[Our fearless team, Nicci Boots and Ian McNeil spent three days listening to an obscene amount of fantastic music above the stunning Columbia River Gorge in George, Washington. Check out all our coverage here, over 30 sets from a who's who list of indie music.]
Sasquatch! fans seemed slightly frantic Saturday morning, and there were plenty of reasons why. Entering the festival the night before had been somewhat of a nightmare, as a four-mile long line of slowly creeping cars left many travelers stranded for hours. Then, on the morning of the first shows, ticket holders dealt with a similar line, this time of people trampling each other to get the best spot at one of the four stages.
But the second any of the 50,000 or so festival-goers stepped foot inside the Gorge Amphitheater, all negative feelings were thrown out the window. Most possibly the most beautiful and breathtaking of outside venues in the world, the Gorge proved to be a humbling place for fans and most of the musicians that graced the stage. And it seems the festival’s organizers planned each day’s openers to be a settling force for anyone still shaky from the night before. All three days began with incredible acts, and the festival’s very first performance might just have been one of its best.
Brother Ali burst onto the stage with every intention of putting a smile on people’s faces, and he did so with hilarious dialogue and the smoothest and chillest of raps. Every word Ali said felt fresh and crisp, and these words fell over super funky beats spun by DJ Snuggles, who also wowed the crowd with his porno and Iron Man beatboxin’. These two Minneapolis boys clearly came to the party to remind people to love themselves and to have a good time doing it. Ali, a self-proclaimed Santa Claus-lookin’ dude and Albino Muslim, spoke multiple times on how important it is to accept the way you are. It was all part of an amazing show, and it absolutely set the pace for three days of deliriously good music.