Yo Yo A Go Go

This is my pass from the first Yo Yo A Go Go in Olympia, Washington. The festival took place July 12-16, 1994. It was organized by a non-hierarchical collective of people which included Kento Oiwa, Pat Castaldo, Michelle Noelle and Pat Maley of Yo Yo Recordings (a small Olympia indie record label at the time when compared to Kill Rock Stars and K Records that focused on live recordings). Not surprisingly, the performances were recorded and a number of live albums resulted, including a 2-CD/3-LP compilation that's still available quite cheaply at BuyOlympia.com (a great website). The hype was good early on for Yo Yo A Go Go, so much so that some pretty big indie bands wanted to play and people from around the States were buying festival passes months in advance (like me).

I went for I think two nights/three days of the festival, driving down in my $400 '73 Hornet and sleeping in it by the train tracks at night. I met up with friends from Seattle, Reno, Olympia and all over each day to grab food, beers and watch bands each day. I met tons and tons of people, the social aspect of a smaller multi-day festival was almost as important as the music at times.
This is by no means a full list of bands that played, but the best I can piece together from the live album, my memory and web resources:

Karp, Rancid, Hush Harbor, Cub, the Bloodthirsty Butchers, Copass Grinderz, Blaire Mailer, Excuse 17, Built to Spill, Versus, Beck, Girl Trouble, Unwound, Special Sunrise, Lois, Nuzzle, The Crabs, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Verusu, Halo Benders, Bash, Crayon, Mary Lou Lord, Team Dresch, Georgia and Ira, The Stinky Puffs, New Bad Things, Mecca Normal, Fitz of Depression, Heavens to Betsey, The Softies, The Spinanes, Kris Novoselic and Dave Grohl, Jad Fair, Codeine, The Rickets, Excuse 17, Godheadsilo, Mukilteo Fairies, Neutral Milk Hotel, Dig Yr Grave, Yo La Tengo, Satellite, Long Hind Legs, and Some Velvet Sidewalk.