Sasquatch Festival 2012

[knytt]

Were all the lines ever open? I entered on the left side every day and at most there were 2 lanes open.

[wompwomp]

The wristband lineup across the trail near the festival entrance was approximately 30 seconds. It was awesome, saved a ton of time. Pretty surprising they weren't telling anyone waiting in line near the campground.

[westcoastpirate]

Surge.

Yellow Ostrich needs to cut down on the surging.

[westcoastpirate]

The wristband lineup across the trail near the festival entrance was approximately 30 seconds. It was awesome, saved a ton of time. Pretty surprising they weren't telling anyone waiting in line near the campground.

We walked over there about 1pm on Friday and waited about 1 hour. But this was much better than waiting in the lines in the campground.

[Pea]

It was about 2.5 hours in the wristband line for us. Half way through we said fuck it and ate drugs and got drunk. Made for a very enjoyable rest of the wait.

[nathanfairchild]

i got my wristband thursday in the campgrounds. no line at all.

[Gribbz]

I offered someone a smoke to let me cut in line. =)

Regardless, still a major fuck up.

[kucky21]

The wristband wasnt too bad for me at 6:30 on friday, took about 10 minutes. Then again I did wait 3.5 hours to get into the campgrounds friday afternoon. I had never waited more then 20 minutes before.

[ZonkerB]

Big heartfelt hanks to everyone for making it possible for there to be no wristband line on Friday afternoon when we went in

Great weather this year made for the best SAS since 2010 for me. My top eleven:

• Apparat
• tUnE yArDs
• Fly Moon Royalty
• Jack White
• Spritualized
• Shabazz Palaces
• Don't Talk to the Cops
• Star Slinger
• Pretty Lights
• The Roots
• Dyme Def

[casey]

Anyone that had issues with security were just paying the stupid tax for being too flipping obvious.

This is uninformed and incorrect. On Saturday afternoon I was drinking a soda with no alcohol included that I got from the festival, when the beverage enforcement people came up to me and motioned for me to hand them my drink. They stuck their nose in my drink, sniffed it, and then gave it back to me. I had a wristband on for drinks from the night before and I am clearly 21+. I don't know what "reason" they had to pick me for a test but it was annoying. I hate going to festivals and feeling like security is looking for a reason to flex their power. It really rubbed me the wrong way.

I truly dont understand how you guys go to this festival every year. Other than The View it has nothing going for it. Livenation is the absolute fucking worst

Agreed. I have never once been to a festival where people are such nazis about things like shoulder riding. I don't shoulder ride, but I think it really distracts from the band you're seeing when every time someone is shoulder riding there is a group of Livenation security yelling at them and making them get off of each other. Livenation doesn't like fun.

I realize this comes across as overly negative. The drive to the Gorge was beautiful. I loved how they set us up in a special section for the RV and how much room they gave us. Coachella could really learn from that, but they don't have as much room. I didn't find the walk to be as brutal as most other people...I was actually expecting the walk to be much worse. The bands I saw put on good shows, and I think overall the festival was fine. I liked that the fest was much smaller than Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, etc. and I felt like I got to see more "intimate" performances. I was happy with the festival when it started, but as the days wore on it became clear to me that there were major issues with the fest. I think there are glaring issues that should be fixed. There is terrible sound bleed at every stage. Most stages are too small for the acts they have which leads to people ending up far back and not hearing the set well. People were right about the sound at the Bigfoot stage, it was hit or miss and since the majority of acts I saw were on that stage it was really a bother to me. Also, the venue was really shitty except for on the main stage. I think the festival was overhyped, but it was fine for what it is and I understand why people in the PNW love it so much. I wouldn't spend that much money to travel, rent an RV, and go there again, though.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot about the crowd. The crowd is exactly as douchey as the Coachella crowd, but bothered me less because there were less of these douchebags due to the size of Sasquatch.

[Boourns]

Agreed, Casey.

Here's a prime example of soundbleed: sitting in the back section of the hill at the main stage meant not hearing anything at all, except during Pretty Lights. Why is that section even there? Was trying to watch Jack White from it, and could barely hear anything, and when I went to lie down and trip balls to the spotlights, Jack White completely disappeared from my ears and was replaced by whatever nonsense was blasting from the Banana Shack.

I'm surprised security even let St. Vincent crowd surf since they went nuts whenever anyone in the audience did.

[guedita]

Huh. 2012 seems to be significantly different than my experience in 2010 was.

[Gribbz]

Huh. 2012 seems to be significantly different than my experience in 2010 was.

I had a better time this year than in 2010, honestly. They actually improved a few things since then amenities/logistics wise.

EDIT*
Also, like I said before, I thought security were pretty friendly.

[Boourns]

I didn't understand the point of giving a bunch of bands hour-long sets when most I saw with such slots were in and out in 50 minutes or less.

[westcoastpirate]

I had a great time but I am so partied out at the moment. I feel like the Feed Me mouth chewed me up and spit me out like a wood chipper.

[Gribbz]

I had a great time but I am so partied out at the moment. I feel like the Feed Me mouth chewed me up and spit me out like a wood chipper.

Just find another Colorado flag and bring it to work.

[casey]

Security was friendly enough when you dealt with them, but why did I even have to deal with them in the first place? I have never once been stopped by security for anything at any fest. I don't give them a reason to seek me out or talk to me. The fact that it seems everyone in our group had some sort of run in with security at different points during the fest (either with beverage enforcement, or checking bags in the fest, or seeing how they handled people trying to crowd surf or shoulder ride or whatever) shows me that security needs to relax a little bit.

Also, watching security tear apart tents next to me in the campground looking for drugs made me paranoid about camping, too.

Oh, as a side note (and I feel kinda douchey myself for reviewing this), everyone who did the glowpocalyse for Pretty Lights really brought their A-game. I was impressed.

[Boourns]

I tried to get some dinner on Monday after Feist and every vendor had a 45 minute wait. The more plentiful beer stands had zero wait for their $13 cans of piss. Thank God I had a hearty breakfast every morning

[Boourns]

I say fuck camping, fuck hiking, fuck dust, fuck all-night dubstep, fuck college kids looking for their first drugs, and venture onwards to Iceland Airwaves next year.

[faxman75]

Agreed. I have never once been to a festival where people are such nazis about things like shoulder riding. I don't shoulder ride, but I think it really distracts from the band you're seeing when every time someone is shoulder riding there is a group of Livenation security yelling at them and making them get off of each other. Livenation doesn't like fun.

It's really distracting to the fans who are behind the shoulder rider as well. Simple solution. Station snipers in a birds nest and shoot the shoulder riders down.

[Boourns]

Shoulder rides are fine, as long as it's saved for special moments of heavy crowd participation and there's not an inescapable string of them all next to each other that stay up the entire set (like Madonna in 2006). The rider also has to be a cute girl. It is not acceptable for a guy to do this.

[faxman75]

You would be ok with a shoulder rider blocking your view during "special moments" of heavy crowd participation? What are some examples of special moments that you wouldn't mind missing?

[Boourns]

Way to miss the point entirely. In heavy moments of crowd participation, the crowd is jumping so much that seeing the stage clearly isn't going to be part of the agenda regardless of shoulder rides.

[faxman75]

Seriously, how did that miss the point entirely? Shoulder riders distract people from the artist on stage. That's all there is to it. It's obnoxious behavior quite frankly.

[casey]

It's really distracting to the fans who are behind the shoulder rider as well. Simple solution. Station snipers in a birds nest and shoot the shoulder riders down.

Obviously. I'm not a huge fan of shoulder riders either, but I'd gladly take shoulder riders who are having fun over security standing up on top of barricades yelling at people during sets to get off of each other's shoulders. That's way more distracting!

[Pea]

I had a great time but I am so partied out at the moment. I feel like the Feed Me mouth chewed me up and spit me out like a wood chipper.

I hope you enjoyed my whale and my friends and my 100000000-ish glowsticks

[Boourns]

I liked how someone threw some glowsticks for Little Dragon.

[Pea]

Huh. 2012 seems to be significantly different than my experience in 2010 was.

For what it's worth, up until this year 2010 had been my favorite year of Sasquatch. 2012 smashed it, in my opinion. I have about 30+ friends that I only get to see once a year at that festival, though, so a huge part of my love for it had to do with spending it with some dear friends that I rarely spend time with. Plus the drugs were fucking GREAT this year.

[faxman75]

I'm for snipers taking out both security and the shoulder riders. I played cat and mouse with some security asshole at Sasquatch because he didn't like the particular rock I was sitting on. People would line up and sit along this perfectly accaptable part of the hill and he would walk by and tell them all to get off. Then it would fill up again and this would happen all day. Don't get me started on the "bottle cap" rule either. I'm not sure if you noticed but these drink nazis run around staring at your bottle and if the person who sold you the water bottle forgot to throw it away or you are seen with a bottle cap, they will confiscate it.

[Boourns]

Anyone see this guy?