Festival favorites Monotonix — seen here playing the Sasquatch Music Festival a couple weeks ago — are all about the crowd-participation. Photos by Joe McCabe.

Yes, two weeks ago today I was waking up to a breakfast of aspirin, locally brewed cider and Mexican food in Ellensberg, Washington. It’s taken me a while to post my wrap-up on the Sasquatch Music Festival, which takes over the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington every summer. We’ll add this one to the better-late-than-never files.

Sasquatch has been on my festival wish-list for a while now. It’s always smartly booked, but more than that is the venue — the storied Gorge Amphitheatre, which sits on the dramatic edge of the Columbia River Gorge in central Washinton state. The venue was stunning, the weather was hot and the music was sweet. Success.

Here’s more on the music. Thanks to Reverber Joe McCabe for making the trip with me.

DAY 1

Passion Pit

I do dig this bubbly band’s electronic-freak-out jams, but their early set on the festival’s secondary stage didn’t do it for me. It could have been the unrelenting sun or the five hours we’d spent in the car (coming in from Portland), but I couldn’t find Passion Pit’s groove.

King Khan And The Shrines

We caught much of King Khan’s set from the shade provided by a nearby fence. And while the Shrines are a tremendous band — and the only modern entity that can match the intensity of James Brown in the 1960s — they’re a rock club band. You know the groups that are better in the small, intimate confines of a rock club, the kind of place that is so dark that people rock out (air guitar, pogo, the forbidden dance) as if nobody’s watching? Yes, the Shrines are great at the clubs, but their sunnny, sweaty set was valiant regardless.

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

I liked this group’s record, but their live show cemented my appreciation for the janky beats, their sweet melodies, their heady lyrics. Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band’s matching outfits were pretty sweet, too.

DeVotchKa

It’s one thing to see DeVotchKa headline a Colorado music festival, as the band did last fall at Monolith. But it’s another thing entirely to see the Colorado favorites play the main stage at a festival more than 1,000 miles from Denver. DeVotchKa’s set at Sasquatch was lovely, ethereal and poignant — all the things we’ve come to expect from them.

Animal Collective

The minute Animal Collective started, the entire pit erupted into a mid-day dance party. The music was hotter than the weather for about three songs, and then things got very weird. There are plenty of folks who love this group’s penchant for the odd, and while I can appreciate it when they get completely inaccessible, I won’t likely stick around to witness the weirdness at a music festival with other stages to see.

The Decemberists

Best dinner ever. We downed some fried chicken strips with the greatest supper club band ever, the Decemberists. Colin Meloy and his band played heavily from the new “The Hazards of Love,” and each of the songs moved the almost-hometown crowd to move. At one point during “The Rake’s Song,” the entire pit was chanting and pumping their fists in unison. Awesome. It was that moment when Christophe, a buddy of mine, pointed to the ridge above us, where a couple had crossed the amphitheater’s boundary and were having wild, exihibitionist-style sex. (The naked kids were caught minutes later by security.)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I didn’t listen to the new “It’s Blitz” enough before the festival, and while I really, really like what I’ve heard so far, this set was uninspired. Karen O looked great, and she was pretty mobile and friendly. But I’ve seen better sets from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Bon Iver

I’d missed Bon Iver and his many shows during South by Southwest ’08, so I was thrilled to catch the first half of his Sasquatch set. Playing with a minimal band, songs like “Skinny Love” were total, unfiltered magic. I could have done without the dudes next to us, who sang along with every chorus — in their much-less-desirable falsettos — between high-fives.

Kings Of Leon

As a new convert to Kings of Leon, I was thrilled to see the band again. Their music is incredibly straightforward, but they take such great pleasure in dressing up ’70s rock ‘n’ roll with smart guitar work and the incredible vocals of singer Caleb Followill that their shows are an intense affair. The Sasquatch set list was lush and expansive, and while many were only there to hear radio hit “Sex on Fire,” the band was best when rocking out with older material. (“Fans” absolutely killed it.)

DAY 2

The Avett Brothers

I have an unnatural crush on the Avett Brothers. I think the North Carolina banjo-punk four-piece is making some of the most important music today, and their main stage Sasquatch set made them hordes of new fans — all deserved.

The Murder City Devils

The Murder City Devils are the complete package. They will play music, tell jokes, offend your mom and abuse the photographers in the pit — full spectrum entertainment. (Reverb shooter Joe McCabe got an extended middle-finger from frontman Spencer Moody. Moody grabbed the face of a female photographer and shoved it in his crotch. Multiple times.) The Devils brought the music, and it was beautiful.

The Airborne Toxic Event

Didn’t see these guys.

TV On The Radio

Given how explosive “Dear Science” is, TV on the Radio’s set should have been a lot better. Instead we left uninspired and disappointed. It’s not a good sign when the most thrilling moment from an indie band’s set comes in the form of a 5-year-old single (“Staring at the Sun”).

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails provided one of the festival’s most surprising sets. The standards were there (“Hurt,” “1,000,000,” “Survivalism”), but so were some songs we haven’t heard live in a while, including a pummeling “Somewhat Damaged” and a bewitching “The Becoming.”

Jane’s Addiction

We watched a few songs from the top of the top of the amphitheater, but we weren’t moved enough to move down. Jane’s Addiction’s next show post-Sasquatch — with tourmates Nine Inch Nails — was at Fiddler’s Green. See our review of that show here.

DAY 3

Santigold

Santigold has some jams, this much we know. Her set was fun and sassy, and the kids were dancing — o, they were dancing. The most fascinating thing that came from this mid-day set was this viral video below, which we fully support. Had we not been in the pit, we would have joined this cat.

Gogol Bordello

Skipped this set. Gogol is one of those bands that is better in a rock club.

The Dutchess And The Duke

One of the festival’s most fearlessly melodic sets came from these Seattle kids. The Dutchess and the Duke played a couple new tunes, but most of the their jangly set came from their brilliant Hardly Art debut, 2008′s “She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke.” “Reservoir Park” was gorgeous, “Out of Time” was stunning and “Strangers” was so nice they played it twice. (Halfway through the set, after they’d already played “Strangers,” a girl screamed the song’s title out — and the Dutchess, Kimberly Morrison, told her, “Fuck you.” As an apology, she convinced her bandmates to play it again.) They saved their “only happy song,” “Armageddon Song,” for the closer — and it was a lovely one.

Silversun Pickups

Everything a Silversun Pickups fan could want from a SSPU set came tightly packaged in the band’s tight set at Sasquatch. Old songs from the EP (“Kissing Families”). The hits that broke them on the radio (“Lazy Eye,” “Well Thought Out Twinkles”). New tracks (“Panic Switch”). Fan favorites (“Little Lover’s So Polite”). It was a gorgeous set, and drummer Christopher Guanlao solidified his place atop modern rock drummers with a super-high crash cymbal and an athletic performance.

Erykah Badu

Missed Erykah. She was a weird pick for an indie rock festival, but whatever.

Explosions In The Sky

It’s hard to miss Explosions in the Sky’s signature instrumental sounds. They’re quite pretty, and the live show — while not for everybody — is potent and beautiful. After catching a few songs, we decided to call it a night. Our feet were tired, and we were ready for a break. Festival!

Follow Reverb on Twitter! Here!

Ricardo Baca is the founder and co-editor of Reverb and an award-winning critic and journalist at The Denver Post. He is also the executive director of the Underground Music Showcase, Colorado’s premier festival of local music. Follow his whimsies at Twitter, his live music habit at Gigbot and his iTunes addictions at Last.fm.

Joe McCabe is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.

More from Reverb

• Rush @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
• The Offspring, 311 @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
• The Flaming Lips @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Ask Reverb To Recommend Your Posts