The 2014 Sasquatch! Music festival got underway Friday. Breakout performance of the day was Oxford, England’s the Foals on the Sasquatch stage. Their pop hooks and deeply layered sound – reminiscent of The Arctic Monkey’s – combined with their badass attitude made for an incredible performance. Playing mostly songs from their latest record Holy Fire, they charged through hits like “My Number” and “Milk & Black Spiders” to the delight of thousands of cheering fans.
Cage the Elephant with their 21st century Rolling Stones sound ruled the daytime main Sasquatch! stage. Lead singer and front man Matt Shultz, channeled the energy of Mick Jagger and the dance moves of Thom Yorke, twisting across the stage with reckless energy.
With so much good music at Sasquatch!, new music is around every corner. Two discoveries for me on Friday afternoon were Crystal Fighters, a high energy, feel good, reggae-pop band from London. Their positive lyrics and ability to inspire the dance in their fans had thousands running down the hill towards their show.
From a slightly more traditional genre, Shakey Graves, from Texas rocked the audience with his southern blues sounds, fast finger-picking and alt-country layers. Shakey Graves was easily my favorite performance of the day and definitely worthy of a listen if you’re a fan of roots music.
Photos by Kim Jay
