1 post tagged “the long winters”

Not much happened this weekend. We had a full weekend.

Saturday was Sasquatch. It was both hot and then quite chilly, depending on the time of the day. The drive home was pretty tough because while I was wired a bit on caffeine, my body still would rather be sleeping. But we made it back in one piece.  I took some photos, almost none of which turned out that great. That's par for the course, though. The music was pretty darn good. The artists I saw:

• Mix Master Mike - He started things out with a short DJ set that was pretty good.  We probably didn't have to get there as early as we did, but it was cool to see him do a set.
• Saturday Knights - A local hip-hop/rock type group, they were actually better than I thought they would be based on their description. The mainstage acts need to fill the space, and they seemed to deliver.
• The Hold Steady - I have heard a lot of their songs hear and there, but I haven't sought them out. They put on a solid set and I was entertained.
• Two Gallants - I only caught about half of their set, but I liked what I heard for the most part. Not necessarily my thing, but they are definitely a talented duo (with a talented friend joining them for the set).
• Mirah - The sound mix wasn't very good, and I could hardly hear her vocals. From what I understand, it's the vocals that are a major reason to hear her, so I gave up after a handful of songs.
• Neko Case - Hey, I love to see Neko perform. Unfortunately, her setlist doesn't seem to vary anymore. I've seen her three or four times in the last three years, and every time she's done pretty much the same songs. This lack of surprise in her act is really disappointing; I could just watch her Austin City Limits DVD over and over again if I didn't want variety.
• Visqueen - I've never taken the time to look into this band, and now I'm a little bummed I didn't discover them earlier. Luckily, they're apparently working on a new album and still performing, so I should get more chances to hear them play.
• The Long Winters - I was looking forward to hearing the MIA M.I.A., but I do like the Long Winters so they were a welcome substitution as far as I was concerned.
• Manu Chao - is a big fan and I'm somewhat less so, but he was pretty darn good live. He had the crowd really into it, too. The unfortunate thing was that he played way past the proper end of his set, saying "Thank you, Sasquatch" about 5 times before finally leaving the stage.
• The Arcade Fire - This performance was incredible. They have so much damned energy and passion when they perform. Maybe the emotions are a bit manufactured, I dunno, but the music was great as always.
• Björk - This was pretty late when she finally took the stage, so we ended up staying for only about five or six songs. She wore a dress that resembled a mop (observed Elizabeth) and had a brass band dressed in brightly colored mu'umu'us. She played "Earth Intruders" and played "All Is Full of Love" right before we took off. Apparently, the set got even better later once the brass band really started being used in the songs. However, I was very glad to be back on the road sooner rather than later.

Gorge Amphitheatre panorama

On Sunday, SIFF started for us. I saw probably two of my favorite movies of the festival on Sunday: In the Shadow of the Moon and King of Kong. Both were good for different reasons. When King of Kong comes out in theatres, you really need to see it. It has some of the best documentary characters (the best villain, especially) that I've seen.  Today, we saw Doubletime, an excellent documentary about competitive jump-roping and double-dutch teams, and Battle of Wits, an epic about generals and kingdoms in ancient China. This last film was a bit hard for me to follow in parts, but that may have been the fatigue finally setting in.

This week, I go into the office to do some training, and I take a few days' break from SIFF. Starting Friday, it begins again.