earlyinthemorning Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Headed up to the Gorge on Saturdau am for 1 day of the Sasquatch festival. I'll start by saying that the Gorge is probably the most beautiful venue I've ever seen. Amazing vistas and a pretty good setup within the ampitheater as well. First act we saw was Sufjan. First time seeing him and I was definitely impressed. Crowd was still sparse that early and we got pretty close to the stage as a result. Highlights included Chicago and jacksonville. Next up was Band of Horses on a smaller stage. Played a few off their album, one new song and a leftfield cover of a Hall & Oates song (You make my dreams come true). Short and sweet set, ending just as the rain started. It had been a beautiful, sunny day up to this point and a little shower was welcome to cool everyone off a bit. However, within 15-20 minutes the shower had turned into a full on hail storm. We were watching Neko on the mainstage when it started. At first it was just a few hailstones here and there but it quickly became a pretty violent storm. Neko had to leave the stage and attendees were huddling under blankets and tarps. Fortunately, the hail and rain stopped after about a half hour. Unfortunately the music was delayed for about an hour and a half. We skipped the tragically hip so the next band we saw was the Shins. They played a tight but abbreviated set due to weather situation, featuring mostly stuff from Chutes Too Narrow. Scheduled next were the Flaming Lips. I was really excited for their set, not having seen them in about 2 years. Unfortunately, after a long wait, someone comes on stage and announces that due to the weather Ben Harper is coming on next and the Lips will close. I was very pissed as it had been a long, cold , and wet day and I really just wanted to see the Lips and maybe a little of Ben before retreating to the tent for some dry clothes and a warm sleeping bag. Instead had to sit through 2 hours of Ben Harper. He was decent, but imo was better when he just had the 3 piece band. I could also do w/out the pop garbage he mixes in, ie Steal My Kisses. After what, to me was an interminable encore, Harper finally left the stage. 30 or so minutes later the Lips finally hit the stage. Wayne was his usual magnanimous self, apologizing profusely for the delay. We didn't stay for their whole set as its was so late (they came on at 12:15 when the whole show was originally scheduled to end at 12.) but were treated to Yoshimi, Bohemian Rhapsody, Vein of Stars and a few more. All in all, it was a fun day that would have been phenomenal were it not for the freak hail storm. Sorry for the length of the review but it corresponds to the length of the day. If anyone went Sunday I'd love to hear how it was. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheelco Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 let us know about the wookie count Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 ... Sorry for the length of the review...Never apologise for that! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherpahigh Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 We skipped the tragically hip so the next band we saw was the Shins. Sorry about your luck missing these guys. They put on a kick ass show and though I wasn't there for this one I have some friends that were and their review of the Hip on Saturday was extremely positive. That hail storm sounded pretty crazy, too bad it had to screw the sets up so much. It sounded like a lot of the side stage acts had to be cancled as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Humming Bird Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I found tragically hip to be very lame. Kinda generic background guitars with a drunk middle aged man shaking his tail feather (literally). The hail ruined Neko Case's set, she was amazing, sang right through the hail with that awesome powerfull voice. Overall and amazing couple of days. Oh honorably mention goes to Gomez by the way. Kinda a supergroup like Wilco but more based on rocking not writting, Wilco is still #1 for me though. jm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
idaho_steve Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Yeah, I have no clue how the hip can be so popular in Canada. Talk about drunk Canucks. anyways, I think that your description of the hail storm lacked. We were pelted by gobstopper sized ice chunks for a half an hour with no cover. and to make things worse, they didn't allow reentry...well, after the storm they Had to allow reentry or else the place would have exploded, but they didn't announce it so half of the flaming lips fans didn't get to go to their tents and dry off. I found out half way through the shins set, went back to camp, dryed up, burned down, and headed back for a great ben harper performance and a spot down by the stage for an epic lips battle. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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