Sasquatch 2008 Day Three

If there was a better way to kick off day three of the Sasquatch! Music Festival than a main stage set from The Hives, I'd love to know what it was. I made it inside the gates for the final day of the festival as the band were ripping through a blistering version of "Main Offender." It only took the song's two-and-a-half odd minutes to convince me that I was in for one of the best performances of the weekend. The self-aggrandizing Swedes were quick to tell you just how good they were, but they had the chops to back up all the bragging.

After The Hives, I made my way back to the comedy tent, reaching the front of the lineup in time to catch the tail end of Marc Maron's set. Calling his brand of comedy "bitter" might be an understatement, but it was bitter and funny, so there were no complaints.

Eugene Mirman was next up when it came to funny business. His prepared material was good, but the impromptu jokes really stole the show, as Mirman riffed on everything from "bear date rape" (as a way of surviving a bear attack, of course) to Vancouver's downtown east side, and somehow even made a conversation about Ayn Rand absolutely hilarious.

Fittingly, Flight Of The Conchords were getting set up on the main stage as Mirman's set came to a close. The two-piece delighted fans of their TV show with a set that was mostly culled from on-air bits, but some of the performance left those of us who don't watch a lot of television scratching our heads, which is why I found myself at the Yeti stage for the first time all weekend.

Kinski may have been playing the festival's smallest stage, but they generated enough volume to fill the main stage. While the band even admitted to the crowd that they didn't have a ton of stage presence, their combination of heavy riffage and noise-laden jams spoke for itself in the absence of any extra bells or whistles.

Back on the Wookie stage, it seemed to take Jamie Lidell an eternity to get setup, but it was more than worth the wait. Joined by a full backing band, Lidell married sweet soul with robot rock, coming off like some wonderful bastard offspring of Otis Redding and Daft Punk.

On the second day of Sasquatch! The Flaming Lips finally unveiled Christmas On Mars, which had been such a long time coming that it had almost become the Chinese Democracy of indie films. While I opted out of the late-night screenings, word is I didn't miss much. The Lips' live show was a whole other story, though. All their old tricks were on display: frontman Wayne Coyne rolled over the crowd in a giant hamster ball, there were dancing Teletubbies, and enough balloons and confetti to decorate the biggest party imaginable. But the band also unveiled a few new surprises. The performance lived up to its billing as "The Flaming Lips UFO Show," by way of the flying saucer suspended over the stage. Although, the biggest surprise came during a cover of "The Song Remains The Same." About halfway through the Led Zeppelin classic, half-a-dozen naked women emerged from backstage to dance amongst the aforementioned Teletubbies. Even Coyne seemed shocked by the birthday suits. Of course, nudity and spaceships can only get you so far, but the band proved they were no gimmick, and delivered the goods musically as well. The singalong during "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1" was one of those rare, magical concert moments. If the set-closing "Do You Realize?" didn't bring a smile to your face, you might want to check your pulse.

As the Lips left the stage to Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World," the skies opened again. But at the end of three days crammed with so much musical and comedic goodness, a little rain couldn't possibly put a damper on such a great weekend of entertainment.