Saturday gave us little time to stop the Foo Fighters rattling around our brains. By 2 p.m. we were already back inside the amphitheater grounds with another full slate of music in front of us. I settled into my perch on the mainstage lawn next to my new neighbors: Nicole from Calgary, (who informed me that at Sasquatch!, “last names didn’t mean anything, and I hope it’s okay if I blow smoke in your face,”) and a 250-pound hippie in no condition to be interviewed by anyone.
Local Natives shuffled on stage shortly after 3 p.m. Though they sounded a little rough around the edges (especially in comparison to their sleek studio work), the five-piece band’s excitement to play in front of its largest crowd shone on songs like “Wide Eyes.” They set a relaxed tone for the late afternoon.
Portland pop orchestra Pink Martini was a welcomed break from Sasquatch!’s assault on the senses. My ears were still playing catch-up and my nose was dealing with the literally intoxicating bouquet of stale beer, smoke and the rank sweetness of what is never immediately, but always eventually recognized as fresh vomit.
I skipped out on Iron & Wine to See Matt & Kim, which was the best choice I made Saturday. I had already seen Matt & Kim before, and I knew live shows were what the East Coast duo lived for. For an hour, we were blasted with stripped-down catchy brilliance, highlighted by their cover of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend,” and of course their well-known anthem “Daylight.”
I was back over to the mainstage in time to catch Bright Eyes’ frontman Conor Oberst’s calculated bursts of drunken cynicism. He dedicated “Arc of Time” to the internet, that “greedy, greedy pig” and went on an miniature rant on Osama Bin Laden’s death that seemed out-of-place in the politically-liberated Sasquatch! crowd. Hits like “Poison Oak” and “Road To Joy” got the crowd back into it.
Death Cab for Cutie headlined the mainstage Saturday night, in a performance that couldn’t have been further from the previous night’s Foo Fighters concert. The local favorites (they’re from Seattle) started out strong with hits like “I Will Possess Your Heart” and “The New Year,” before lulling into cuts from their new CD “Codes and Keys.” Their new stuff has nothing wrong with it – in fact, it’s impressive that the band has managed to avoid the stigmas that come with the contrarian, and often fatal, designation of “mainstream indie” – but new tracks weren’t what everyone was looking for at 10:30 p.m.
For a while, they seemed like they were holding back, especially frontman Ben Gibbard who inserted pregnant pauses between each song. Despite some fans leaving for the late-night Bassnectar ravesplosion, the band finished strong with “Crooked Teeth,” “The Sound of Settling” and an encore featuring “Title and Registration.”