Sasquatch 2014: Chance the Rapper knows how to rock a music festival

The sun was out and shining when Chance the Rapper arrived on the Bigfoot Stage on Friday afternoon. Wearing a yellow and black varsity jacket which he’d soon shed in the Washington sun, the Illinois native came out prompted by a trumpet and spewed tracks off his popular sophomore mixtape Acid Rap, starting off with the sing-alongy “Everybody’s Something”. The singer commanded the stage quite well for a 23-year-old, as marijuana pillowed through the crowd and Chance took every opportunity to pump up the audience with calls like “Sasquatch! What the fuck is up?!” and “This is cool, there’s so many people. Let’s try and get louder than the main stage real quick.”

Using the audience to set him up for songs like “Pusha Man/Paranoia” and “Lost”, the mustachioed Chance seemed to know the secret for rappers at music festivals that others (like Danny Brown last year) don’t have a handle on—involve the crowd as much as possible. Looking like he was having an actual good time, the man more formally known as Chancelor Bennett waited until busting out his heavier hitters, telling the crowd, “I’m not gonna tell ya the name of this song until I do it,” before launching into “Favorite Song” and urging everyone to sing along to “Cocoa Butter Kisses”.

Powerful but not too overwhelming, fun but not too cute, Chance’s tone was perfect for a late afternoon show and effectively popped the cork off the first day of Sasquatch. “That shit was just fun as fuck,” said Chance as he exited the stage after one last crowd pump-up for “Wonder Years.” If he wasn’t actually grateful, Chance might want to think about pursuing acting because he sure seemed humble, repeating himself as he walked off. “I’ve never had this many people. This shit was just fun, thank you.”