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<\/a>The 24,000-plus who attended the recent Sasquatch Festival each left the battered Gorge campgrounds with their own impressions, good and bad. Some finally saw their favourite band play at the stunning Gorge Ampitheatre main stage (Macklemore, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Sigur Ros, and Mumford and Sons were highlights), just as the sun went down over the Columbia River. Others were exposed to amazing bands on the number of side-stages; bands they would search out after the festival was over and add to their playlists.<\/p>\n
And, of course, some festival attendees would walk away from Sasquatch disgruntled; complaining about bad sound, not being able to see everyone they wanted to, an ultimately weak lineup, or those loud camping neighbours who wouldn\u2019t let them sleep all weekend. Artists (hopefully fed and paid well) would leave Sasquatch with the same mixed results.<\/p>\n
Yes, the model of cramming as many bands onto as many stages for as many days as possible is flourishing. The question is this: are mainstream rock festivals good or bad for music?<\/p>\n
Do they strengthen the music scene and expose more people to more bands? Or does the whole experience of seeing hundreds of bands over the course of a weekend cheapen the experience, watering down the music scene by applying a lowest common denominator to sound, talent, and logistics?<\/p>\n
Bigfoot vs. Sasquatch<\/b><\/p>\n
Sasquatch\u2019s second stage, aptly titled the Bigfoot stage, features big-name acts throughout the festival. When everything is in synch, it sounds and looks amazing: a perfect place for a medium-sized act to raise their profile, or for an established band like Primus (who closed one night with their amazing 3D show this year) to prove that they still deserve to be playing to huge outdoor crowds.<\/p>\n
But when festival sound goes bad, it can be a complete disaster for artists. Much-anticipated sets by the likes of Grimes, Tame Impala (who were forced to move to a different stage), Earl Sweatshirt, and The Japandroids were rendered inaudible by bad sound and even worse recovery times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t hear ourselves in the monitors at all,\u201d says Japandroids vocalist\/guitarist Brian King after their disappointing set. \u201cIt was really frustrating because we\u2019ve been looking forward to playing Sasquatch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sasquatch festival organizers spend every waking moment leading up to the festival to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Which makes you wonder why the festival\u2019s second-largest stage could sound so bad, while the flagship main stage was practically flawless in its execution.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s a festival\u2019s lineup. Often a mixed bag of reliable headliners, buzz bands, and some homegrown talent, the process of solidifying a festival lineup like Sasquatch\u2019s is a full-time job. There\u2019s no way to please everyone, the result being the classic case of trying to make everyone happy with big-name acts that appeal to the masses and smaller, up-and-coming bands who may have developed some chatter around a hit song or two. Yes, the \u201cHarlem Shake\u201d guy played Sasquatch this year: anything to make that lineup just a little more appealing for ticket buyers.<\/p>\n
How did we get here?<\/b><\/p>\n
Portland rock\/metal band Red Fang made the best of their 5 pm slot on the opening day of Sasquatch. Before the sound on the Bigfoot stage took a huge dump for the rest of the weekend, these hirsute rockers pounded out a set of mostly new material on an unsuspecting festival crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little less stressful playing a festival because we can just say, \u2018Fuck it, let\u2019s try out some new shit. And if we fuck it up, they won\u2019t know, because they\u2019ve never heard us before,\u2019\u201d says Red Fang drummer John Sherman.<\/p>\n
Despite the non-traditional outdoor environment for a band that\u2019s used to playing dingy, dark clubs, Red Fang have gotten over their initial trepidation of playing large outdoor festivals. With a sound that is pure animalistic power, the band wins over new fans every time they play another festival: like the guy that ran over to the band\u2019s merch booth after their show, bought a T-shirt, and didn\u2019t take it off the whole weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first started doing bigger festivals we were scared because we were playing in the sunlight,\u201d jokes Sherman, \u201cbut it\u2019s actually fucking great because you get to play in front of a lot more people than you normally would, because it\u2019s not just your fans, it\u2019s everyone, so you get exposed to new people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike some acts that could suffer from an evening time slot, Red Fang take an early set time as a challenge and see it as an opportunity rather than a burden.<\/p>\n
\u201cA 5 pm set? Ah man, that\u2019s nothing,\u201d says Sherman. \u201cWe just played a festival in Europe where our set was 11:20 am to noon. We were done at noon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attention Deficit Fest 2013<\/b><\/p>\n
Akron\/Family drummer Dayna Janssen admits that his experimental band needs to dumb down its sound, or at least its song choices, a little in order to play a festival like Sasquatch. The notoriously all-over-the-place band can\u2019t exactly bust out a set of folk-noise like they would in a metro-area club, but they can do their best to grab the attention of a guy in a bear suit on his way to the beer garden, or that group of costumed festival warriors walking past on their way to the mainstage.<\/p>\n
\u201cFestivals are very short attention span, by nature, so I feel like you have to capture people as best you can with energy,\u201d says Janssen, \u201cbecause people are so excited to see all the bands that they like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bands such as Akron\/Family are a bit too weird to appeal to the masses, and that\u2019s how they seem to like it, but it creates a situation where they can\u2019t truly be themselves on a festival stage. Most bands play it safe when they get booked to play big festivals, but the only way a band like Akron\/Family can really get noticed is by balancing the noisier, more experimental aspects of their sound with something that festival goers can latch on to.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much easier when people know your songs, versus trying to convince people that you\u2019re valid,\u201d explains Janssen. \u201cWe\u2019re not a hip band, we\u2019re not the youngest, most attractive people in the world, you know, so it\u2019s the music that speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Risk rewards<\/b><\/p>\n
Minneapolis rapper P.O.S. (real name: Stefon Alexander) was one of a number of really great hip-hop artists to play Sasquatch this year. Sasquatch devotes an entire stage (albeit the much smaller Cthtulu stage) to hip-hop and highlighted rap artists such as Killer Mike, Death Grips, and Earl Sweatshirt on their bigger stages.<\/p>\n
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, one of the world\u2019s biggest hip-hop artists, closed the main stage on opening night.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the key to valuable music festivals could be taking these kinds of risks. By putting together more eclectic bills and mixing musical genres, festival organizers can feel they are providing interesting options. For every radio-fed mob there to see Macklemore, maybe a few people will latch onto someone like P.O.S.<\/p>\n