(Floating Sasquatch Sign | Photo By: Christopher Nelson)
HELLO SASQUATCH
It’s been two weeks since Kendrick Lamar closed out the main stage at Sasquatch! Music festival and I still can’t stop thinking about how perfect everything went. Usually you can expect a few things to go wrong at every festival, but as far as my eyes could see, Sasquatch! Music Festival was one of the best-executed festivals I’ve been apart of. The weather was absolutely gorgeous; the performers were top notch, and the Gorge staff, security, and medical teams were all extremely helpful, ensuring everyone stayed safe and had fun in the sun.
(Gorge Amphitheater Campgrounds | Photo By: Jenn McInnis | Creative Copper Images)
OFF TO THE GORGE
We embarked on our journey from Seattle over to The Gorge Amphitheater on Thursday evening, arriving a day early to check out the pre-festival activities. After an uneventful drive over the pass we had safely arrived at the Gorge Amphitheater just in time for another breathtaking sunset on the Columbia River. After setting up our campsite for the weekend, we decided to wander around the campgrounds and see what people were up to. The general vibes around the campsite were of anticipation and excitement. Everyone there was taking it pretty easy the first night and conserving their energy for the 4-day marathon of a festival that was about to ensue.
(People Enter On Day One | Photo By: Brittney Bollay | KEXP Live)
FRIDAY
As Friday morning rolled around we were greeted by some scorching Eastern Washington sunshine. The first act of the weekend wasn’t poised to start to until 3:40pm, but that didn’t stop people from getting the party started early at the campgrounds. People had their generators fired up and speakers blasting music across the campgrounds as early as 7:00am. Throughout the afternoon, cars continued to flood into the campgrounds and set up shop for the long weekend. The booze was flowing in excess, and anticipation was at an all time high as people waited for Sasquatch! 2015 to kick off.
(The Crowd Anxiously Waits For Jungle To Take The Stage | Photo By: Jenn McInnis)
JUNGLE
Jungle has been on an absolute roll this year. Fresh off a brilliant performance at Coachella, the thrilling seven person live band from London came prepared to get funky with Sasquatchers on day 1. The band played a plethora of songs from their debut studio album, “Jungle”, including Busy Earnin’ and Time and Time that had the Gorge vibin’ along with them from start to finish. If you haven’t had a chance to cop Jungle’s album, you can grab it on iTunes HERE
(Jungle – Time | XL Recordings | 2014)
(Bishop Nehru | Photo By: Get Lifted Tonight)
BISHOP NEHRU
At only 18 years old, Bishop Nehru was undoubtedly the youngest performer at Sasquatch! 2015. Don’t let this New Yorkers’ age fool you though. With how comfortable Bishop is on stage, you’d think he’s been performing live for several years. Bishop’s DJ took the stage first and got the crowd hyped up. Once he had the crowd on their feet, he summoned Bishop out, who came out and delivered a high energy set that had the crowd signing along with several of his tracks from the NehruvianDOOM album which released in late 2014. Bishop stuck around the festival for the weekend; we spotted him roaming around wearing a cheetah print onesie on Sunday. Did anyone else see Bishop in the crowd? It looked like he was trying to keep it pretty low key.
(AlunaGeorge | Photo By: Koin 6 News)
ALUNAGEORGE
AlunaGeorge delivered on what was one of the most energetic, danceable performances of the weekend. The English electronic duo came out smashing hits from their Body Music album. AlunaGeorge kept the crowd singing along and dancing while playing major hits like You Know You Like It, and Best Be Believing. One of the highlights was when AlunaGeorge performed their hit single White Noise. At one point during the set, AlunaGeorge went into their own rendition of This Is How We Do It by Montell Jordan.
(Main Stage at Sunset | Photo By: Jenn McInnis)
FLUME
Flume closed out day one with a bang. Along with playing loads of originals, Flume pleased the crowd by dropping several unreleased tracks including his new track with Miike Snow titled Some Minds. About halfway through Flumes’ set, some much needed rain sprinkled on top of the crowd, which only made people dance harder. On the second drop of HyperParadise the speakers cut out as the whole crowd moaned “ahhh”. The technicians were quick to get the speakers up and running and Flume proceeded to hypnotize Sasquatch with his pristine production quality.
(Flume | Photo By: John Hatfield | jhatphoto.com)
SATURDAY
Yet again we were up and at it bright at early. Saturday greeted us with more sunshine and good times. With a long day ahead of us we made sure to stay in the shade as much as possible and drink loads of water to stay hydrated!
CHROMEO
Chromeo was an absolute blast! The duo took main stage at 7:15 and played a set that redefined the word ‘funky’. With a large arsenal of songs, Chromeo kept it interesting, playing several older songs along with their newer ones. If you’re interested in what a Chromeo show is like, check out our review of them at the ShowBox from earlier in the year.
(Chromeo | Photo By: Jenn McInnis | Creative Copper Images)
KIESZA
I don’t think anyone knew what they were in for when they walked into the El Chupacabra tent for Kiesza. The tent was absolutely packed from front to back and everyone was ready to party and let Canadian singer serenade us into the night. Kiesza absolutlely killed her performace and had everyone singing along to hit single like Hideaway and Take U There. I’m just going to go ahead and say that Kiesza is an absolutely amazing performer and vocalist and I highly recommend seeing her if she ever performs in your city.
(Main Stage | Photo By: Lori Paulson | Inside Right Wrist)
ODESZA
Odesza was the last group to grace the El Chupacabra stage Saturday night. Just like Kiesza, who performed before, the tent was packed for the Washington natives. The duo put on a fun, happy, danceable performance with their signature organic, pulsing synth-pop beats. It’s been fun following Odesza over the years and seeing them go from the smallest stage at Sasquatch to a headlining slot one of the biggest stages. I personally would love to see Odesza take on the main stage next year. Can we make this happen Sasquatch?
(The Gorge At Dusk | Photo By: Bella Pham)
SUNDAY
Yet again, another sunny day at the Gorge, who would’ve guessed? While I was getting ready for the show on Sunday I spotted a small tornado gathering over by the concession stands. Did anyone else see this or capture a video of it. It was ~40ft tall and lasted about a minute. Luckily for us it didn’t venture into the camping area and our tents stayed intact.
(The Knocks | Photo By: Get Lifted Tonight)
THE KNOCKS
The Knocks receive our “Best Performance of The Weekend” award. Fresh off several hot releases this years, The Knocks’ ultra funky music had my body moving in ways that I didn’t know was possible. There were a bunch of odd occurrences at the Knocks that gave it some added entertainment value. There was a group of guys that brought inflatable unicorns and were holding them up throughout the crowd. A parade of ~10 or so girls all dressed in banana costumes marched through the crowd at one point and a guy with a unicorn mask got on his friends shoulders, ripped his shirt off and amped up the crowd. Overall the Knocks were an absolute blast and I would 10/10 see them again.
CASHMERE CAT
After posting up on the hill and relaxing to Lana Del Rey it was back to the Chupacabra Tent to check out Cashmere Cat. Cashmere Cat was, interesting, to say the least. I’m not sure I would have fully enjoyed it, if I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I arrived there. Regardless I had fun, but the stripped down beats began to get a bit repetitive and lacking the energy I was looking for so we took off to check out James Blake.
(Sunset Over The Columbia River| Photo By: Lauri Paulson | Inside Right Wrist)
JAMES BLAKES
James Blake had the Bigfoot Stage packed when we arrived their. Although we didn’t catch the full performance of a 2014 World Music Awards nominee for best act, the little bit of it we did catch was superb. James sings with a Sam Smith-esque voice and all of his productions sound fantastic when being played over a big sound system. We caught the “techno-y” portion of his performance at the end that was full of industrial drums, heavy kicks, and pulsing analogue basslines.
(James Blake | Photo By: Lori Paulson | Inside Right Wrist)
MONDAY
Monday morning greeted us with a slight overcast, but I don’t think the vast majority of sunburnt Sasquatch attendees were complaining. You could tell a good amount of people we’re pretty wiped out by the time Monday rolled around. There was a little less energy around the campsite as previous days and quite a few people were packing up and hitting the roads. We somehow managed to gather the energy to ride it out for one epic last night.
(A (A Rainbow Appears As Clouds Dissipate | Lori Paulson | Inside Right Wrist)
SCHOOLBOY Q
The rain was drizzling down during Schoolboy, but that didn’t stop a massive crowd from showing up. People left the hill and swarmed down to the pit to fill it up for Schoolboy. The German born, LA raised rapper put on one hell of a performance, filled with energy to keep the crowd warm in the rain. Schoolboy Q played a load of hit from his repertoire including Man of the Year, Studio, Hell of a Night, and so on.
(Stage Is Packed For Kendrick Lamar | Photo By: Jenn McInnis | Creative Copper Images)
KENDRICK LAMAR
This was without a doubt the most packed the pit was the whole weekend. As the night fell, just about everyone still remaining at the Gorge was at the main stage waiting for Kendrick to grace them. Kendrick came on, equipped with a full 4-person band to lay down the instrumentals. Kendrick took control of the crowd from the very first song and and had them singing along with all of his hits including Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe and Swimming Pools (Drank). Kendrick made use of the entire stage as he swarmed the stage from left to right the entire performance and at one point engaged the crowd in a “left vs. right” cheering war.
(Kendrick Getting The Crowd Involved | Photo By: Jenn McInnis | Creative Copper Images)
THE GLITCH MOB
We wish we could’ve stuck around for The Glitch Mob, but unfortunately had to get on the road and head back to Seattle. Drop a comment below and let us know what you though of The Glitch Mob. We heard great things from the buddies that stuck around for it.
THANKS!!
Again, thank you to the Gorge Staff, , Sacks & Co., the production crew and everyone that attended and was involved in making this Sasquatch weekend a huge success. We had an absolute blast and will 100% be back for next year. Until then Sasquatch!
(Trash At The Gorge | Photo By: OheyLilay)
P.S. Remember to pick up your trash. The Gorge is a beautiful place, lets keep it that way!