The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA hosted the Sasquatch! Festival over Memorial Day weekend, and thanks to headliners Nine Inch Nails, Kings of Leon and Yeah Yeah Yeahs the festival was a hit. With the beauty of central Washington’s Columbia River Valley as the backdrop, Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio told the audience to “give it up for the earth!” during the band’s Sunday night set and when Nine Inch Nails took the stage after TV on the Radio NIN’s Trent Reznor proclaimed, “This is one of my favorite places in the world to play. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here right now.”

Sasquatch! also drew the Decemberists, arguably the biggest Northwestern band in attendance, to the bill. The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy took the stage sporting long muttonchops and a black suit for the band’s Saturday night set, playing a batch of songs from the group’s latest album, The Hazards of Love. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs followed the Decemberists, with lead singer Karen O, Brian Chase (drums) and Nick Zinner (guitar) playing songs from the band’s three albums. A highlight was “Heads Will Roll” from YYY’s new album It’s Blitz! while the band was also sure to deliver hits like “Maps” and “Y Control.” New kids on the indie block Kings of Leon (who have been popular across the pond for years now) played an ample set list (20 songs!) featuring “Be Somebody,” “Crawl” and “Use Somebody,” which resulted in a sing-along.

“I wish I could go back in time to tell my teenage self that I would someday be playing on the same stage as Jane’s Addiction,” confided guitarist/singer Malone of TV on the Radio before the band played “Blues from Down Here,” off 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain. Jane’s Addiction opened with “Three Days,” and the fully reunited band didn’t disappoint, with “Ocean Size” and “Mountain Song” standing out from the pack. It appeared as if Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell had sufficiently recovered from a torn calf muscle he sustained during a concert in Atlanta earlier on in May.

The creator of Lollapalooza injured himself during the first song at Atlanta’s Lakewood Amphitheatre but finished the concert and showed no signs of being in pain at Sasquatch! Jane’s Addiction’s current touring mates, Nine Inch Nails, covered material from the two decades-old album Pretty Hate Machine as well as more recent instrumental work. “Head Like a Hole” and “Terrible Lie” elicited plenty of singing along, but the crowd cheered loudest during “Echoplex” from 2008’s The Slip when Reznor whispered “Heh, heh, heh, heh.”

Bands that played Sasquatch! like the Decemberists, Kings of Leon, TV on the Radio and Jane’s Addiction will also take the stage at the 2009 installation of the Lollapalooza Festival, to be held at Chicago’s Grant Park August 7-9. Lollapalooza creator Farrell told Reuters of the upcoming festival, “At Lollapalooza, we’re selling more tickets than ever. People need an even bigger excuse to escape more than ever and there is no better escape than going to a festival and just tripping and taking in music.” Check online for Nine Inch Nails tickets to see the band live with Jane’s Addiction if you missed Sasquatch! and can’t wait for Lollapalooza!

This article is sponsored by StubHub. StubHub.com is a leader in the business of selling Nine Inch Nails tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

[tags]Nine Inch Nails, music, concert, tickets[/tags]