Wilco ceremoniously closed the 10th annual Sasquatch Festival Monday evening after four days of one of the best line-ups we’ve seen so far for a 2011 music festival.
Jeff Tweedy and the band rocked through a two-hour set in front of a crowd of thousands of weary, chilly and wet Wilco fans who were nonetheless enthusiastic and visibly enjoying the final performance at the Gorge Ampitheatre in Quincy, Washington.
The celebrated Chicago alternative rock band (even though they covered so many genres over the years), and one of America’s finest musical exports of the past 15 years, Wilco was the final performance of a festival that is increasingly one of the top U.S. festivals along with the more recognized fests like Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. Here are a couple of the original tracks the band played on Monday night, plus a full stream of Wilco’s entire set.
“Heavy Metal Drummer” – Wilco from Yankee Foxtrot Hotel (2001)
“A Shot In The Arm” – Wilco from Summerteeth (1998)
Hear Wilco’s entire Sasquatch set via NPR.
Note: Make sure to check back for more of our post Sasquatch coverage during the next couple of days.
Previous to Wilco, The Decemberists rocked and swooned the crowd with a set list featuring indie classics from their earlier folky maritime-themed albums to songs from their latest, and number one album, The King is Dead, which has clearly catapulted the band out of indie realm and into the world of mainstream rock. But labeling did not matter to the thousands of festival goers who were treated to an electrifying performance, starting off with the dramatic saga, “The Infanta.” After The Decemberists, catch some of Deerhunter‘s set on the Bigfoot stage.
“The Infanta” – The Decemberists from Picturesque (2005)
“June Hymn” – The Decemberists from The King is Dead (2011)
Listen to The Decemberists’ entire set via NPR.
Part of what made Sasquatch so amazing, and yet so challenging, was the fact that the line-up was smoking hot nearly all day and all of the night on each of the four stages. For example, prior to Deerhunter, the Bigfoot stage hosted performances on Monday from !!!, Surfer Blood, Black Mountain, Noah & The Whale, Twin Shadow, Givers and others.
“Floating Vibes” – Surfer Blood from Astro Coast (2010)
“Druganaut” – Black Mountain from Black Mountain (2005)
“I Have Nothing”* – Noah and The Whale from The First Days of Spring (2009)
- Note: As much as possible, we only use .mp3 links from record labels, publicists, box.net and blogs that make there own .mp3 links available to Hype Machine and other music services. If we have a song link to your own blog but you want us to remove it, please leave a comment and we’ll get it much faster than our email, which is spammed to kingdom come.
– Stream and download partial sets from Black Mountain, City and Colour and Foster The People.
Meanwhile, on the Yeti stage Monday, festival goers were treated to sets from indie artists like Jaill, The Young Evils, White Denim, Foster The People, and Best Coast. The latter two bands drew good-sized crowds as the afternoon wore on. In and of itself, that line-up on just one rather small stage is a winner for any indie festival.
“Boyfriend” – Best Coast from Crazy For You (2010)
“The Stroller ” – Jaill from That’s How We Burn (2010)
“Houdini” – Foster The People from Torches (2010)
Earlier in the day, on the main stage, Sasquatch, a gigantic platform set far down the bottom of a hillside, and , there were awesome performances from Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (stream), Guided By Voices, Chromeo, Old 97s, Young The Giant, and Wavves (stream) kicked it off with the first show of the day on the Yeti stage at lunch time.
“Diablo Rojo” – Rodrigo Y Gabriela from Rodrigo Gabriela (2007)
“June Salutes You” – Guided By Voices from The Official Ironmen Rally EP (2006)
“King of the Beach” – Wavves from King of the Beach (2010)
- If you are a fan of Guided By Voices, Major Lazer, Noah and the Whale, Old 97s and Rodrigo Y Gabriela you can stream via NPR to hear parts of their sets from Sasquatch on Monday.
Check back, and refresh this page, for further updates, plus, don’t miss our Sasquatch Festival reviews for Sunday, Saturday and Friday, featuring coverage of even more performances and songs from Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie, Tokyo Police Club, Beach House, J. Mascis, Yeasayer, Sleigh Bells, The Radio Dept , The Globes, The Head and The Heart, Local Natives, Sharon Van Etten, Wolf Parade, Wye Oak, The Antlers, Iron & Wine, The Thermals, Washed Out, and it simply goes on and on.
More coming from Sasquatch!