Twenty One Pilots

Twenty One Pilots in 2015 (Jabari Jacobs)

(Jabari Jacobs)

The Sasquatch 2017 lineup arrived by surprise on Monday morning, revealing the George, Washington music festival's 40-plus artists.

At the top: Twenty One Pilots, Frank Ocean, and Chance the Rapper, marking a pivot from the bookings of past years away from classic rock (and indie rock) headliners and aiming at a young audience.

In 2016, with the Cure joining Major Lazer, Disclosure and Florence + the Machine as headliners, attendance at Sasquatch was thousands below expectations. The Grant County Sheriff's Office counted 11,000 attendees, rather than the festival's usual 25,000--a loss of millions of dollars in ticket, camping and concession fees.

2017's fest will bring changes: Sasquatch will be three days rather than four, with the headliners taking a mainstream turn for the curatorial event.

Somber singer Frank Ocean, announced in advance of the rest of the bill, released two of 2016's most anticipated albums with "Blonde" and "Endless." And Chance the Rapper, a Sasquatch veteran, made the year's hottest mixtape with "Coloring Book," the exclamation point on a run that saw him stealing the spotlight from Kanye West on West's own "The Life of Pablo."

Twenty One Pilots--nominally a rock act signed to prominent punk label Fueled by Ramen, but one with elements of hip-hop and electronic music--have been one of rock's great success stories in the last few years, rising to arena headliner status and picking up honors from the Billboard Music Awards to the American Music Awards. Sasquatch will be among the last shows for the band's "Blurryface" album cycle, an album that's now sold over two million copies.

For fans expecting, say, a Robert Plant or a Modest Mouse at the top of the bill, the lineup may come as a surprise. But it will include a number of indie rock luminaries, from Seattle's The Head and the Heart to Portland's own The Shins, as well as electronic acts including Bonobo and Kaytranada and a comedy bill that will include Fred Armisen, among other bookings.

On the Sasquatch Facebook page, fans were quick to share their opinions.

"Glad to see everyone else hates Linkin Park errr umm 21 Pilots too. Can't wait for when they play Mario Kart live on stage," Matt Maltbie wrote.

"Get ready for 600 more comments of rage," Robert Wilborn added.

There are already 237 at press time, nearly all negative, though a few seemed hopeful.

"I've always wanted to go to this," Katie Dunlap wrote, tagging a friend. "It's Memorial Day weekend. We should go."

The Sasquatch Music Festival runs from May 26-28 at the Gorge. Tickets will be on sale on Saturday at 10 a.m., via sasquatchfestival.com.

Here's the full lineup:

Twenty One Pilots

Frank Ocean

Chance the Rapper

The Head and the Heart

The Shins

MGMT

Phantogram

Mac Miller

Bonobo

Rufus du Sol

Kaytranada

Big Gigantic

Bleachers

Kiiara

Bomba Estereo

Bob Moses

Aesop Rock

Charles Bradley

Vulfpeck

Car Seat Headrest

Catfish & The Bottlemen

American Football

Mount Kimbie

Thee Oh Sees

Foxygen

Jaguar Ma

The Strumbellas

Kungs

The Radio Dept.

Manatee Commune

Fakear

The Hotelier

Big Freedia

Mondo Cozmo

Moses Sumner

White Lung

Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Arkells

Cigarettes After Sex

July Talk

Sales

Boogie

Joey Purp

Kaiydo

Klangstof

Flint Eastwood

IHF

Hoops

Kyle Craft

Courtney Marie Andrews

Corey Harper

Saint Mesa

Los Colognes

Porter Ray

Gazebos

Comedy:

Fred Armisen

Sasheer Zamata

Nate Bargatze

Beth Stelling

Sal Vulcano

Alice Wetterlund

Sam Morril

Emmett Montgomery

Yogi Paliwal

-- David Greenwald

dgreenwald@oregonian.com

503-294-7625; @davidegreenwald

Instagram: Oregonianmusic

