Sasquatch Music Festival 2007

Since its inception in 2002 as a bite-sized version of other storied summer festivals, the annual Sasquatch! Music Festival, held at Quincy, WA’s Gorge Ampitheatre, has mutated its vision and bulk in the last five years. Sasquatch! has taken huge strides to diversify and fuel an ever-burgeoning fan base, and has become more environmentally conscious in the process. This year’s festival (headlined by Björk, Beastie Boys, Interpol and The Arcade Fire) has teamed up with the Carbon Neutral Project to help reduce the festival’s overall carbon emissions, making by far the most beautiful and scenic festival venue also one of the most responsible in terms of protecting the environment. With a slew of impressive rock, hip-hop and indie rock performers (including a heavily anticipated Bad Brains reunion set in anticipation of their new album, Build a Nation), Sasquatch! has rightfully ushered in and embraced the iPod generation, building attractions for every breed of music lover. Synthesis caught up with festival founder and senior talent buyer for Live Nation, Adam Zacks, to find out his thoughts on the festival’s growth, whom he’d book if time and money were no option and to hear some tips for festival-goers at this year’s event.

Is this the first time the festival has been hosted by a performer? If so, what made you decide to take that angle with the festival?
This is not the first time we've had a host, but it is the first time we've done it on all three stages. Past hosts were David Cross and El Vez. Hosting is a unique skill, especially in a large outdoor venue from noon to midnight for two action-packed days. When done well it creates a sense of community, keeps the momentum of the festival going during set changes, and adds to the overall experience.

As years go by, the festival has grown to include more bands and now things like Incredibly Strange Wrestling. Did you think when you  started Sasquatch! that it would get as big as it has?
We’ve always tried to grow the festival organically and rely on our instincts to keep things fresh and build an identity for the festival that was meaningful. I’m proud of the way things have gone so far because we’ve taken a lot of risks. Most of these risks aren’t visible, like the band's we choose not to book. There are a number of bands that would have been huge for ticket sales for that particular year but also would have damaged our credibility long term.

To what do you attribute the exponential growth of the festival?
The way people trade and discover music online is so rapid fire and infectious that there is a new and bigger thirst to hear new music. Since that is the target audience. we've been programming for since the beginning, we're benefiting from the growth of that culture. Also, destination festivals are much more an integral part of the summer concert landscape than they were six years ago. People are starting to figure out how it all works and how much fun it can be and start to spend the rest of the year (the nine rainy months in Seattle) looking forward to it.

Do you feel like Sasquatch!, despite its growth, is still a fairly  intimate event?
Absolutely. I've visited a number of other festivals, all of which were fantastic, but the scale is so different from what we do. With Sasquatch! we are limited by the capacity of the site (a good thing) so while 22,000 people (per day) is no garden party, it’s also quite intimate in contrast to 60,000, 80,000, etc. We will never be the huge Star Wars blockbuster of summer music festivals, but if we keep refining what we do maybe we can be Annie Hall.



Who has been your personal favorite act to play Sasquatch!, or who  played the most inspiring set?
A lot of great moments, but a couple stand out. Last year’s biblical freak hailstorm was epic and brought out really amazing sets from The Constantines and Neko Case. If it’s still on YouTube it’s worth checking out people’s cell phone footage. What nearly caused the cancellation of the rest of the festival turned out to be a huge bonding event and inspired great performances. Unfortunately Neko’s set was cut short so she is back this year. The other memorable moment was watching The Postal Service rehearse the evening before the festival. It was just me and a few family members and their significant others and my daughter, and it was transcendent. The band was quite nervous about performing in a festival setting and they hadn't done any shows in a really long time, but it was magical from the first note. It made feel really fortunate to be in that position and reminded me of the responsibility I have to foster an environment at the festival where people who pay their hard earned money can have moments like that.

Can you explain a little bit about Sasquatch! and the Carbon Neutral project? I imagine most festivals adhere to something similar  to this now. How important is it to festival attendees and artists?
I can't speak to how important it is to attendees or the artists. I'm sure for some it’s of no consequence and others think it’s great. It’s just an effort to be responsible, educate the public and encourage people to think about their own impact on the environment. We enlisted the assistance of an environmental consulting firm, Sustainable Energy Partners (aka Carbon Harmony), to help calculate our estimated CO2 emissions. It was a combination of pulling kilowatt hour usage from the utility company and studying zip code reports to determine how many people traveled to the Gorge and approximate distances. We also knew exactly how many equipment trucks, runner vans, tour buses etc. came last year, so I think we came up with a credible measurement and then rounded up for good measure. After the calculations are made, carbon credits are purchased through the Chicago Carbon Exchange, which funds offset projects like reforestation. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s a huge step in the right direction.

If you could book a band or artists from any time period for  Sasquatch!, who would it be?
Great question. An honest answer would require so much consideration... Off the top of my head though? Molly Hatchet.

Parting words for festival-goers at this year’s show?
An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure. Pack for all kinds of weather; you'll be happy you did. We let reasonable sized backpacks in so pack for heat (100-plus degrees in ‘05), and cold (the great hail storm of ‘06). Your friends will think you're a genius.

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