Top 5 Musical Moments from Sasquatch

KCRW’s Promotions Coordinator Mary Chellamy was in the Gorge this past weekend for the annual Sasquatch Music Festival. Here are her Top 5 musical moments, in no particular order:

Blind Pilot (Sasquatch- Main Stage)

The best ‘happy/feel good music in a beautiful setting’ award goes to Blind Pilot.

I’m pretty sure these guys love each other like brothers and sisters because they look like they’re having a great time on stage.

Bon Iver (Sasquatch – Main Stage)

Two drum kits! You wouldn’t think the quiet lullaby melodies of Bon Iver would require two drum kits, but apparently they do. And you know what? They rocked it in epic fashion. Usually the constant chatter of drunk people at shows drowns out the music, but when Justin started to sing Re: Stacks, the whole Gorge went silent. Seriously beautiful music in an outrageously gorgeous setting.

The Walkmen (Bigfoot Stage)

Okay, so it wasn’t Coachella hot, but it was warm and singer Hamilton Leithauser was wearing a suit! Theirs was one of the best sets I saw at the Bigfoot stage. The entire crowd was, politely, thrashing around to the band’s new tunes (shout out to my jam “Heartbreaker”) and older tracks (“The Rat”). I brought out my best 80s-esque dance moves for this one.

Grouplove (Sasquatch – Main Stage)

Two words – party time!

Hannah, Christian, Sean, Andrew and Ryan erupted on stage with their party anthems. The definite highlight of their set came when they morphed Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” into “Tongue Tied“. The best! A special shout out to Ryan for drumming in stripped knee socks and long johns.

P.S. I want to join this band. I can’t play any instruments or sing, but maybe they’ll let me join anyways.

The Head and the Heart

Seattle’s Head and the Heart had one of the largest crowds for an early evening set on the main stage. After finding a spot on the lawn I realized why – the band delivers perfect pop songs (and they are all pretty easy on the eyes too).

Best non-live musical moment:

Before leaving Seattle and heading to Sasquatch, I took a tour of the Sub Pop offices (one of the coolest indie labels) which includes a label roster of Fleet Foxes, Beachwood Sparks, Beach House, Dum Dum Girls etc. A big thank you to Sasha at Sub Pop for the awesome tour and goody bag!