Sasquatch 2015: Future Islands kills it on the main stage

Let’s genuinely hope that Samuel T. Herring puts in a lengthy stretch before he goes on stage. The frontman for Future Islands gained mass popularity in early 2014 when he first appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman, introducing the crowd there and the over four million viewers on YouTube to his dance moves. On such a small stage, Herring uses what seems like every part of his body to get down on the three-piece’s biggest hit “Seasons (Waiting On You)”. So, naturally, the organizers at Sasquatch made room for Herring and his band at their Main Stage during the afternoon. And the rockers from Baltimore did not disappoint.

Arriving on stage a few minutes early to sound check, Herring greeted the crowd with “What the fuck’s up Sasquatch, how you doing? It’s an honour to play this festival for the first time, we’ve heard a lot about it. We’ve got a couple minutes before we have to start, fuck it.” And with that, a band at a music festival actually started early. Please keep on the lookout for winged pigs.

Starting with the slow build to “Back in the Tall Grass”, Herring didn’t take long to dart across the stage with a suddenness that would have easily pulled a lesser man’s groin. Looking up at the grey skies that were possibly the reason for the weak showing by the crowd, the vocalist then proclaimed that the band was going to “blow that shit away”, before starting into the break-up ballad “Sun in the Morning”.

Three of the band’s biggest hits, “A Dream of You and Me”, “Walking Through That Door”, and “Balance”, followed with each of the efforts sending the crowd into a jumping, clapping mob. It was hard not to want to dance when you looked up and saw Herring just devastating the stage with his high leg kicks and interpretive dance routines. He’s not just a dancer though, and when the song called for it, like on “Before the Bridge”, Herring growled and gnawed his way through verses, his voice dropping several registers but remaining prominent.

It was at about this moment that it became apparent that Herring’s hand was bleeding. If he noticed, which seems unlikely given how lost he was in the set, he didn’t give a shit. The man didn’t slow down his dance moves for even a second, taking to biting the mic chord during a tense moment on “Tin Man”.

“Seasons (Waiting on You)” served as one of the last songs on the set and the performance was everything the too-small crowd could have asked for, as Herring displayed the lateral movement abilities of a Mortal Kombat character.

A powerful, bellowing performance of “Spirit” finished off the performance, as Herring jumped into the crowd briefly and then left just as quickly as he started. Lesson to all music-fest-goers out there: I know your friends want to get extra drunk on the last day of the fest, but if you know a band is going to put on a killer show, fucking leave them and go see it. Not like anyone in the audience cared; they just got more room to dance.