Walking into DC’s Union Stage on this recent night was like stepping through the looking glass — a sold-out rave populated by wizards, elves, unicorns, Teletubbies, an Angry Bird, and Santa Claus himself. Welcome to the surrealist experience that is Saxsquatch live.
For the unaware, Saxsquatch is an internet-famous phenomenon renowned for playing the saxophone as a Pit Viper sunglasses-wearing cryptid. If it sounds like a very different musical experience, that’s because it very flagrantly is, but it’s all part of the charm.
On March 8, opening the night was DJ Space Tie, better known professionally as Tiara Tastemaker, who steered the evening into sonic mayhem wearing a full suit and the aforementioned space-themed tie. Their set delivered an infectious barrage of hard-hitting house beats, with flashes of Justice-esque intensity suitable for an Ed Banger records collaboration. A family had bravely brought their little girl in full costume — clearly, this was no ordinary Saturday night crowd.
“I figure this show is going to be a very strange mix of people,” someone nearby noted wisely.
By the time Saxsquatch lumbered onstage in their trademark Pit Vipers, the audience was primed for absurdity. It’s hard to articulate just how profoundly wild the concept of a saxophone-playing Sasquatch is — yet utterly impossible not to love.
Despite their static stage presence, Saxsquatch held the room in thrall like a shaman, their saxophone mastery undeniable. Lasers sliced through the smoke-filled air, adding an unexpected intensity to the already ridiculous spectacle. Their setlist was a frenzied grab bag of pop culture delights: Daft Punk grooves, Earth Wind and Fire funk, and even a sax-infused “Carry On Wayward Son” cover [by Kansas], which left the audience in euphoric disbelief.
Watch Saxsquatch perform “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas live on YouTube:
Vocal distortion effects lent Saxsquatch’s singing a rough, robotic timbre, peaking as he wandered through the ecstatic crowd, Rickrolling us all in a moment of delightful chaos. When the iconic Mos Eisley Cantina theme dropped, the floor nearly buckled under collective stampede.
“Would Taylor Swift be as popular without her costume changes?” I overheard between songs. Saxsquatch, with all their absurd theatricality, certainly understands the same formula and clearly spent a lot of money on laser projectors, fog machines, and other stage novelties such as fake lodge-pole pine trees.
Saxsquatch bid us farewell with a hearty, “I’ll be squatching you!” We stumbled into the night, still buzzing — reality now strangely mundane after an evening in Saxsquatch’s otherworldly orbit.
Here are some photos of Saxsquatch performing at Union Stage on March 8, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Gerald Henry.
Here are some photos of Tiara Tastemaker opening Saxsquatch at Union Stage on March 8, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Gerald Henry.
