We went to the Sasquatch Music Festival for Memorial Weekend. Slo made it a priority to fly up to Seattle to join Me, Joey, Myron, Kelli, Lian, Brian and John on a road trip up to the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington. We arrived at around 8 or 9 at night and when we got there, the parking attendants told us that the campground was full, and that our only option was to pay an extra $80 a car to park in the premiere lot.Myron decided to argue this situation out with the manager, and they ended up giving us a free upgrade. it started to rain pretty hard as we were setting up our tents, so we tried to get it done as fast as we could.

I woke up the next day at around 6 in the morning because somehow I ended up sleeping in a space no larger than a large dog would occupy. Somehow, I fell back asleep and I woke up a couple hours later. Slo Kelli and I decided to walk around to tour the campground, and we found a Denny's tent, so we got some breakfast. We headed to the main stage at around 1:30 or so to catch Blue Scholars. And what was super sweet about being in the premiere campground was that there was a free shuttle that drove us from the grounds to the actual concert venue. Sans this shuttle, we would have a good long ass walk to the stages. After Blue Scholars, the Cold War Kids played their set. And for my first time seeing them live, they did a pretty damn good job. Tegan and Sara followed, and they're always a fun show to watch because I love hearing their stories.The Presidents of the United States were after, but I haven't really listened to their music, so I headed out of the pit and sat up on the hill. Michael Franti and Spearhead were after, and they made the crowd go wild. By the end of the set, the crowd was up on their feet and dancing up a storm. Then Death Cab was on, and they played for a good hour and a half. I don't think it was as good as when I saw them play at Key Arena with Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, but I was glad I got to see them play their new music live. The Cure was Sunday's headliner, and by then I had a pretty aching headache, so we listened for a couple of songs, and then headed back to the campsite.

I was more excited for Monday's lineup. Joey Slo and I got up early to catch The Choir Practice. They were really good but they only played a half hour set, which I wish they didn't. We were going to catch Thao with the Get Down Stay Down but we wanted to watch The Hives more, so instead we headed back to the main stage and caught the Matt Costa set. The Hives were ridiculously entertaining. I can't wait to go to another Hives show, because they Pelle Almqvist really knows how to work the crowd, not to mention he's pretty damn funny, with his Swedish accent and all. I headed back up to the hill because my legs grew tired, and the sun was burning my face. Rodrigo Y Gabriela played after Built to Spill, who I didn't really bother to listen to, but instead went to get a BBQ Brisket Sandwich. Rodrigo Y Gabriela were really good. They had such a huge crowd for playing 2 acoustic guitars with no lyrics. At one point, Rodrigo played a song using a beer bottle to slide along the frets. Flight of the Conchords was after. If you've never listened to Flight of the Conchords, you should. They had a show on HBO, and their music is amazing... Amazing in the fact that they play really good melodies, and have the funniest lyrics. They are the New Zealand equivalent of Tenacious D. Somehow, a blow-up doll made its way into the pit. But the night ended with The Flaming Lips UFO Show, which was unlike any other show I have ever witnessed in my life.Wayne Coyne landed on stage in a spaceship, and appeared in a plastic bubble, which he descended onto the crowd in. Then, a gang of teletubbies rushed the stage, and threw huge giant balloons into the pit. After a cover of Led Zeppelin, Wayne sang an almost acoustic version of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1 backed up by keyboard. They were very Democratic at one point into their set, which led to the Yeah Yeah Yeah song and closed with Do You Realize? then Wayne took off into the saucer and the close of the festival.

All in all, Sasquatch was my first festival, and I can't wait until next year. But as a result, I got a gnarly tan, and my nose is burnt, and starting to peel.