As you are reading this, you are probably sitting somewhere on campus wearing a glaze of sweat over your radiating, sunburned cheeks. Your stomach is rumbling from a steady diet of barbecued meats and light domestic beer and you can’t even remember what building your class is in since you haven’t been for so long. Yes, summer is finally starting to show its colors, which means it’s just about time for Memorial Day: The Great American Weekend. For generations, Memorial Day has provided college students nationwide with one last opportunity to shake off their obligations and get away before the arrival of spring finals and the soul-sucking summer season of customer service jobs and unpaid internships. Memorial Day weekend also unofficially marks the beginning of the live music season with three days bursting at the seams with hot-ticket shows all across the Northwest and down the west coast. From weekend-long festivals to big name amphitheater shows, packed Portland clubs, and local Eugene heroes, Memorial Day has live music options of all prices, sizes, and distances – there is really no excuse not to go out this weekend.
In only its seventh year of existence, The Sasquatch Music Festival has thrown its hat into the ring of the nation’s premiere outdoor concerts and has become the annual destination for music lovers all across the Northwest. Established as a one-day event in its inaugural year in 2002, Sasquatch expanded to three days in 2006 and has since increased the number of live music stages and the notoriety of its headliners. Previous years have seen comedians David Cross and Sarah Silverman mastering ceremony on the main stage, helping to yield The Comedy Tent, the festival’s newest attraction. Chocked full of “SNL” alums, Comedians of Comedy, and members of Stella, the tent will provide the perfect getaway for those trying to escape the blistering desert sun or another boring Death Cab for Cutie set. Monday easily takes claim to best lineup of the weekend, featuring The Hives, Built to Spill, Flight Of The Conchords and the Flaming Lips’ seizure/psychosis/awe-inducing U.F.O. Show.
Sure, Sasquatch will be fun, but gas is at four bucks a gallon and maybe not everyone is as interested in putting down $150 to watch Robert Smith and Michael Stipe drag their dusty corpses on stage. Luckily, Bend has the more economical answer for those craving outdoor music this weekend. On Sunday, Sasquatch Mainstagers (and sorta Portland band) Modest Mouse will play the scenically intimate Les Schwab Amphitheater with indie rock champions The National and the reunited Breeders. Michael Franti is again touring the northwest with three shows over the weekend. Friday, Spearhead will play with inexplicable openers Built to Spill – why or how Michael Franti has gotten big enough to have Built to Spill, one of the most enduring indie rock bands of the last two decades, fill out their bill is beyond comprehension. After a trip up to the Gorge, Franti and co. will be playing the Cuthbert Amphitheater here in Eugene along with The Coup and everybody’s favorite Northwest ip-hop duo, Blue Scholars.
For those of us who just do not have the physical fortitude or financial backing to hit up all the big-time outdoor shows, Portland’s clubs will be packed with nationally touring bands all weekend. On Friday, MIA will be shrieking into a mic at the Roseland, and M83 will be providing some bizarre atmospherics along with Berg Sans Nipples at the badass Doug Fir Lounge. There will be DJs everywhere on Saturday and Sunday, including the electronic pop stylings of Ladytron at the Wonder Ballroom and the timelessly hood Spice-1 with world famous DJ Chill at the Hawthorne Theatre.
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