Sasquatch! 2015 May 22-25

Yeppers! Virginia Beach native. You?

Ok ok, fine, St paul is the shit. I was just more shocked about the mention of the other 2 acts in that post as being the real "gems". But I've stepped off for the sake of difference in tastes.

The lineup has Flume, SBTRKT, Odesza, and Chromeo on the EDM front... I found it a little weird to gush over Glitch Mob too. But to each their own. Also what's wrong with Umphrees?!

Haha I just cant get in to Umphrees. Watched them at Roo last year and just couldnt do it. To be honest I havent listened to SBTRKT or Odesza really. Chromeo was awesome at Roo last year too.

i think Hot Chip is Electronic dance music as well, are they not? If you're into the non "press play" electronic acts, and arnt familiar with hot chip, maybe you should fix that.

You are correct Sir!! I usually start firing up the youtube and listening to the bands I dont know much about right about now. That's how i found St. Paul, Break Science,Milo Greene, and Reptar for the last 2 Roos. This lineup for Sasquatch doesnt have as many bands that I wanna as other festivals but by God it seems solid from line 2-7

Harrisonburg Resident myself

again - sasquatch never has mind-blowing headliners. they had the national at number 2 last year.

seriously wish they would take some of the acts in the first 1-4 lines and sprinkle them into roo's top 2-4 lines.

might as well research these if you don't know them, while you're at it: jungle, james blake, mø, glass animals, SOHN, sylvan esso, rustie

they aren't EDM, but you may enjoy them. 

To add to that: Ought, Temples, Shakey Graves, The Knocks, Milky Chance, The Districts, The Budos Band, Perfume Genius, and Little Dragon... Damn this lineup is deep

Haha I just cant get in to Umphrees. Watched them at Roo last year and just couldnt do it. To be honest I havent listened to SBTRKT or Odesza really. Chromeo was awesome at Roo last year too.

Sasquatch was a good time. Over the last year I've lost a fair bit of interest in fests. I started going to them in 2010 because they were letting me experience things I never had before and gave me times of year to look forward to. In Portland I sometimes go out three or four times a week so a lot of the feelings and experiences I got from fests are now found in other places. Plus I've become a lot more drawn to other things for my entertainment and outdoors needs. Sasquatch helped realign me with seeing the value of fests and the irreplaceable experiences they can engender. Part of that has to do with more tempered expectations. I know I'll experience moments of great joy while still having times where it's more neutral and "not what it used to be" simply because of maturing and having a greater set of life experiences than when I started this whole fest thing. But Sasquatch is a really cool event and so easily paced my dad could do it. If I ever need a replacement fest due to Bonnaroo being so far away now this is a good one.

The drive there from Portland is nothing but beauty the whole way. I only paid $120 for my band and then found $70 wadded on a porta floor so the whole trip cost me $150. Pretty good deal for three days of music and good fest times haha. The main stage obviously has that unbeatable view but the others were grassy, clean, and with good sound except some spottiness at the second biggest. The walk from each is essentially negligible. Even from the mainstage pit to the farthest stage at the top of the hill is only about ten minutes. Only one tent is covered, the rest are just stages and thus exposed to the sun. It's a good fest for sitting down for sets, especially at the mainstage where you can see both the music and the view while laying. I never had a problem getting onto the ground level and only a couple times was shut out of the pit. The ground level essentially is the pit at Roo so anywhere down there is an up close and wonderful view. It's way less crowded than Roo which made it easy to get a good spot for every show except those after the headliner where they only had one or two dance things going. I don't get too worked up over whether a crowd is "good" or not but people were dancing and enjoying themselves at every set I attended. The average age was early 20s so I have no idea what they were thinking with those weekend two headliners. I wish it hadn't been canceled because the opportunity to experience all this twice in just over a month would've been badass as fuck.




I was camped less than ten minutes from the entrance. They mix RVs with car camping but spacewise they seem pretty informal and my area was way less packed than Roo. People camped in the fire lane and no one came around to tell them to move. It was cool enough at night that I just slept in my car and didn't wake until about nine. The weather was fairly hot during the day but nothing like Roo and way less sticky. I was actually energetic through the day though did do some napping on the hill during appropriate sets. The music ends around 130 so you get back to camp earlier but there was still lots of partying going on if that's your thing. There's an area deemed "District 9" that goes all night. I was pretty shot each night so just crawled into my trunk and zonked out. They don't have the cow troughs like at Roo but I think showers were only $3. I try not pay for things so I just did hobo showers with sink water but it looked like the standard tractor trailer shower set-up. I didn't see food vendors in the campground but I was near day parking so perhaps that's why.



If someone could break it to my dog that he's not dating Sparkles the Bus that'd be greatly appreciated.

The comedy setup at Sasquatch is so much better than what Roo's doing. During the day they use one tent for comedy and at night it houses DJs. This way the space gets used all day and it's more integrated into the fest. The tent is open on the back (like Roo tents) but has siding all the way down to the ground which helps create a nice feeling of enclosure and separateness. There's no seating but you could chill on the grass as there's side screens and another at the back of the tent for overflow. Best part is you just walk right in, no dedicating hours to standing in line, wondering if you will or won't get a ticket. I really hope Roo adopts something similar in the future. This doesn't show the back of the tent but it's the best I could find online:



Other than the greatness of the venue and its intimacy, I saw some incredible sets. Obviously that's why you go above all else, at least for me. Outkast was one of the best shows I've ever seen. I'm not some huge fan of them and really only know the hits but that was an incredible performance. It gave me that transcendent feeling I look for in festivals. Everyone was singing along and screaming the words to one another. I'd been a little buzzed but lost it before they went on. Outkast got me feeling drunk and into a perfect state. They're exactly what I want in a headliner: great songs everyone knows and can connect over, a lot of dancing, and having a stage on a scale unlike something you'd see at a club show. I saw three transcendent sets total and a slew of other good ones.

MIA was something I just was going to out of curiosity but it wound up being a mindblower. It didn't necessarily have a whole ton to do with her but rather the overall vibe of her set and the awesome crowd. Before it started someone puked all over the cement and a bunch of us threw down our garbage and whatnot to soak it up and create a barrier. That was just the start but it put me in a really great and goofy mood. Then the show began and destroyed me with joy. Whoever does her visuals is a genius as that stuff was overloading in a perfect way and unlike anything I've ever seen. People were singing and dancing to everything, completely overcome by the entirety of what was happening on stage. She brought a ton of audience members up to dance and I had flashbacks to being in the pit for Santigold at Roo. Some dude let me wear his rave glasses for part of MIA. I'd never even heard of them before but they enhanced the show so much for me despite alcohol being my only intoxicant. I have to find a pair before Roo. I originally saw Cut/Copy back in 2011 in Portland. It was and remains one of my top 5 shows. I got to their set an hour and a half early at Sasquatch and had an incredible spot and cool people to talk to. There were moments during that set where I was completely lost in the music, my body reacting to it on its own and my mind feeling 100% zoned in. I try not describe things in hippie ways haha but good god I experienced so many perfect moments there where my energy, mind, and body all aligned with what Cut was doing. I was gonna use Sasquatch as a conflict killer and skip them for Zedd but no way am I missing them at Roo. What a show. What a damn good bunch of shows. Thanks, Sasquatch.




The campground grift on Monday was a bit less than Roo but I still scored a bunch of canvas chairs, a cooler full of beer, and a bottle of Malibu. Plus I ate for free off the ground all weekend, as I'll also be doing at Roo haha. I've had a disgusting chest cold since getting back and my gourmet ground food is probably why but ah well haha. If I'm free I'll definitely go to this every year I can. Twas a good first Sasquatch.

Top 5 shows:

Outkast
Cut/Copy
MIA
Hannibal Buress
Tycho