Speaking of Sasquatch . . . Founder Says Festival Could Sell Out By Week's End

Renee McMahon

Death Cab for Cutie--seen here at Sasquatch! 2008--returns to the Gorge for Sasquatch! 2011, over Memorial Day weekend. The day-by-day schedule is expected shortly.

"I don't even know what to say," Zacks said this afternoon. "It's amazing."

Tickets to the four-day fest at the Gorge, May 27 to 30, are $285, and, for the first time, include camping. Zacks says the decision was made to pair the show with the camping ticket to streamline the process for the 90+ percent of attendees who camped on festival grounds last year. The full lineup--including Foo Fighters, Beach House, the Decemberists, and Robyn--was announced last night's launch party at the Showbox.

Sasquatch! is one of the most popular summer festivals in the region. Aside from being a regular sellout, it's become one of the summer's marquee cultural events for the indie-rock set, with speculation surrounding its lineup being a closely monitored online parlor game.

The rise of the fest from a single-day offering in 2002 to an almost-sure four-day sellout in 2012 is contemporaneous with the explosion in popularity of the indie-rock fare that is at the center of the festival's booking. In 2003, for example, the one-day fest hosted Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and the Flaming Lips, bands that today constitute three of the biggest names over four days.

"We took an approach of honoring the past 10 years, booking some of the highlights . . . bands that really represent the spirit of the festival," Zacks says. "We took it that direction instead of any number of directions."