Sasquatch Festival 2005 Review

"This is like the best place you could ever play on Earth." That sums up the vibe that Jem gives off every time she plays. Whereas other artists were bitching about the intense heat ("From all of us standing up here, you all are nuts standing out here…We wouldn't be caught dead out there," said Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy), Jem was much more interested in how pretty the Gorge was. (I could see her in hell: "Wow, look at all the cool flames!")

That glass-half-full attitude ran rampant throughout her mainstage set, which started at around 2:00 p.m., the hottest part of a hot day. Unfortunately, I was delayed at the gate getting my photo pass and didn't arrive on time for the start of Jem's set; nor could I stay for the end of it because I had to run up the hill and photograph the Dears and then up another hill to photograph the Blue Scholars. But what I did see of Jem made me like her even more than when I first saw her at Coachella a month ago. Jem loves to play music, and it shows. She's just a good time, plain and simple.

It's hard not to fall in love with her. She wore a bikini top and denim skirt, more for comfort than style. Some women play up their sexuality when they're on stage, but Jem is either oblivious to the vibes she puts off or just doesn't care; she's there for the music, and that's hotter than anything that comes from Spears or Aguilera. (I'm so frickin' jealous that Ice Cream Man got to meet Jem backstage!)

About her music, the Welsh folk rocker mixed in a few covers with her original songs. One was Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed"—which Jem proudly told us was featured on Fox's hit show The OC. (I guess that's what takes you from indie rocker to the mainstream, but Jem's Forrest Gump-aww shucks attitude about the whole thing makes it more cute than a sell-out.) "Amazed" went over well, not only because it was arguably Paul's best post-Beatles melody, but because Jem sang the lyrics with a ton of emotion. She actually did sound amazed! But the cover that kicked me in the ass was Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster Jammin'." To take a funky song and make it folky without losing its edge is a challenge, and Jem sang it with all of the energy that it deserves. And her band was obviously into it as well, letting loose on its funky beats and meaty riffs without betraying their rock roots.

Much of the rest of her set featured songs from early in her career (which is now a whopping three years old), playing several tunes from 2002's "Finally Woken." The thing I love about her songs is that they sound like they could be 20 years old, but still sound fresh.

The few thousand kids who were watching Jem's set didn't seem mind the heat. Quite a few were even dancing. And as a testament to her growing popularity and solid fan base, most of the audience was singing the tunes right along with her. I'm not quite there yet, but I did buy "Finally Woken" for the long car drive back to Ashland, and the next time I see Jem, I'll be singing along, too.

Source: Jay Newman