My God, guys. Sasquatch was insane. I don't even quite know where to begin...

It gets way hotter out at the Gorge than I'm used to from living in Western WA. The heat fatigue is hard to bear - combine it with widespread drug use (as is common at these festivals) and you have an ecstatic/frying, cotton-mouthed group of 40,000 teens and twenty-somethings wandering around different shows trying to cheat the sun. Regardless of the fact that everyone is constantly sweating out more water than they could possibly drink, the festival was amazing and spirits were high. I got the same euphoric sensation walking over the ridge to the main stage as I got last year - this expanse is unimaginably massive, and absolutely (gorge)ous (ha):   

Much like last year, our campsite was near the back of the GA camping, about a 30 minute walk from the main festival. We ended up having more than enough food, a nice canopy to provide shade, plenty of booze, and lovely neighbors.  We went all in this year - we certainly got our moneys worth. Each day (fri-sun) we walked to the stages around 2-4 in the afternoon, and stayed until about 2 am, usually with a break in the evening for dinner and a couple of drinks.

My friend Drew, at our campsite

The lineup was KILLER this year. A great assortment of genres, a little bit of something for everyone. Here's the deets on my favorite acts from the weekend:

Vince Staples

This guy came out with a bulletproof vest on, and an impressive, silent statement on America in the background images. These videos were composed of women twerking, condom tutorial videos involving a banana, WorldStar videos, and CNN outtakes. Vince Staples is known to be political, and put on a polished, fierce performance.

David Byrne

The one and only - David Byrne of the Talking Heads. We didn't stick around for "Psycho Killer" unfortunately, but I'm sure he played it. Here is part of their performance of "Once In A Lifetime":

Tyler the Creator

Awesome guy, awesome performance. If you don't know about Tyler, you should check out his music and his shows Nuts & Bolts and Loiter Squad, he's a hilarious and a multi-talented individual. He mostly played music from his most recent album, which I haven't spent enough time with. Regardless, I knew a few songs, and he did a great job. Very hyphe, very fun.

Spoon

I don't know Spoon very well, but their performance was solid. I love the vibe of their music, what they played was very prog/alt rock, but very mellow, almost reminiscent of Radiohead. They played right at sunset, it was fucking beautiful. 

Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals

Aaaaand my favorite. The act I was most excited to see. They played at the very, very end of the festival, on Sunday at 12:00 am. I showed up an hour early, and hung out with my friends from Bellingham near the stage until they came on. I've been listening to their album "Malibu" since I found it 2 years ago via @skuuun. It's been one of my favorite albums since. Their earlier "Venice" and more recent "Yes Lawd!" with Madlib are also fantastic albums. This guy plays the drums while spitting rap lyrics. He's absolutely nuts. Here's a photo of him doing so and a short video:

There were soooooo many more great bands to feature, but I didn't take enough photos and I don't have time for that x) I hope you check out these fantastic artists, enjoy their tunes, and maybe buy a ticket to next years festival at one of the most amazing outdoor venues in the world!

Thanks for stopping by :)