It seems crazy to be talking about it already, but ready or not, 2012's Sasquatch! Music Festival is right around the corner! Next weekend, in fact, we'll be packing up our cars and celebrating the impending start of summer by spending a long weekend in the sun, poring over four days of band schedules and making the most of our annual trip to the Gorge Ampitheater in George, Washington. The last few years have given us festival weekends for the books {here's some proof from 2011 and 2010}, and this year looks like it will be no exception — there's tons to see every day no matter what your personal taste is, and at the moment it looks like the weather is going to hold out, too! So, let's take a look at some of the highlights that we can't wait to take in — and you can play along at home by making your own Sasquatch! day-by-day schedule here.
There seems to be a build built in to the fest, both per-day and over the course of the weekend, too: Friday starts by easing us into a warm bath with the smooth sounds of Allen Stone, who will be kicking things off at the Sasquatch Stage at 5:00p. And if that "blue-eyed soul" sound isn't your thing, don't worry — you can take it in the opposite direction with the post alt.indie vibe that Yellow Ostrich does at 5:15p on the Bigfoot Stage instead {pop on over here for a sample of what we love about these guys}. Then, Iceland's made-famous-to-Seattle-via-KEXP allstars Of Monsters and Men take the 6:00p spot on the Sasquatch Stage, while recent buzz band Polica blow out the Bigfoot Stage at 6:30. There's plenty to experience Friday besides (and around) these four picks, but our last can't-miss recommendation is 110% for Girl Talk's set at 8:30 on the Sasquatch Stage, sure to be a power-hour that will leave the crowds (and us!) happily hopped-up in preparation for the next three days of music.
We can't really think of a better way to begin the first weekend day of Sasquatch! with back-to-back sets of awesome on the Sasquatch Stage, first with Pickwick at 12:00p, followed immediately by Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires at 1:05p. {It's worth noting that we've been buzzing with love for Charles Bradley since his set in KEXP's Bumbershoot Music Lounge last year, and we can't wait to catch him on the big stage!} Well-primed, we'll head into some modern American roots tunes from Blitzen Trapper at 2:10p on the same stage, and we'll cap the first part of the day off with what's sure to be one of the best revival-jam sets of the weekend, Alabama Shakes at 3:00p on the Bigfoot Stage. Speaking of, we're quite sure you're in the loop with AS's recent release, Boys & Girls, but just in case you haven't gotten into it yet, check it out here.
Saturday shakes up at 3:30p, with a turn for the funkier side: THEESatisfaction will be bringing all the goodness from their latest release {and then some!} to the Yeti Stage right about then, and there's tons to check out over the course of the afternoon and early evening (Portlandia, Kurt Vile and the Violators, and Dum Dum Girls stand out as choices worthy of your festival time) before Helio Sequence's Bigfoot Stage set at 6:30p and Metric's Sasquatch Stage set at 6:40p. Those bleed into our absolutely-can't-miss pick for Saturday, tUnE-yArDs on the Bigfoot Stage at 7:30p {!!!!!}, and the night caps off with The Shins and Jack White back-to-back to close out the Sasquatch Stage starting about 8:10p.
Holy schedule conflicts, Batman. Too many great bands to see is absolutely a wonderful problem to have, but we're still not sure how we're going to manage seeing even a little bit of everything we want to get to on Sunday! We'll warm up with Hey Marseilles and Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr doing sets on the Sasquatch Stage at 12:00p and 1:05p respectively, and then we'll dash up the hill to catch one of our {many} favorite Merge acts, Hospitality, at the Bigfoot Stage at 2:00p. Hopefully there's time to catch a little bit of Fly Moon Royalty at the Maine Stage, as they've got a set starting at 2:15p (and if their performance at this year's Dancing on the Valentine celebration is any indicator, ps, we are definitely in for a treat) before a coin toss that decides between Blind Pilot's 3:15p Sasquatch Stage set and Gardens & Villa's 3:30p Yeti Stage set. After that, we'll be back to the Bigfoot Stage for The War On Drugs and Deer Tick's sets starting around 4:00p, catch a little bit of M Ward down on the Sasquatch Stage at 5:25p, and split ourselves into clones to catch the entirety of both Wild Flag's Bigfoot Stage set and The Head and the Heart's Sasquatch Stage set, at 6:20p and 6:40p respectively.
After that, the night finally slows down to a dull roar, with our miss-it-and-you'll-regret-it-forever pick for Sunday, We Are Augustines, who will be taking the Yeti Stage by storm at 6:45p. After soaking in their incredible, fully legit, dare we say "indie rock" (post indie rock?) sounds, we'll have plenty of time for the Walkmen's 7:30 set at the Bigfoot Stage before sauntering down to cap the night off with Beirut's 8:10p Sasquatch Stage performance. There's plenty going on well into the night for anyone who isn't out of steam by then, most notably Bon Iver's headlining set and James Murphy's DJ set, but it's pretty likely that we'll be too wiped out at that point to do anything but head back to the hotel and gear up for a fourth day of incredible, amazing music.
The long weekend will absolutely be going out with a bang, with a schedule on Monday that rivals the running around we'll be doing to catch a little bit of everything on Sunday. And again, just like the other three days of the fest we'll be easing into the {fingers crossed!} sunshiny bliss with bands like the alt-country Sheepdogs at 12:00p on the Sasquatch Stage, maybe a little Gold Leaves at 12:15p on the Yeti Stage, some Grouplove at 1:05p on the Sasquatch Stage {we'd love to hear this live super bad!!}, and a side of Poor Moon at the Yeti Stage at 1:20p before the day kicks fully into gear.
It'll be back-to-back-to-back mayhem after that, as we try to catch some of Gary Clark Jr.'s 2:10p Sasquatch Stage set and Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside's 2:35p Yeti Stage set before sprinting over to see Damien Jurado at 2:45p on the Bigfoot Stage. It'll be incredible to get that Maraqopa vibe going on a stage that size, and we're quite sure that they're going to blow the roof off of the afternoon — a tough act to follow, but we'll be prolonging the feel-good vibes by taking in Fresh Espresso on the Maine Stage at 4:25p, Shearwater on the Yeti Stage {OMG} at 5:40p, and then we'll try to catch as much of John Reilly and Friends (feat. Becky Stark and our old pal Tom Brosseau) on the Yeti Stage at 6:45 and the Cave Singers on the Bigfoot stage at 6:50p as we can before we're ready to drop. And as if that weren't enough, between Silversun Pickups and Beck closing out the night on the Sasquatch Stage, we're going to make sure to get our Ted Leo & The Pharmacists on at 7:50p on the Yeti Stage to make sure we do our exit right.
It is for sure going to be a weekend to remember — we hope our suggestions have been helpful in cutting through all the choices you'll be making over your four days at the Gorge, and we'll see you up there! And if it still feels too crazy to sort through, remember to head on over to that handy Sasquatch! schedgie-making page, where you can not only build a custom timetable but! you can also listen to a song from each artist to see if you dig on it enough to fit it into your viewing for the day. It doesn't get much easier than that!
{All photos by Victoria VanBruinisse. From top: Sasquatch! 2010, Long Winters Crowd at the Sasquatch! 2010, Pickwick / Charles Bradley at the KEXP Bumbershoot Lounge 2011, THEESatisfaction at the Triple Door, tUnE-yArDs at Sasquatch! 2010, Fly Moon Royalty at DOTV 7, We Are Augustines at Austin City Limits 2011, Damien Jurado at the Fremont Abbey, Shearwater at the Triple Door. Sasquatch! 2012 is sold out.}