Reviews > Shows

Sasquatch Festival 2011

Jeff Tweedy, Wilco

Sunday once again started the party early, with the old-school funk and soul of Wheedles Groove, a collective of musicians that had been stalwarts of the Northwest soul circuit in the ’70s before disco moved in. “We all made 45s back in the day. Do you know what that is?” one member asked, obviously aware that he’d been making music before most of his audience was even alive. Fitz and the Tantrums brought their own breed of David Bowie-inspired hipster soul to the mainstage, creating a thriving dance party early in the afternoon with on-point musicianship and top-notch showmanship.

Despite having a reputation of delivering outstanding shows, The Flaming Lips’ performance was one of the weakest points of the weekend, with Wayne Coyne offering a string of long-winded, melancholy speeches that left most of the audience demanding more music (which it should be noted was good: a complete cover of their album, Soft Bulletin. Once again, the smaller stages came to the rescue: Yeasayer created an ethereal atmosphere with a baffling array of sounds and the tremendous vocal presence of Chris Keating, and MSTRKRFT brewed up the most solid DJ set of the weekend that turned the dance pit into an intensely tribal affair.

While Monday’s crowds showed signs of typical festival weariness, Black Mountain’s dirty psychedelia channeled new energy into their crowd with bombastic guitar riffs and organ swirls and siren Amber Webber’s transfixing voice. The Vancouver band’s nod to the foundations of heavy rock ‘n’ roll sounded as if Jefferson Airplane never came back out of the rabbit hole and decided to turn their amps up to 11. Sharon Jones had the audience eating out of her hand as she boogied across the stage and wailed soul numbers as her band, The Dap Kings, turned up the energy with blazing horn lines and a rhythm section as tight as a clenched fist.

Rodrigo y Gabriela pumped out more sound than most could believe came from two people wielding classical guitars and precious few effects. The storm clouds that had circled the festival for the entire weekend finally unleashed a torrent of rain during Gabriela’s solo showcase, but most of the audience just embraced the shower and remained transfixed by the unparalleled virtuosity playing out before them. The wind and rain was joined by thunder later in the evening, creating an impressive natural light show as Wilco took the stage for the final set of the festival. Those that stuck around to the end were glad they had; frontman Jeff Tweedy was in top form as he joked around with his audience, and the band’s two hour set was packed with their more muscular songs that had the diminished crowd dancing to stay warm and already looking forward to another year with the Northwest’s favorite hairy beast.