The rock flavour was on the menu

Thurs. - Sat. Hendrickson Field and Loggers Sports Grounds (Squamish)

If Friday had seen triumph in feel-good party vibes at the Squamish Valley Music Festival, Saturday's main purpose was to rock your socks off.

The rap, electro and dance explosion led by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis,They are called "solar" panels or solar module because most of the time, the most powerful source of light available is the Sun.Know about led high bay conversion kit and Bi-xenon HID kit. Jurassic 5 (and augmented by latenight sets by DJ whiz kid Madeon and Polaris nominees and powwow step trailblazers A Tribe Called Red) gave way to a more grizzled, hair of the dog celebration with Josh Homme and Queens of the Stone Age at the helm.

The rock flavour was on the menu early in the afternoon on the windswept Hendrickson Field in front of the Stawamus stage, with Vancouver indie rockers Yukon Blonde handing out a pulsating set of angular hooks. A jammy Everything In Every Way and set closer Stairway, where singer Jeff Innes bellowed, "I hear you calling out!" beckoned festivalgoers, many a tank-top sporting dude and dudette still haggard from the night before, through the main gates.

Even the hip hop and electro stuff on the schedule had a grittier edge, with British soul rockers The Heavy almost blowing the house down with a set that was completely bonkers, a crazed fan at one point quite literally standing atop a sea of hands, screaming every word with his arms outstretched. He made such an impression that singer Kelvin Swaby had to reach for his cellphone to snap a shot of the moment.

"How you like me now?" Swaby bellowed, closing the set with the band's signature single, the front of the stage a mass of tangled, jumping bodies.

If you were smart (and quick on your feet), you immediately ran over to the Market Square stage where Vancouver's Ballantynes were surprising more than a few with a double-drum, Hammond organ-heavy soul/gospel rock afternoon jam.

Of the many Vancouver acts to grace the smaller stages throughout the weekend (the Squamish Fest once again earned a badge of honour in its support for local artists), they really got your feet moving.

They certainly had more swing than Toronto's Diamond Rings, whose turn on the Garibaldi stage was flashy but ultimately too mechanical. Main man John O. is a solid glam/new-wave influenced songwriter, but in concert the click factor (yet again) wasn't really there. Too bad.

Divine Fits, a band regrouping members of indie rockers Spoon and defunct Canadian favourites Wolf Parade, gave a solid but drowsy performance that somehow acted as a short respite before Saturday's final stretch consisting of a series of runs between Fitz and the Tantrums, Childish Gambino (Community's Donald Glover, in a girl crazy turn) and a latenight set by electro act Pretty Lights on the Garibaldi stage; and Gogol Bordello, Band of Horses and QOTSA on the main Stawamus stage.

New York City's Gypsy party band Gogol Bordello have always had a certain celebratory festival flavour, which made them a natural fit to kick off the evening portion of Saturday's lineup.

Eugene Hutz and his pals stormed the stage for a solid hour with barely a break in between fiddle-and-guitar attacks blending klezmer, punk and old fashioned rock 'n' roll. No wonder each stop in Vancouver turns into three sold-out nights of pure insanity.

If one had to pick between Fitz and the Tantrums' derivative indie pop and Dear Rouge's transformative performance on the smaller Market Square stage,The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures. you had to go with the latter.

The Peak Performance Project alumni, who raised a few eyebrows when they won the music competition last year, clearly had the upper hand over Fitz's '80s-tinged pop rock, which owed its sound to much better acts like Hall & Oates and Eurythmics (which they covered in the form of Sweet Dreams).

Seattle indie rockers Band of Horses offered a solid set including an epic Is There A Ghost played in the gathering gloom, setting the stage for Queens of the Stone Age's big finale on the Stawamus stage, a merciful breeze cooling down the crowd.

Back from the brink after frontman Josh Homme almost died while having knee surgery a few years ago, QOTSA nailed a tremendous set that included old monster cuts from landmark 2003 album Songs for the Deaf (No One Knows) and excellent new album Like Clockwork (the road trip worthy My God Is The Sun), putting the final nail in the coffin of the biggest and arguably best edition of the Squamish Valley Music Festival to date.

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