M.I.A.'s set pulled in a massive amount of people throughoutSaturday at Sasquatch

M.I.A.’s set pulled in a massive amount of people throughout

Saturday at Sasquatch found me much more in the zone moving through the day finding bits of time where I would just stop and people watch. Half the fun of this festival is the diversity of music fans that descend upon George, WA and with groups like Violent Femmes, Elbow and De La Soul, there’s music for every generation. That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot for the younger generations to dance along to. M.I.A. stole a good portion of the fest-goers for her stellar set at dusk. Not to mention Tyler the Creator pulled in all the meandoring onlookers coming from her set and searching for the next killer show. He has a way of pissing you off and entertaining you at the same time, it’s really strange. That being said, his fans up front had mouths stretched wide screaming along to the songs or just screaming… I couldn’t really tell. Man oh man do they love him. From beginning to end, Saturday had a lineup of shows that couldn’t miss, despite the lazy feelings dispursed amidst the grounds by the cloudy day.

Don’t forget to check out the entire slideshow of Saturday’s performances.

At age 50 Violent Femmes frontman Gordon Gano can still belt out those hits, energetic or not.

The Violent Femmes was one I was putting a lot of pressure on to impress me. Many years ago (exactly when I will omit, because it dates me and no one wants that), the one and only time I saw the Femmes play they were on a college tour opening for George Clinton and the P Funk Allstars. I was there for them but George Clinton put on a heck of a show too. I left feeling pretty disappointed because it felt pretty obvious they weren’t happy being the openers. The problem with putting so much pressure to impress on this particular performance is that it’s so many years later, the stage is huge with only a few people in the band, and it was in the middle of the day. While it wasn’t energetic or crazy in the slightest (save the young gold pants wearing drummer), I still found myself singing every word to every song along with the exuberant crowd that ranged in age from around 18 to 55. It was glorious.

Augustines brought enthusiasm in spades during Saturday’s set

On the flip side of the energetic coin, I stopped by the Augustines’ set, also earlier in the day, and couldn’t keep my eyes off the action. They were all over the stage jumping and getting the crowd pumped even on the cloudiest day of the fest. The lead singer/guitarist, Billy McCarthy, looked to be working on blowing out his voice the entire performance and it was incredibly fun to watch. I hadn’t realized they were now based out Seattle by way of Brooklyn. Let’s hope that means they’ll be playing the Pacific Northwest a lot more often.

The National had one of the best performances of the day (if not the weekend).

While I haven’t been a fan of The National for long, their late-night set was one of my favorites. Again, not super exciting, though the lighting was absolutely gorgeous, as night time shows often are.The calming beautiful music sailed through the crowd and into the evening air ending the second day’s events with the bit of calm that I needed. That doesn’t mean that everyone finished Saturday calm and relaxed… there was plenty going on when I hit the hay that continued on into the early morning both in the venue and in the campgrounds including a midnight show with The Grizzled Mighty, but we’ll talk about Sunday hangovers up next.

The Violent Femmes played a solid set with plenty of hits to go around. I was singing my heart out the entire time.

Jonathan Wilson added to the chill atmosphere on Saturday getting the crowd swaying to his music.

M.I.A. was one of the a break-out shows of the weekend. Minimal sets (other than a drone or two) left room for her dancing and energetic performance.

The National brought their gorgeous harmonies and mood lighting to the Gorge to perform for a packed house Saturday

While Tyler the Creator isn’t up my alley he sure knows how to play to his audience. SInging right in their faces and starting the set with an Olympic-level jump.