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T ke plenty of bad things about
taking a road trip to America: less-
than-courteous border guards, poorly
maintained highways, a lack of healthy
and/or vegetarian cuisine, occasional
“Fuck Bin Laden” bumper stickers, the
abundance of excessively huge people
and pick-up trucks, even huger Wal-
Marts, and of course, that persistent
and unnerving feeling that things are so
very different even though they look the
same.

Despite all this, there’s one
thing that I really like about traveling to
the States: all the different brands and
varieties of consumer minutiae. The thrill
of finding a Clark brand chocolate bar, or
the discovery that there’s no sugar in my
iced tea somehow make everything else
seem tolerable. This trip, I was fortunate
enough to be introduced to the vast array
of alcohol-laden energy drinks that the
grand ‘ole US of A has to offer. You see,
while we poor stiffs in Canada are being
gouged for Jager-bombs, our Southern
counterparts are busy cramming as
much Caffeine, Ginseng, and Guarana

SnGOUATEN SA

as the FDA will allow into an absolute
smorgasbord of Malt-liquor beverages.
And they all cost less than two dollars!
Anyway, it turns out that these
inebriating uppers come in quite handy if
you want to take in twelve straight hours
of music every day for three consecutive
days, so I hope you'll pardon me if
my coverage of this year’s Sasquatch
Festival seems a bit frantic or hazy.

Day 1: The National are late,
M.LA. slays, & R.E.M goes

barefoot
After a lengthy wait at the border, and
a few pit-stops for bathroom breaks and
liquor runs, I arrived at the Gorge in time
to see Destroyer, a.k.a. Dan Bejar of the
New Pornographers, take to the stage
and chart a course through the best of
his latest record, Trouble In Dreams. At
times, Bejar’s vocal delivery seems too
affected, but at least it’s unmistakable.
From there, it was off to the
Main Stage and the New Pornographers,
who were busy tearing through “Use
It” when I showed up. Neko Case
was in attendance, so the crowd was
treated to both “Mass Romantic” and
“Challengers,” and Dan Bejar must
have a teleporting device stashed up his
sleeve because he joined the band only
moments after Destroyer’s set ended and
sang both “Myriad Harbour” and “Jackie
Dressed in Cobras.” The Pornos closed
what felt like a short set by covering
Electric Light Orchestra’s “Don’t Bring

 

10

R.E.M.

 

Me Down.” Afterwards, Kathryn Calder
implored anyone in the audience with
good photos of the band in front of the
“beautiful” Gorge to send them to her.
More than one young gentleman could
be heard asking for her email address.

M.I.A. was up next, and she
atoned for missing the festival last year
due to border woes. Decked out in some
garish green tights and a brown leather
jacket, and backed by a pair of fluorescent
dancers, the Tamil Tigress positively
ripped through her bass-heavy beats and
simple rhymes. From a distance, her
show looked and sounded a little silly,
but I have little doubt that the people
up front, all of whom enthusiastically
mimed along to the gunshot samples
during “Paper Planes,” were having one
hell of a dance party.

En route from Vancouver,
the National’s bus broke down, so
instead of playing the Main stage in the
afternoon they were relocated to the tiny
Yeti stage in the early evening. I couldn’t
help but take pleasure in the change of
plans, as the band’s brooding brand of
rock n’ roll made far more sense on the
dark, intimate stage than it would have
on the sunny Main stage. Highlights
included an introduction by The Office’s
Rainn Wilson—who was at the festival
promoting his upcoming film, Rocker—
-and a rousing closing version of “Mr.

Bs

Tegan and Sara

i

November.” Singer Matt Berninger
looks so tortured and emotional onstage
that it’s impossible not to get wrapped up
in his performance, and his grimaces and
screams are enough to make one want
to meet the woman who did this to him.
Also, twin guitarists Aaron and Bryce
Dessner really resemble the hobbits from
Lord of the Rings. Sadly, they ignored
my demands that they give me back my
precious.

The National overlapped with
Modest Mouse, and I got back to the
Main stage in time to join the crowd
for R.E.M. When the band was setting
up, the looming dark clouds finally