My second Gala Event

Because I am preparing for a major trip, I haven't had time to write my narrative of the Beastie Boys set at the Sasquatch Festival Wookie Stage on Saturday, May 26. The audience recording pretty much tells the story of the show. If you haven't downloaded the recording, do it now.

The Wookie Stage performance was my favorite set of the three I saw that weekend by the Beastie Boys because the audience was a true fan audience. People sang along to the songs, appreciated the instrumentals (instead of talked through them like the audience at the Sasquatch Mainstage set), understood and laughed at the gags, and, most important, behaved kindly to one another.

After seeing a very blue bassist at the Crocodile Cafe show, I suggested to my friends -- Rusty, Jenny, and Paul -- that we all wear our Oscilloscope t-shirts to cheer up the man. How could he not laugh at four fools dressed in the studio t-shirt? We laughed at us. The very funny thing about the four of us dressed in the Oscilloscope tees was the response we received from festival-goers. People questioned who we were, as if we were some formal organization because we were dressed alike. People moved out of our way to let us pass because they thought we were important.

We arrived on the festival grounds and headed straight to the Wookie Stage during Two Gallants' set. The crowd wasn't packed, so I suggested to my friends that we make a b-line straight to the front of the stage. My friends let me lead the way through the maze of people. Our timing was perfect because when we got to the front, Two Gallants ended their set and the crowd began to disperse, allowing us to get to the front rail easily.

We were happy to have our desired spots for the Beastie Boys set well in advance. I was particularly pleased because I wanted to see the two acts performing before the Beastie Boys -- Electrelane and Ghostland Observatory -- from that vantage point as well.

Before Electrelane's set, we spied Money Mark and Mike Diamond walking around the stage area. Mark smiled and waved at us when he saw where we were. A few songs into Electrelane's set, Jenny nudged me and pointed to the side stage. Adam Yauch was sitting on the stage watching Electrelane's set. Jenny managed to catch his eye. She waved at him. He waved back.



Following Electrelane's set, Ghostland Observatory performed the buzzworthy set of the entire festival. They were a huge crowd pleaser. Frontman Aaron Behrens really knows how to engage an audience. Ghostland Observatory's fantastic set was the perfect set-up for the Beastie Boys Gala Event. The audience was happy and ready for more good tunes when the Beastie Boys went on stage.

Three more friends from the message board -- DandyFop, YoungRemy, and Hairdu -- were able to maneuver through the crowd and join our group before the Beastie Boys set began. All of us being together for the show is a major reason I grade this show high. For me, shows are a reason to get together with friends. The shows are always more about the people I share them with than the band on stage.




View more of my photos at Flickr.

Midzi downloaded a dvd recording of the show from Demonoid. She will be posting video clips from the dvd to our Dailymotion account in the near future.

Youtube.com member "magmazing" has some quality video clips from the set. I highly recommend checking out magmazing's videos.