Sasquatch Music Festival 2009 – HALP!!
Surprisingly enough, I have never been to one of these music festivals. I’m turning to you, Internet, to find out if you have any sage wisdom for me, and also to find out your advice about who I should see. Below, the purple bands are ones that I am definitely going to see. In red are the bands/comedians I want to see but have timing issues. The other bands I have either not heard of or simply don’t care to see. Please look at them and tell me if I’m being a fool! Here is the actual schedule.
Saturday, May 23th
Kings of Leon / Yeah Yeah Yeahs / The Decemberists / Animal Collective / Bon Iver / Devotchka / M. Ward / Doves / Sun Kil Moon / The Gaslight Anthem / King Khan & The Shrines / Ra Ra Riot / Shearwater / Passion Pit / Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band / Vince Mira / Blind Pilot / AA Bondy / Owl City / Arthur & Yu / Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele / Death Vessel / People’s Republic of Komedy / James Pants / Todd Barry / Tim and Eric / Crystal Castles / Nick Thune / Mos Def / Maria Bamford / Champagne Champagne
Kings of Leon (10:00 p.m.) and Doves (2:20 p.m.) are the only two acts that I want to see that don’t conflict with anything else.
- M. Ward/Maria Bamford (3:25-4:10 vs. 3:30-4:15) I’m deadlocked. I’ve liked Maria Bamford for a long time, so am probably leaning towards her, actually.
- Devotchka/Todd Barry (4:30-5:15 vs. 4:45-5:30) I’ve never seen Todd Barry, which is so fucked, but I really like Devotchka…so I think they win.
- Animal Collective/Tim & Eric (5:40-6:40 vs. 6:00-7:00) I have no idea. I could potentially watch the beginning of Animal Collective’s set and let that make my decision for me.
- The Decemberists/Mos Def (7:05-8:05 vs. 7:15-8:15) This is kind of like, duh, Mos Def, but I will regret having to miss The Decemberists, I think.
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Bon Iver (8:30-9:30 vs. 8:45-9:45) I’m very curious to see both of these acts. Crap!
Sunday, May 24th
Jane’s Addiction / Nine Inch Nails / TV On The Radio / The Murder City Devils / of Montreal / The Avett Brothers / Calexico / M83 / The Airborne Toxic Event / The Walkmen / The Wrens / St. Vincent / The Dodos / John Vanderslice / The Submarines / Viva Voce / The Builders And The Butchers / Fences / Point Juncture, WA / The Red Wine Boys / Hockey / Zach Galifianakis / Deadmau5 / Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head / People’s Republic of Komedy / The Henry Clay People / Aziz Ansari / Mike Watt and The Missingmen / Mad Rad / Street Sweeper Social Club
These all work out fine: The Walkmen (2:05), The Avett Brothers (4:10-5:00), Aziz Ansari (4:45-5:30) and Of Montreal (8:45).
- My giant problem is Zach Galifianakis/TV on the Radio/M83 (6:00-7:00 vs. 6:35-7:35 vs. 7:15-8:15). This is made slightly easier by the fact that I just saw Zach Galifianakis a few weeks ago, but still – I want to see him again. TV on the Radio is playing a sold out show tonight in Pittsburgh and I would love to see them live – but M83! What to do?! The timing for all of these works out so I could see the beginning/end/middle of the sets. Should I just do that?
Monday, May 25th
Ben Harper and Relentless7 / Erykah Badu / Silversun Pickups / Fleet Foxes / Gogol Bordello / Santigold / Grizzly Bear / Explosions In The Sky / Girl Talk / Blitzen Trapper / The Knux / Monotonix / Bishop Allen / Black Moth Super Rainbow / Beach House / The Dutchess And The Duke / School Of Seven Bells / Horse Feathers / The Pica Beats / Loch Lomond / Other Lives / Amanda Blank / Natasha Leggero / The Whitest Kids U’ Know / People’s Republic of Komedy / Tobacco / Chromeo (DJ Set) / God’s Pottery / Deerhoof / BLK JKS / Heartless Bastards
I just heard Heartless Bastards (12:00) on the radio last night (I was listening to Nicole Atkins co-host a show in NJ) so that made up my mind for me. The other no-conflict bands are Deerhoof (12:55), Gogol Bordello (3:50), Fleet Foxes (4:45), Beach House (6:30) and Erykah Badu (7:30).
- In the case of Black Moth Super Rainbow/Grizzly Bear (1:40-2:25 vs. 1:50-2:35), I’m pretty positive that I will be seeing Grizzly Bear. It is my own fault that I didn’t see BMSR’s recent free show at CMU.
- As for Bishop Allen/Santigold (2:45-3:30 vs. 2:50-3:35), I don’t really know Bishop Allen and want to see if Santigold lives up to the hype, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing her.
- It seems relevant to point out that I have never seen Girltalk and he’s on from 7:15-8:15, which is right at the end of Beach House, but Erykah Badu starts at 7:30 and I think she quite obviously wins.
I’ll greatly appreciate any recommendations/warnings!
M83!!! Never seen them live but it’s one of my heart’s desires so…you should do it. They’re so good.
Deerhoof was pretty great when I saw them live in Detroit in…2003? Or sometime around there. But it was a small venue, which I think was key. So maybe in a gigantic crowd it wouldn’t be as great, or maybe it would? They are fun and energetic on stage; enjoyable to watch and dance to (maybe…I don’t know what their new music sounds like, but I remember dancing at the show I went to).
I saw Deerhoof open for Radiohead a few years ago. There were a bunch of jerks around me loudly expressing their distaste and unbelief, like, “Are they serious??” and scoffing. I’m not a huge fan, but jeez, shut up.
I’m thinking I will skip out on the end of TV on the Radio to make M83’s set. I didn’t know it was one guy. Haha.
My friend Kathleen is going to this! Are you still coming to La La land?!?! I need Lydie times.
Saturday: Try to see King Khan and the Shrines! They put on a crazy awesome show.
Animal Collective over Time and Eric. I’ve seen them live and while they are funny, watching the tv show is way better. They use a lot of video in their live show. Animal Collective will be pretty stellar.
Sunday: try to see St. Vincent
Monday: GO SEE GRIZZLY BEAR. Amazing live. Jason and I saw them and Beach House and were blown away.
Monday is a pretty amazing day. How much are tickets for this shit? I wanna come up.
The website says: “Beginning Monday, March 2nd tickets are $66.50 per day. The week of the festival (beginning Monday, May 18th) tickets are $76.50 per day if still available.” Monday is still available, at least.
I really, really, really want to see Grizzly Bear. Andu warned me that Beach House isn’t great live. Do you agree?
I think I recall seeing St. Vincent years ago at CMU opening for another band, but it’s killing me because I can’t remember who headlined. They were not American and their name might have been hard to pronounce. Aggggh!
Also, I don’t think LA is going to work out for me right now, but I will see you when you come here and I will try to come in the fall/winter!
I guess I should say “he” instead of “them”…I always forget that M83 is only one dude now. whoops. This oversight was annoying me so much on the bus on the way home from work that I just HAD to re-comment. weird, i know.
OMC & I are listening to the Henry Clay People on myspace and LOVE THEM. Maybe it’s this one-shouldered bandeau dress talking, but dayum, this band is great. Also see St. Vincent so I can live vicariously through you.
xo