Sasquatch, Day Two with the National, Cut Copy, Band of Skulls & More, May 2014
Review & Photos by Abby Williamson

The National‘s Matt Berninger

Saturday of Sasquatch seemed to come a lot quicker than I expected – but it could have been that I first woke up with the sun at 6:30 a.m. “What time is it? Damnit I
don’t need to be awake yet!” So I fell back asleep for three more hours. I was determined to erase the visuals of Friday night from my brain by Saturday
morning, and thankfully Hobosexual was able to do that with full force. That Narwhal stage was packed at 2 in the afternoon. All the dirty, rusty rock and roll –
complete with manes of hair made for headbanging. And boy, did the crowd meet the requirements.

Hobosexual

Across the lawn was exact opposite – but equally as pleasant – Portland’s own Radiation City at the Yeti Stage. Their sunny indie pop is exactly that – sunny as hell, the epitome of Saturday’s weather. Sticking with the same indie pop vein, I headed over to the Bigfoot Stage for the Dodos, who first jumped on my radar when one of their songs ended up in a beer commercial back in 2008, and I honestly kind of forgot about them. But I’m glad I caught their set – and subsequently found out that this new album Carrier is their fifth. Shows how much I know.

Radiation City

The Dodos

After they kicked us out of the pit at Bigfoot, I ran over to the Narwhal Stage again for the second half of Dude York’s set – and I’m glad I did. It was only recently when I discovered Dude York’s raw punk tunes. I used to be a huge fan of Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, and it’s nice to see that Claire England is still making music in Seattle.

Dude York

Since comedy was a priority all weekend – I couldn’t miss Eric Andre, and apparently neither could anyone else, because the tent was packed for his set. I had
to jump over people napping on the ground, making sure not to step on anyone’s face. It was a precarious situation. He was so funny – miming god knows what and sporting the weirdest hairdo I’d seen on anyone all weekend – that I almost stayed for the whole thing. But alas – I could not! I needed to see local hip-hop hero Sol on the Bigfoot Stage, and his set did not disappoint. His smile and energy reached back across the huge lawn, so it felt even warmer than it already did at 4 in the afternoon. Yeah, this was only 4 p.m.

Eric Andre

Once Sol completed his set, we went back down rock and roll street for Band of Skulls, who was a surprise love for me. I’d only heard a little of their music – first on one of the Twilight movie soundtracks. But this bluesy English band – for the lack of a better term – brought it, not to mention gave me some of my favorite shots of the festival. Thank the lord for long hair. Although I stayed for all of two songs – I had to catch at least a little bit of Violent Femmes on the main stage, because they’re the Violent Femmes. They don’t tour regularly, so when the heck was I going to get another chance to hear “Blister In The Sun” live? Probably never.

Sol

Band of Skulls

Violent Femmes

The last comedian of the day was Nick Swardson, and I know I said Eric Andre’s crowd was big, but this was ridiculous. But when you’ve got a comedian whose most
popular bits are about old people listening to rap music and inviting John Stamos to his funeral – young people will eat that stuff up. El Chupacabra was so crowded that after I stayed for half the set, I crawled under the side of the tent because there was no escaping through that cluster.

Nick Swardson

Washed Out and the Grizzled Mighty were the next two bands on my list, and while opposite ends of the music spectrum, neither disappointed. All I knew of
Washed Out before this was that they did the Portlandia theme song, and the rest of their music is just as dreamy. The Grizzled Mighty, on the other hand, epitomized their name. They were so grizzled that singer Ryan Granger’s boots were literally withering away at the toes. With Granger joined only by Whitney Petty on drums, the Grizzled Mighty is another great example of a “less is more” band.

Washed Out

The Grizzled Mighty

A surprising hit of the day came with Australian band Cloud Control at Yeti. They drew a huge crowd, and rightfully so, despite being relatively knew to the U.S. market. Their dreamy pop will definitely be part of my summer soundtrack, and they should be part of yours, too. Speaking of summer soundtracks, Chastity Belt – who – started across the lawn at Narwhal, would be another good addition to that summer soundtrack, as a nice foil to Cloud Control’s sunny indie rock.

Cloud Control

Chastity Belt

Panda Bear was one of the acts I promised myself I would see. I saw him play with Animal Collective back in 2009 when I had no clue who the heck Animal Collective
was, so seeing him in this same venue was lovely. Granted, it was just him in front of a large video screen on Bigfoot, so not the most exciting to watch – but the perfect music to lie down and shut your eyes for a few minutes and just absorb it. You need those moments in situations like Sasquatch. It can get overwhelming at times, so you need to take a breather once in awhile, and this was one of those moments for me, especially since it was almost 9:00 p.m. and I had three artists left to go.

Panda Bear

The first was Tyler, The Creator, who was quite fun – though I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. Next was The National, who pulled on all the heartstrings
they possibly could. And it wasn’t just because Matt Berninger’s voice is all kinds of beautifully distressed, it was also because the first time I shot Sasquatch back in 2010, the National played the main stage then too. So the universe piled nostalgia on top of my existing love for the National.

Tyler, The Creator

The National

And my last hurrah for the night was Cut Copy – who managed to wake everyone up at midnight for their flamboyant lightshow. While it’s not necessarily what I listen
to on a regular basis, I have to give mad props to a band that gives us Alexander Skarsgard shirtless through an entire music video. Plus, it was definitely music that you couldn’t help but dance to. At this point any person in the crowd could be either so pumped up from lack of sleep and whatever hallucinogens they had tried earlier in the day, or about to collapse from exhaustion. But that’s Sasquatch.

Cut Copy

See more photos of Sasquatch, Day Two here.