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The final day of the festival was surprisingly nice. The rain from the first night, which carried slightly into the next morning had subsided and the sun occasionally reared out from behind the clouds to make for pretty enjoyable weather. This day for us was probably the most laid back, as we started out with two video shoots and did not get to the grounds until around 1 or 2pm. As far as bands to cover this day, I had missed a couple I wanted to see earlier in the day so I decided to take it easy and just casually walk the grounds and see the acts I REALLY wanted to catch.

MP3: Built To Spill - Goin’ Against Your Mind from You In Reverse
Built to Spill walked onto stage and with no introductions started right into their set. A surreal moment occurred as Martsch and his band stood there rocking out their jams, nearly standing still, and with me between them and the crowd, which was slowly bouncing up and down. It’s hard to put into words the kind of feeling I had at that exact moment, but it is not something you forget quickly. The band played a set heavy on their 2006 release, You In Reverse, but also brought out some classics of theirs like “Car” and “Big Dipper”.

Built to Spill Website | Myspace

MP3: Battles - Leyendecker from Mirrored
One band I had kept hearing about all weekend at the press tent was this group called Battles. Not getting a chance to check them out prior to the festival I found myself at their set on the Wookie stage and being completely blown away at how skillfully tight a band these guys were. Ex-Helmet drummer, John Stanier, sits in the middle of the stage front and center with his drum kit and a cymbal that sits about 3 feet above his head. Their mathematical styling and dual keyboards make for a sometimes chaotic musical experience that all of a sudden is drowned in harmonies and the harsh tapping of Stanier’s cymbal.

Battles Myspace

MP3: The Mars Volta - Wax Simulcra from The Bedlam in Goliath
The Mars Volta set was probably the most controversial show to happen all weekend.
As soon as they came out on stage, the lead singer ran for the drum kit, grabbed a cymbal with its stand, and tossed it about 15 feet into the crowd. Following that, the security guards were hesitant to let us stay in the photo pit, but things seemingly calmed down for a minute as he danced around and we were allowed to stay. Not three minutes into the set does he decide to then flop around the ground and he catches the eye of the photographer beside me and tried to grab her camera, we all yelled at him, he got up, tore a fan from its position on the right of the stage and hurled it into the crowd again, this time forcing security to rush us all out of the photo pit, they had seen enough.

Can you blame them?

Following that whole scene, I was pretty put off by not getting the shots I wanted and followed a fan taking photos, through the crowd, to about ten feet from the front of the stage. Not wanting to miss any other excitement I stayed there for their entire set, which was like a psychedelic rock headrush.

The Mars Volta Website | Myspace

MP3: The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize? from Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Sometime in the early hours of the morning it had appeared. Reflecting back images of ourselves all day as we peered up to the sky, this metal framed disc hovered above the main stage, building the anticipation of The Flaming Lips closing act. Set to reenact their famous Oklahoma City UFO show just for the Sasquatch crowds, the buzz in the air was one of utter excitement.

As soon as the band climbed out of the UFO and the Teletubbies had everyone in a frenzy, the confetti came. Confetti by the tons was pouring out of high pressure fans blowing at least 80 feet back into the crowd as Wayne was bopping around firing off individual canisters filled with streamers. I was so into I was cheering them on and Wayne caught a glimpse of me, while hurling confetti by the handful into the crowd, and tossed a huge handful of it at me (that’s what the photo above is!).

Pure joy!

The third song they played that night was dedicated to The Mars Volta, who Wayne watched from the side stage earlier in the day, it was a Led Zeppelin cover “The Song Remains The Same”, and Wayne had convinced five girls to come out and dance completely naked to ala the House of the Holy album cover. The audience went wild as he prompted them to take of their clothes and join in the fun. A few shirts flew off, but nothing near the same as what was going on the main stage. The frenzied crowd looked like a sea of floating, indigo glowing cell phones as everyone was trying to capture the moment on their phones.

Closing with “Do You Realize?” and being sent off by a waving troupe of Teletubbies and Iron Men, everyone seemed to leave contempt with the nights happenings. Not waiting around for an encore, the euphoric feeling from the night flowed out into the parking lot as everyone was talking about their experiences that night.

And guess what? It started to rain again as soon as it was all over.

The Flaming Lips Website | Myspace