it!
Heading down to the Yeti Stage we saw hundreds of kids with their hands up in the air singing along to Seattle’s Fresh Espresso. It was nuts. Their lyrics like … Pay Me… then the crowd would yell … Bitches Im Coming For My Money! Yah, it was awesome. They pulled in tons of kids by the end of their set including us; they had great energy and were having fun how could you not want to be a part of it. Plus towards the end of their set they had a special announcement. A kid walked up on stage and purposed and the girl said Yes! Marriage at the Gorge, at Sasquatch, on the Yeti Stage, with Fresh Espresso… who knew?!
After Fresh Espresso we stuck around to catch a little from Telekinesis and the first thing that stood out to me was the drummer is the main singer. Holy crap, that would take so much concentration I was blown away. He nailed it too. The second thing that struck my fancy about this band was how they had Gumby and Pokey strapped to the drum set, I love Gumby he also chills in our apartment on top of a book shelf. We ran from Telekinesis down to catch Passion Pit!
This time there was a pit of passionate dancers covering every inch of the floor. If there is one thing we learned from this years Sasquatch lineup is that kids just wanna dance! Security guards were holding the railing back to try and keep more kids get from getting into the golden circle, it was a bit intense. I was impressed with Passion Pit’s singer’s vocals he really can hit those high pitches perfectly. They were rock stars, played all of the hits and kept the crowd moving. During “Sleepyhead” he had everyone put their hands in the air and wave them to simulate an ocean, it lasted until the chorus then it was back to waving and dancing. Shamu even made an appearance floating across the sea of hands. The singer loved it so much he wanted Shamu on stage for a second, and then he made a point to let him get across to every kid. It was a blast!!
The security rails were a small problem again… at the Yeti Stage during Japandroids. Kids were getting so excited to see them they kept pushing forward and there were three or four security guards using all of their weight to keep the rail from falling forward. Japandroids said nothing against the photographers but I hope the rail clasps, all the photographers got out quickly. They rocked it for having gear problems and feeling sick. The two of them just got on stage and even said before then things weren’t working out but playing at Sasquatch made it better, they were having fun and put on a blistering set.
It was a little hard to go from the energy of Japandroids to She & Him but I had to see Zooey and M. Ward. They sounded just fine and Zooey looked adorable however it was a little bit of a buzzkill. They did play my two jams “Why do you let me stay Here” and “In the Sun” so that was wonderful. Towards the end of their set they bounced off and let their band have a showcase, I thought that was cool!
Band of Horses took the high horse and owned the mainstage for the third day. Best Monday band! Band of Horses walked out on stage to a Joe Walsh song, how awesome is that? They had everyone dancing which you wouldn’t expect since they aren’t that poppy dance music like Passion Pit, but to our surprise!!! They didn’t mess around either they took us back to the start of their band in 2004 to open up with “The First Song” and from there on out they played every song we wanted to here; “The Great Salt Lake,” “The Funeral,” “Is there a ghost,” “No Ones Gonna Love You,” and so many more! We have seen them before and were blown away but to see them own the Gorge like that was a spectacular experience. They kept the energy up, had fun (like the singer got down and sang on the metal barricades with all of the kids in the front), and sounded perfect. They had a stunning set.
After Band of Horses, MGMT came on stage and dedicated their set to all of the men & women who have lost their lives in combat because it is Memorial Day. I respect that a lot. MGMT sounded good, but it was kind of a let down because they had no personality. They didn’t smile a lot and had stone cold faces. Sure they played “the Youth,” “Time to Pretend,” “Electric Feel,” and dedicated “Flash Delirium” to the sunset but in between it was pretty mellow and kind of a downer. I did enjoy the balloons being let go during Flash Delirium, however we left to catch a bit of the New Pornographers.
Plus by the way what is it with Neko Case and the Gorge, every time she plays it rains. Rain aside the New Pornographers sugary pop was the perfect end to Sasquatch. We even got to hear one of our jams “The Laws have Changed.” It was meant to be, to have them end our 2010 Sasquatch Music Festival perfectly.
Our ten standout Sasquatch festival highlights included; Vampire Weekend, The National, Deadmau5, LCD Soundsystem, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Band of Horses, Passion Pit, Mumford & Sons, Z-Trip, and the Seattle Rock Orchestra!
Overall Sasquatch rocked our ears, minds, and our legs (there are so many hills). We did the camping right, the weather wasn’t too hot or too cold. A little rain but in the end Mother Nature was friendly. Thank you miss Ashley for making a dream come true and allowing me to meet Matt the Ice Cream Man and for helping CIOM have media coverage! You Rock our WORLD! 365 days until the 10th Year of Sasquatch, see you there!
All photos taken at the Gorge Amphitheater by Matt Auclair.
Sasquatch! Music Festival Day 2 Sunday, May 30th at the Gorge Amphitheater
Day two started with Caribou on the main stage and as we walked down the hill we came down to a dancing whirlpool of people. The first thing that stood out was how Caribou was super close on the stage together, and there was so much extra space. I dug how they would play off each other. Secondly they were working it fast and steady, it was cool to see all the hands moving and bopping of the heads. They sounded great and I am so glad I came in early to catch them. I also love that there was a small disco ball towering above them on the main stage. Today will be all about the dancing. From Caribou on there was steady gusts of wind but I love that the wind never stop the dancing!
We moved over to the Yeti stage to catch Martina Topley Bird and she was looking beautiful in a red strapless prom dress and a pair of the 2008 1-800 Quit Smoking Orange Sunglasses that all the kids were wearing. I even had my pair on… they fit so well, now only if I didn’t get weird looks when I wear them year round. Martina had these soft unique vocals. This was her first year at Sasquatch, she was here in 97 for Lollapalooza. Martina struck my attention when she started looping vocals, clapping, and smaller wooden instruments. It looked cool and sounded really clear, that is such a talent because it’s live if you mess up you have to stop and start again. A kid yelled that it was his birthday so she responded with a fucking happy birthday to you man, this one goes out to you. She rocks.
This was Local Natives first year at Sasquatch as well. They thanked the crowd for coming out early to see them play; there was a fairly large crowd too. Not only does the singer sing he was on keys and drums; he was all over the place looking like a complete rock star. After seeing them play a song or two I realized how bummed I was that we didn’t see them in town on Tuesday at the Empyrean. Lame. They even covered “Warning Sign” by the Talking Heads. Anyone who likes the Talking Heads is cool in my books.
The Long Winters had one of the more funnier moments in the day. He told the crowd they were from Seattle and everyone cheered, then he said the next song is about Portland and the crowd cheered. Then he said the song was called “Not moving to Portland.” It was crickets. I was laughing so hard. I adored the singers charcoal blue western wear. They hadn’t played at the Gorge since their last album came out but they do have a new album that will be out next year! Thanks to the Long Winters we also learned the Music Cares who is one of the Sasquatch Festival sponsors. Oh and that they helped the singer get braces! I guess its like health insurance for rock stars, that is awesome!
Tune Yards were my favorite band on the Yeti Stage for day two. The female singer who had white face paint on across her eyes and wearing a bright yellow shirt asked the crowd …can you dance to it?…are you sure you can dance to it? At first I would say half of the crowd was dancing as she looped her vocals then the drums and a ukulele that had tape across it. She started as a solo, a one lady band, and then later was joined by a few guys. It sounded so cool, and I wasn’t expecting the sound of her vocals to come out like they did. She was conducting the crowd to dance, taping her feet and creating a one of kind indie world music. We left for a second and came back to twice as many people and everyone was dancing.
Cymbals Eat Guitars said “Hi were Cymbals Eat Guitars and this a new song,” then they went right into fast paced indie rock. All the way from New York, they had us all stunned with the song “And the Hazy Sea.” Very catchy band that has this alternative pop grunge sound that I know I will be listening to again and again.
They Might Be Giants had an electronic puppet show, I loved it! There is also no compromising at a They Might Be Giants show. They played songs like “We Live In a Dump,” and sound checked an accordion because they were excited and hopped on stage early. They also played a song about a worm. They were super quirky and had us laughing and singing along. I really enjoyed their set and the opportunity to catch this band live.
Worst Sasquatch cover is all of the kids playing Green Day Rock Band… as Trucker Dave said “Can’t Anyone Finish the Song?”
We thought Vampire Weekend had the kids dancing; um no dance tents aside LCD Soundsystem had everyone and I mean everyone dancing. As James Murphy said “thank you for doing what you are doing.” The hill looked like massive tidal waves of people just shaking their asses and moving their arms. LCD Soundsystem didn’t mess around either they played all of the jams and they looked like complete badasses. I love how much stuff they have on stage too, just cords and instruments everywhere! During Drunk Girls, a drunk boy dumped beer all over my leg… wasn’t very cool. Maybe they can make a song about Drunk Boys too! That aside LCD Soundsystem probably the highlight of the day for us! Maybe every band should drink a case of champagne before they play the main stage!
It was Stephen Malkmus’s birthday in Pavement so who better then the Ice Cream Man to come out on stage and ask the entire Gorge to sing him happy birthday then throw out free ice cream! Pavement opened right up with “Cut Your Hair” and tried to play “Rattle By the Rush” two times but there was some bass guitar issues. The third time’s a charm though! The last time they were at the Gorge was in 1995 and they played in between Cypress Hill and Sinéad O’Connor. Now they are in-between LCD Soundsystem and Massive Attack. As they said “they just fit us in anywhere.” During their set a kid got to come up on stage and play with them, I thought that was really cool. I am guessing it may have been a son? They thanked everyone, seriously, and especially all of us fucking Northwest Kids.
Caught Public Enemy for a few songs, and they are not happy with Arizona or the government at all. But Flava Flav still rocks a wall clock around his neck. We didn’t get any photos because it was pouring down rain; however we bopped side to side in our ponchos! We heard “Fight the Power” and “Bring the Noise” and the rain didn’t scare off anyone, if anything it brought them closer to the rap celebrities of Public Enemy.
We went to the top of the hill and you could hear Public Enemy while we waited for Massive Attack to start. The main stage got a little behind so they took the stage at 11pm. When all of the lights went out everyone cheered as the stage lit up with black light purple lights. There were strobe lights, and light bars behind them. It was dark and they used a lot of fog. You couldn’t see them, but it looked cool far away like ghost silhouettes. They also had a girl come out in a red dress and sing a song; it looked badass because you couldn’t see her face but her red dress stood out like Where’s Waldo. We left after two songs because it was late, we were cold and tired. I know lame; however we listened to them all night from our tent. Love the Gorge for that reason, something about putting on PJ’s and sitting in a lawn chair while overlooking four stages at the Gorge and listening to the music at night. So cool! Who needs sleep.
All photos taken at the Gorge Amphitheater by Matt Auclair.
Sasquatch! Music Festival Day 1 Saturday, May 29th at the Gorge Amphitheater
Mother Nature was on our side today! All week long we were told from various weather channels and iPhone apps that it was going to rain on Saturday. To our surprise it was PERFECT weather for the opening day of the opening weekend at the Gorge – Sasquatch Music Festival 2010! First glance the place looked awesome, the new main stage stands out drastically plus they had two new extra long screens for the kids up on the hill. The Honda Bigfoot stage had two screens and vivid lights for Deadmau5 at the end of the night. Which by the way the Bigfoot stage was solar powered, I love that yay for reducing our carbon footprint! The dance tent was a little bit longer/bigger allowing more kids to get down at the end of the night. However during Z-Trip there were dancers flooding out of every door at the tent. And to top off this flawless start to the Gorge season beer was only $9 verses $11! Life was good at the Gorge.
The first act of today was Laura Marling, this well mannered adorable blonde that had a four piece band with her was darling! It was a smooth soft folk set that fit the blue sky and cotton clouds like a glove. This was their final day of their month tour and they couldn’t be happier to spend it at Sasquatch! I was anxious to see where she was from because she had a slight accent and asked things like “do people got sun lotion on?” After checking out her myspace I found that she was from the UK. I am very pleased that I got the chance to catch her, and to have her as our first Sasquatch artist.
Our first main stage visit for Saturday was to check out Brother Ali. It was awesome to walk down the hill looking down on the golden circle packed full of kids all swaying their hands to Brother Ali. We only caught a few songs from Brother Ali but the one thing that made a mark on my brain was what he said about being ourselves. That may sound cheesy but I thought that was cool, it is hard to stay true to yourself but as Brother Ali does you need to celebrate it, with hip hop music at one of thee most beautiful places in the United States.
Yay; I was so excited to see Mumford & Sons. Their harmonies were just as stunning live as they are recorded. I was standing right up on the rail in the front and the second that stand up bass was played it was so loud I felt it vibrate my toes and heart. On top of just hitting everything they played one of my favorite songs by them “the Cave.” I am so glad I took the time to check them out, because I didn’t know about them until I saw their names on the Sasquatch lineup. I am pretty stoked that they are now one of my jams this summer!
We have seen Nurses before in Spokane and the first time we saw them in the Empyrean we all kind of just stood there with our jaws open. It wasn’t any different this time. For being three guys it is impressive to see them play the drums, guitars, and a table full of cords, peddles, and a laptop. Just switching instruments, singing, and moving around the stage; it was cool. The first thing they said was “it smells pretty good up front,” as kids were you know smoking the green dragon.
So we went to check out Garfunkel and Oates and while we were sitting in the Rumpus Room they decided to play an Elliott Smith song then a Bright Eyes song… we are in a Rumpus Room, rumpus doesn’t that mean to get a little wild, cause a stir. I just wanted to note that, on the other side I adore both of this artists. Back to Garfunkel and Oates… we didn’t see that they canceled on the official lineup for the day so when Kevin Hayes came out sure we laughed but we were a little sad that Garfunkel & Oats had canceled. That was the one bummer with the lineup changes but on the bright side Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band got added for tomorrow! I will see them any day of the week. I did enjoy Kevin’s “are you ready” jokes like …are you ready to put some sugar in this kool-aid or are you ready to put shitty lyrics on this John Mayer album. The John Mayer one got the best reaction… I guess kids at Sasquatch don’t like Mr. Mayer, which is a little bummer because I am pretty excited to see him with Urban at the Gorge later this summer!
I am definitely Team Edward… that is Team Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros! They opened up with 40 Day Dream (LOVE THIS SONG) which had kids running to the Bigfoot Stage. I think his set drew the most people until Deadmau5. I loved the bands positive energy and they had everyone twirling around and clapping their hands. Plus Edward is such a rock star, he hopped off the stage and stood on the metal barricade and played leaning over into the crowd for a song or too. The crowd grew even more when they played their hit “Home.” You could hear the whistles and horn all the way down at the Yeti Stage. They are a perfect outdoor band and were one of the buzzes of the weekend.
We walked down to the Yeti Stage and caught a song from Patrick Watson. He was one of Spin’s bands not to miss at Sasquatch. There were a lot of kids running down to check him out after Edward Sharpe. I caught a few songs and dug it, it was a bit mellow after the excitement of seeing Edward Sharpe but still cool to catch!
Trucker Dave and Matt were very excited to see the Posies. I guess they have been in hiding in Seattle and outside of their current career they were once in a rock band. I did learn one thing from them that their parents passed along to them from going to festivals. If you do want to have sex in a porta potty hand sanitizer is not good lube. Matty and I also managed to catch a few songs from Broken Social Scene while we waited in line to get a pizza. That is one of the coolest things about Sasquatch, everywhere you go you get music!
There was quite the love makers during Miike Snow that decided it was appropriate to touch each other in the freaking public. Kudos to the girl that walked over and told them to stop, because that was just wrong. During Miike Snow an airplane flew over us with a very cool announcement! Pheonix will be at the WAMU Theater on September 25th! Pheonix is one of our must see bands too so that was wonderful news! Miike Snow had just as many kids running over to see him as Mr. Sharpe. I love the bands simple happy sounding beats, its perfect to dance to and fun to sing along too. He sounded good and a girl even brought in a Swedish flag for the band! Kids were jacked to see him play at Sasquatch.
The National sounded soooooo good! Ahh I just got done this week listening to their new album on repeat and I was nervous because it is a mellow album but they picked it up a notch and were complete rock stars. Matt even hoped off the main stage and got in, deep in, to the kids on the floor. SO COOL. All of them were really into being there and they kept saying thank you plus they just looked like they were having the best time. We got to hear their first pop song “Anybody’s Ghost,” and “Fake Empire,” a song about staying in your apartment and not going outside which was ironic for the Gorge, and a lot of tracks off their new album High Violet including all of my jams like “Bloodbuzz Ohio.” It was such a great set to see, I am disappointed I even put that I wasn’t sure how I was going to perceive them live because they were brilliant. Just breathtaking.
Damn Vampire Weekend you get everyone dancing in sooo many different ways; we saw the swimmer, the Egyptian, the Hula, the eater, the jumping jacker, it was quite the DP (dance party) all over the hill and floor. Vampire Weekend sounded outstanding, it was super polished and clear and they were having a blast. We heard every song you wanted like A-Punk, Oxford Comma, Cousins, Holiday, and tracks off of both albums. I love how Ezra said …okay it’s officially night time so you can act differently. I think the only difference I saw was more dancing. We all agree it was the best overall set of the first day!
After Vampire Weekend we wandered over to catch some Z-Trip. In which like I mentioned before kids were flooding out of every entrance into the Rumpus Room just to dance to his mixes. We got on to the VIP scaffolding to dance and we had to get off within minutes because there were so many kids dancing we thought it was going to collapse. It was so much fun; I even danced with some kid who had a Mexican wrestling mask on and glow stick thingys hanging off of every inch of his body. He looked like a freaking Christmas tree.
We wanted to see at least one or two songs from My Morning Jacket and it was cool to see them but I think by the end of the day we were just ready to dance our asses off and Deadmau5 was screaming my name! The My Morning Jacket crowd looked like they were loving it, it sounded good… however I also wanted to make sure I could get a spot at the Bigfoot Stage.
I was starring at that covered cube like box all day, knowing that at 11:30 Deadmau5 would be inside of it. He started right at 11:30 on the dot and from there until the end of the night it was heavy bass lines, beats, dancing, jumping, screaming, lights, and his lit up mouse ears. It was visually cool; it sounded perfect, and got me so excited I was bouncing around like a kangaroo. I love that they added him as a late night showcase because it was the perfect musical high to come off of at the end of day one. We could even see the rest of his set from our camp site, it was SO freaking extraordinary and colorful!
I would say day one was more than a success! We had perfect weather with no rain, and we saw 12 bands. We can’t wait for Day 2 tomorrow!!
All photos taken at the Gorge Amphitheater by Matt Auclair.
One of my favorite things about seeing Dave Matthews at the Gorge is the age groups he appeals too; from newborns to grandparents even entire families. You don’t normally see that at the Gorge. And speaking about the crowd, the crowd at a Dave show is full of nice people all there to have a good time (at least from my experience) through I did see a few drunk girls fall. Yeah it was a bit funny. It was also fun to watch the water balloon fight that was between somewhere in the middle of the hill to behind the stage where they loaded the gear. All i could see was these green and red things flying threw the air and when you heard “ooohhh” someone was hit.
To get the night rolling was the Yonder Mountain String Band, that was introduced by none other then Dave himself. From where I was sitting I couldn’t tell what instruments they were playing but I was so proud of myself because I guessed them right! Skinny cool stand up bass, mandolin, banjo, and acoustic guitar played by four very cool shall i say Mountain men? It was fast playing indie Bluegrass from Colorado that made you want to tap your feet and get up and twirl in circles. They have never “…been to this big ass place before,” the Gorge that is and they should come back they are a great fit for the scenery and fun to see. Peachy king start to this cool summer night.
G. Love and Special Sauce have been to Spokane a few times and I have never seen them until tonight. Dave was excited to introduce them as well. It was a hoot. The kids of Dave at the Gorge really digg G. Love, everyone got up on their feet to shake it and sing along. Especially when he covered Gin & Juice by Snoop Dog.
G. Love’s hipness got our section of the crowd to get a beach ball going for a good twenty minutes or so until a jackass popped it … jerk. I would see G. Love again it was a funky set with a lot of energy not to mention he had cool green sneakers, jealous.
The Dave Matthews Band was on top of it, full of some of the best musicians around making it a flawless set. I get it now but I was wondering why they kept using smoke machines on stage but when the lights hit the hill because of the smoke you could see the designs in them. He had screens and electrifying lights plus a great attitude and an almost sold out crowd. He is one of the artists that I have seen to have so many dedicated fans, I love it. Also the most fans who smoke weed, for an outdoor venue how can it smell that strong? We are outside? There has to be a lot of smoking going on, I thought it was strong where I was but Matt said it was ten times worse when he was taking photos. Is that why everyone is so nice?
As Dave said “Something old, something new, I hope ya’ll have a good time… I feel good, shit.” As it was new old and a good time, and by the end of the night the whole Gorge had to feel good; for multiple reasons. Being only two hours away from the Gorge I think every music fan, respecter, and lover should see Dave at the Gorge regardless if they know his music or own his CD’s. That weekend at the Gorge, that show is unlike any other there and is something you should experience at some point in your musical lifetime. You will be a fan within the first two songs on his set and will want to go back every year. You have around 365 days till the next one so mark your calendars and plan ahead.
Check out more photos from the show here!
Setlist for Friday 9/4
1.Proudest Monkey
2.Satellite
3.Seven
4.Shake Me Like a Monkey
5.Lying In the Hands of God
6.You Might Die Trying
7.The Song That Jane Likes
8.Dancing Nancies
9.Why I Am
10.The Dreaming Tree
11.Road (Danny Barnes Cover)
12.Spaceman
13.Cornbread
14.Caveman
15.You & Me
16.Gravedigger
17.Jimi Thing
Encore:
18.Squirm
19.Stay (Wasting Time)
Papa Roach, Hinder & Nickelback
Saturday, August 29th at The Gorge
Let’s be honest here. We are not the biggest Nickelback fans but we were so curious as to why 20,000 people are. To sell out the Gorge is a big deal, there has to be a reason why they sold it out. Matty and I hopped in the VW and headed off to George, WA. To shuffle 20,000 people into the Gorge takes some time. We got off the exit at 5:20pm and didn’t get parked in the venue until 6:40pm. I have never waited so long to get in. Since we were in traffic we missed Saving Abel, but we have seen them before. Papa Roach was next on the lineup and like before they ripped the crowd to shreds. “You mother fuckers came to rock n roll today I can feel it,” said the front man of the band. From here on out every other word spoke to the crowd had Fuck before or after it. It gets the kids excited.
I say kids too because I think one of the reasons it sold out was that the music appeals to both young kids who hear it on the radio and their parents. I saw multiple families ranging in ages five to seventy-five. On the line-up Papa Roach is my favorite group, I remember listening to them when I was kid and thinking I was a badass. They played all the hits song after song. The crowd was jumping and people were flying over the security rail like ocean waves. Papa roach was conducting the crowd into rock madness. They closed out their set with “Last Resort,” a group bow and the classic throwing of drum sticks into the crowd.
Hinder… as Matt said “these kids definitely grew up listening to Motley Crue.” During Hinder I realized that the show was the biggest game of Simon Says I have ever witnessed. The singers would say Jump and they jump, scream and they scream, you name it they did it. It was cool to hear 12,000 people sing every word of “Lips of an Angel,” and half of the set list. At this point I understood why it sold out. You had three very big rock bands that get played on at least two radio stations in each city – ta da. Before “Get Stoned” the singer yelled “that smell is fucking phenomenal!” Everyone was lighting up and I don’t mean cigarettes. They didn’t need to go home to get stoned they just need to go to the gorge.
All the sudden I am lying underneath the stars in one of my favorite places ever. Even if we don’t like the artists or know much about them it is still fun to go to the show and it is always worth the drive to the Gorge. Meanwhile I am listening to kids yell the lyrics to “Killing In the Name Of,” that was being played on the house speakers when all the sudden the biggest bang happened. I about tinkled myself. A minute or two later some more pops, this time they had my attention and Nickelback came out on stage like they were on top of the world.
Everyone went bananas when they took the stage. The crowd rose to their feet and it was a sea of wild monkeys; all drunk and ready to rock. Yikes. There were a lot of pyrotechnics which is odd to watch when back at home in Spokane you need sprinkles in your building to have 50 kids stand inside. I guess it doesn’t matter when there are 20,000 people on a cliff outside.
My favorite part of the night was when the front man was saying how high school was the glory days when you didn’t have to pay taxes. I agree that part of life is nice. Then notes that the kid coming over the rail was a probably a freshmen in high school, and he should go all the way up the hill and try to find a girl to have sex with. After talking about high school they went into “Photograph” and they had cool photos playing in the background of high school times. They even had a bit with Washington schools.
For their genre of music they are the kings and on top of it. It was worth the drive, I can see why if you like rock music you would go see the show. They even went back in the day of rock and played a little AC/DC. Nickelback made it worth your time and money by being on stage for around two hours. I am sure everyone got to hear every song they wanted to and that is respectable. I remember when they came out in 95′ and look here they are in 09′ selling out the Gorge. Good for them, that’s impressive. I also liked the all the fire – it’s pretty on stage!