{This is part one of a three-part Sasquatch! 2012 photo recap. Be sure to check out part two here, and part three here!}
It was an incredible long weekend at the Gorge again this year for the 2012 installment of the Sasquatch! Music Festival, which took place this past Friday {5/25} through Monday {5/28} out in the lovely, dusty, sunny town of George, Washington. After sitting through what felt like endless traffic — three and a half hours from the highway exit to the parking lot! — we finally found ourselves traipsing around the grounds, poring over the schedule to see what we could still catch a glimpse of before the night wrapped up. Our hopes were high for day one, but we wound up missing Yellow Ostrich and Allen Stone because of the backup — however, we did manage to catch a litte bit of Santigold, all of Girl Talk's bright-light-infused, toilet-paper-gun-shooting, ass-kicking party set, and a good portion of Explosions In The Sky as they tore up the crowd with their wall-of-sound instrumentals before we packed it in for the night.
Here's a few photos from day one, starting with our multi-hour traffic front- and rear-view:
Girl Talk! Gigantic, awesome, and seriously — TOILET PAPER GUNS:
Explosions in the Sky:
We started out day two {Saturday} with high hopes for some good times, and our girl Sasquatch! did not disappoint. From start to finish, the sets were full of funk, soul, beats, lady-power, and righteousness. There's nothing quite like having a big serving of Pickwick for breakfast, and we were front and center at the big stage when they took to it at noon, dropping a seamless set to a rowdy, happy crowd. It only felt right to stay on the soul boat for Charles Bradley immediately after that, soaking in all of his modern-legend-ness. We took it all to heart, especially and extra-very-so when Charles sang those lines about "you" right out to the crowd, implying that it wasn't a love interest, but the very people who stood there bearing witness to his set. "Without you, there is no me!" he called out, and meant every ounce of it.
Pickwick, complete with MegaGalen on the Jumbotron:
Charles Bradley:
The next sets of the day kept us going strong, as we lined up (with what seemed like every single other person at the festival) for the Alabama Shakes set on the Bigfoot Stage, followed by THEESatisfaction's set on the Yeti Stage. Both were near-flawless, the Shakes' set delivering almost more than we could handle of their full-frontal indie-tinged soul-revival rock goodness; and immediately after that Stas and Cat's set came through loud, clear, and powered up. Both groups, simply put, turned it on and did it right, meeting and exceeding our expectations, and living up to every bit of hype they've both received in recent months.
Alabama Shakes:
THEESatisfaction, doing it so good they made me blush:
We wound through the next part of our day staying close to the Bigfoot stage for sets from Dum Dum Girls, the Helio Sequence, and tUnE-yArDs. Again, all three performances were on the money: Dum Dum Girls brought a super-edgy game, Helio Sequence dropped their hits early on in the set to get the crowd rolling, and tUnE-yArDs did what tUnE-yArDs does.
On a bit of a personal note, I have to say that the t-y set was probably the one I was most excited for on Saturday, and given that I apparently don't have a grasp on what levels of "famous" bands are these days, I was completely unprepared for / slightly bummed out by the size of the crowd that was amassed up to and around the stage for their set. Of course, I was still able to see and hear the majority of the performance, and I'm beyond thrilled that their music is reaching so many people! But seeing as my last face-to-face with tUnE-yArDs took place from the pit at the Yeti Stage in 2010, it was a little less intimate than I would have liked. That said, the set was killer, and one of my favorites of the weekend.
Dum Dum Girls:
Helio Sequence, all sunlight and goodness!
tUnE-yArDs — beats and bad-assery:
Of course, these are just a few highlights in the sea of bands we took in, and there's so much more to come — we're still wading through tons of photos and notes, and we'll have more to share with you as soon! If you can't wait, pop on over to the imaginary flickr pool for more photos from all four days of the festival. Stay tuned!
{All photos by Victoria VanBruinisse.}