Elvis Sheflin

Lineup on the second stage

Here are some random photos of our weekend at the 3 day Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge in Washington USA aka Honey Bucket City (the portaloos were flatteringly labelled "honey buckets"). It was a pretty amazing weekend even if we spent it on a strict fibre avoidance strategy to try and avoid having to visit the honey bucket more often than was neccessary.

The Natural Amphitheatre Setting

The lineup was one of the best I've seen anywhere and all the bands played really great gigs. Highlights were : Death Cab For Cutie on Sunday night (the solo rendition of "I will follow you into the dark" just as the sun was setting was pretty special) | Queens of the Stoneage who rocked even more in the geological setting of the Gorge | Ben Harper's 2 hour set on Saturday night (he kept 20,000 people pin-drop silent for his acoustic set - absolutely incredible) | Iron and Wine on Staurday afternoon | Returning to the campsite very tired on Saturday night to find that our tent is in fact bulletproof (it is tough enough to withstand sleet snow and ice, the seering challenge of the sun AND constant driving rain) | Our guacamole, orange juice, chocolate danish, beer and sweaty cheese diet making a mockery of our fibre avoidance strategy | The resulting liberal laying of cable in the honey bucket | biscuit in the basket | rabbits in the headlights | cool tatoos | uncool tatoos | watching a lexusful of gingers having to consult the manual to figure out how to activate the 4WD on daddy's lexus after getting stuck up to the arse in a muck hole in the campsite | Ben Gibbard's "drum off" on a baby sized kit with his drummer | The sheer expanse of the bonnet of our hired Ford Crown Victoria (the car of choice for Canadian cops - it's like driving your sitting room around - handles like an elephant on ice) which we used as a sunbed/dining table all weekend | Seeing a couple of these yokes on the road on the way home and deciding we were going to drive to South America with one - car to be acquired | Sufjan Stevens releasing a load of half size inflatable Supermen in to the crowd during his song "Superman" | And finally hearing my favourite song ever played live : The Shins - New Slang.

Stephen Louise and M (holding my beer....)

Iron & Wine on Saturday Afternoon

Waking up at 8am on Sunday morning to the sound of Death Cab For Cutie doing their sound check was nice aswell :) Beck was dissapointingly unfunky -I think the Scientoligists got his soul.

Hilariously Ineffective Shelter from a Surprise Heavy Hailstorm

We missed the Flaming Lips cos after the Hail Storm we all had wet feet and given that everything was delayed by nearly 2 hours we were absolutely knackered standing around. They played a very similar set to the Electric Picnic last year from what we could hear (Riddip!!) including a very successful cover of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bleary Eyed View From the Tent on Sunday Morning

My international beer enjoyment problems continue unabated. I had my beer confiscated by a very dilligent Beverage Enforcement Officer because I didnt have the "My mammy says I'm allowed drink till I fall down" wristband nor could I produce a passport or birth cert at short notice. I tried to reason with him using only the persuasive power of the words Buddy! and Dude!! but to no avail.

Thanks aswell to Louise and Stephen for putting up with us for the few days. In my Guacamole haze I neglected to pick up beer on the way down and Stephen kindly kept me well oiled for the weekend. M bought some homemade honey champagne wine from some young lad without socks at some stage aswell. She started mispronouncing animal noises very soon after that :)

The Wookie Stage

More Amazing Backdrop

Elvis Sheflin

For those of you who aren't familair with Elvis Sheflin's other work see here. Josh Homme is normally a very ginger man bearing a remarkable resemblance to Henry Sheflin, but he turned up on stage with dyed black quiffed hair and eyebrows, doing Elvis dances and speaking in a Southern drawl. Very hilarious indeed.

Queens of The Stone Age on Sunday Evening

After a weekend of queuing in the wilderness for overpriced beer and food you wouldnt normally consume if they were giving it away, Monday morning's Hash Brown Overdrive featuring Rivers of Ketchup in McDonalds in Elllensburg was a real affirmation of the existence and neccessity of wanton, reasonably priced convenience. Hurrah for America. We truly had a Memorial weekend.

The Ugliest Car on the Planet

And so ends my 3rd class essay. Tune in next time for my celebrated Inter cert opus The Haunted House on the Hill - spellchecked and republished in its entirety.

Edit : seeing as the above post is scattered with toilet references I was amused to be told by the internet when i clicked publish that "This may take a few minutes if you have a large blog" Make it quick if you're in a honey bucket.