A couple nights ago I covered the debut performance of Physical Forms for Buzzbands.la. That there link will give you the skinny. In trying to keep with the pithy style of Buzzbands (I think I only get a 6.3 on that front) I cut-out a lot of tangent observations. More on the unveiling of Physical Forms this past Monday at Pehrspace…
Last Friday I had the great fortune of seeing one of my all-time favorite local bands play The Greek Theatre. I’ve followed the The Henry Clay People since early 2008 and their music, both live and on record, has soundtracked many of my best memories.
POLLS celebrated the release of their new EP at the Bootleg Theatre last week. Terrific performance, one of the more enjoyable live shows I’ve seen in recent memory.
Coachella Day 3 04-18-10Saturday we got-up, cleaned-up, filed our respective Coachella reports, and packed our bags. We were down by the car at about 11:00am and ready to go to Denny’s for breakfast…
…uh, no car key.
My iPhone had fallen through my left pocket the night before during Muse’s set; I had a new hole in some old shorts. That night we came home at 3am. I was stone-cold sober (only one beer the entire weekend) but tired, surely the key had fallen through the same hole.
It was not in the hotel. It was not on the ground near the car. It was not at the front desk. I checked my bags six times. I emptied my backpack, which I would have had with me, twice. Nowhere to be found.
My roommate ended-up taking an $80 cab ride. I had to cancel an assignment. I called AAA. “Ninety minutes”.
Ninety minutes (1:00pm) and the guy comes. “Oh, your Cruiser has a transponder key. I’ll make the key, but the other guy will have to come and program it. He’ll be here in half an hour.”
At 2:00pm, I call AAA again. “Uh, where is he?”
“We’ll call you back.”
They call in 15 minutes. “Fifteen minutes.”
HE calls in 15 minutes. “Another half-hour”.
All those times are estimates. The guy had been at the polo fields and kept getting new calls down there, where he was already located. Point is that I wasn’t driving towards Indio until about 4pm. I had to park a mile away. I was not on the festival grounds until after 5pm.
So between the first day and this one, I missed something like eight hours of the festival. I never miss an hour, if I can help it. Because I missed a lot of morning hours, I lost-out on a chance to discover new music. It felts very much like when the Indy 500 rains-out mid-race.
A chicken sandwich was in my mouth right as Yo La Tengo started-up. You can read my review of Yo La Tengo’s set on BuzzBands.la
Other Thoughts on Yo La Tengo:
You can read my review of Spoon’s set on BuzzBands.la
Other Thoughts on Spoon:
Whooooooo, Pavement.
I didn’t listen to Pavement in middle or high school (should have), and disregarded them in college (shouldn’t have). They were pitched to me as “sounds kinda like Weezer,” and when they didn’t sound like Weezer beyond a few guitar tones and background vocals, I moved along. The timing was bad, I was getting out of my non-commercial hip-hop phase and hadn’t rediscovered my 90’s childhood identity just yet.
It wasn’t until a couple years ago I gave ‘em another go and got it. So I’m not gonna tell you how important they are to music. I won’t prosthetize, or anything like that. I’ll say that Superchunk, Pavement, and Archers of Loaf (late-comer to that band, too) make music that connects to me — music that sounds like how I remember my formative years — and chances to see those kinds of bands are pretty slim ‘round these times.
I had to be at the main stage for Yo La Tengo. I found Travis Woods four rows back for Spoon, who I also had to cover. I was four rows from the stage a half-hour before Pavement was about to play. My plan was to enjoy them from afar. I couldn’t exactly pass the chance though, you know?
Ten minutes before the set, four or so little gremlins start working their way up behind us. “I have to get to the front row!” one said to his friends. “Not a chance!” I hollered directly toward the stage.
They plotted to burst forth. Mr. Woods and I held our ground. Uncharacteristic of me, I turned around to one and said “You know, all these people have been waiting for three sets to get there.” They backed off.
Sometime during “In the Mouth of the Desert,” (early in the set) I felt bad for being a dick to those kids. They could not have been eighteen yet. By all rights, they should have been at the fest for Phoenix or Major Lazer or some godawful shit. But they were geeky-looking guys, like me when I was their age, and they were carrying the dying torch of indie rock. I grew to like them.
During “Unfair” (second to last song) some meat-pylon came charging through. Presumably a Gorillaz fan, he wasn’t slyly sneaking by. He was forcing his way up. I saw him shove one of the kids behind me. I got pissed. Those kids were trying to enjoy the show. It was Unfair!
I’d missed half the fest that day. I’d already had a drunken couple sneak in front of me, crowding my space. I wasn’t about to let this guy go. I stopped him. Shouted “ARE YOU TRYING TO GET OUT?” (there’s a barrier for easy exit in case someone passes-out or gets sick) When he said “No!” – now this is not like me at all – I screamed “THEN GET THE FUCK BACK.” And shoved him five feet.
This happened to be during the loud part of “Unfair,” and the crowd was jumping like crazy anyway. There was a lot of shoving and pushing. People couldn’t tell if he was having fun or being violent. Somehow, during the closer (“Cut Your Hair”) my thumb found its way really close to his kidney.
Huh.
I don’t pick fights. I came close to picking one there. It didn’t spoil the show for me. But – if I may be all livejournaly for a moment – I learned that I can be a more angry, violent person than I thought. Always learn something new at Coachella.
ANYWAYS… “Stereo” is my favorite Pavement song and was the best of the set, for me. “Unfair,” “Cut Your Hair,” and “Summer Babe” were also great moments.
I have my guilty pop pleasures. I have cultivated an appreciation for hip-hop music. Post-punk really appeals to my cynical side, and I liken my relationship with post-punk to my relationship with science-fiction and comic books.
But Pavement’s set was the quintessential example of what I want indie rock to be. I smiled more, danced more, sang along more to that set than any other during the weekend. As soon as it ended I was half-tempted to walk out of the festival right there.
Apparently the crowd was small. (In the fan crush, it felt endless.) I’ve stopped thinking of indie rock as being “important”. It’s a niche musical interest. While not inherently exclusive, the elephant in the room is that indie rock is very much a “white guy thing” and the today’s music is (and should be) a lot more cosmopolitan. The 21st century president doesn’t listen to Pavement or Yo La Tengo. He listens to Jay-Z.
Whether they knew it or not, this made the set all the more special for those who saw it and cared.
I heard most of Thom Yorke’s set; a few songs at the side of the Outdoor Stage, and the rest across the way while I was writing rough drafts of my Buzz Bands post. He played The Eraser (which I own) in its entirety. Meh. Sounded nice enough, but I just don’t care. One might hope for something… more than a start-to-finish performance of a four year-old record, but Yorke / Radiohead fans aren’t exactly known for being picky!
I was excited for Gorillaz when the lineup was announced. I was expecting their 3D projection live show. That would make sense, since Coachella is a music and art festival. How cyberpunkarific would that have been?
Instead Damon Albarn and his host of famous musician guests played a pretty boring live show. They stuck to a lot of Plastic Beach material, at least to start, and the video screen work was utterly subpar compared to Jay-Z’s NYC skyline-shaped screen and Muse’s seizure-inducing effects.
I’d wanted to hear the jumpier, bouncier club hits. I was still riding the Pavement high. I think die-hard Gorillaz fans probably appreciated the set, but I was ready to go home.
A video of Snoop introing the show. “The revolution WILL be televised.” Uh…
We got out of the parking lot quick.
The next morning I found my fucking car key.
Coachella Day 2 04-17-10
All arrival and exit complications from Friday were rectified on Saturday. I think I saw more police officers. Pure speculation here: I wonder if Indio’s city council tried to skimp on law enforcement assistance and had to back-down after Friday’s problems?
Saturday was supposed to be the hottest, but the festival was blessed with overcast skies during peak heat hours. It was still warm, but Terrible Sol’s blaring gaze was obstructed. Praise fuckin’ be.
This happened to be one of the best days of Coachella I’ve attended. Not as good as Friday of last year, and not as good as the day The Arcade Fire played in ’05. But after that, probably 3rd best day in six years for me.
I walked-up to the Mojave tent right as John Waters came out. The seminal art house director spoke for about fifty minutes, a hybrid stand-up routine / retrospective lecture on his career. The mix of anecdotes and irreverent cultural jabs were well-received. That is to say, fucking hilarious. I love Coachella’s recent trend of booking speakers.
John Waters’ best lines:
I was going on four hours of sleep and the fields were heating up, so I napped on the cool ground while Shooter Jennings with Hierophant rocked-out. I don’t remember much about it, except feeling 1) it was pretty damn cool and 2) much less Shooter Jennings-esque than I’d expected. The crowd was pitifully small. Shame.
Girls sounded about as good as they do on record, albeit more airy and expansive, less pop from concentrate. They were much more cohesive as a band than I anticipated; I’d assumed the show would be “Christopher Owens and some other guys.”
They opened with “Lust for Life” (their own song, not the Iggy Pop one) to hushed sing-a-long whispers of the crowd. At times the set felt like a guy sitting on a stool playing covers by request. (Virtually all their songs rip-off some pop gem or another.) They actually did play a cover, “All I Have to Do Is Dream” by the Everly Brothers. It all sounded pretty good.
(EDIT: A reader says they opened with “Laura”. My notes say Lust for Life, but honestly, I can’t remember.)
But then, “Hellhole Ratrace”. Got-dayum. I want to hate this song, but I can’t. It is the defining song of today’s youth culture. Saturday’s performance convinced me of it. When the first chorus hit, chills flew down my back as my knees buckled with every attendee in the tent. When the shoegaze shimmer ripped-out at the song’s climax, the crowd was destroyed into a spontaneous explosion of approval and self-identification.
I was a doubter, a denier of this band but I can’t ignore the overwhelming evidence: Girls is capital-I Important, if not to me and my peers then at least to somebody else.
Putting scenester identity politics aside, Christopher Owens is this hipster generation’s Chris Carrabba. They are the same girl in a different dress; heart-breaking, teeth-gnashing angst in the guise of pretty-sounding songs. It’s easy to mock. It shouldn’t be confused with grown-up music. But it should be respected (greatly) for what it is.
Lastly: someone give Christopher Owens a goddamned haircut.
Overheard from alt-bros at Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros on the Outdoor Stage:
“Man, this guy is so fucked up right now!”
“This band is good. So many pieces coming together, man.”
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros drew a huge crowd on the outdoor stage. Whatever I might prefer in music, it was clear that people love the Magnetic Zerost. It was like a hippier-dippier take on The Arcade Fire’s legendary Coachella 2005 performance.
As the band took the stage, messianic frontman Edward Sharpe seemed to injure a photographer. Profusely apologetic, he touched the shutterbug on the cheek before removing his sweaty t-shirt and tying it around the photog’s head wound. I rolled my eyes. I’ve always suspected the narrative behind this band was a PR concoction.
By the end of the rousting love fest, I wasn’t so sure. I think Sharpe and his Zeros believe in what they’re selling. Nobody says “One Love!” anymore unless they mean it. Not my bag, but the whole performance could only be categorized as a success.
I sat down and rubbed my feet while listening to most of Tokyo Police Club on the Main Stage. They were perfunctory. I feel like they used to have furious energy, but it sure didn’t seem like it.
You can read my review of Coheed and Cambria’s rocking mainstage performance on Buzzbands.la.
Other Coheed and Cambria Thoughts:
I passed by Hot Chip who had the largest Outdoor Stage crowd I’d seen. (This record was broken an hour later when MGMT played.) It looked like a fun party. I don’t care for Hot Chip on record, but the live show looked and sounded way more legit than I’d have imagined. Less electropop and more straight-up new wave.
A couple times, Faith No More’s set reminded me of concert performances of Broadway musicals. Everyone is in costume (Mike Patton in Nikes and a red jumpsuit), but they kind of just stand there to play their part.
But most of the time, their set was a blast – and I (thought I) hate Faith No More’s music. Mike Patton is a true genius, and he and his bandmates seemed wholly committed to the reconstituted proto rap-rock. They sounded great, crisp and tight.
You may think “Epic” has been played to death, you may think you’re tired of hearing it every hour on the radio, but believe me, you’re not tired of it when you hear it live. It was, frankly, epic.
FNM closed with “Just A Man,” and it was strong as hell. This was the surprise set for me. I should not have been surprised, Mike Patton has a project at Coachella nearly every year and it’s always worth your time to check it out. I walked away with new respect for FNM.
MGMT was really boring. They had a HUGE crowd. That crowd, more than anything, wanted to celebrate the song “Kids” together. Coachella is about memory making and it was a given that “Kids” would be a defining moment of this year’s fest.
So MGMT did the snotty thing and decided not to play it.
Assholes.
They mostly played new stuff. It wasn’t very fun. What a wasted opportunity. That kind of pretentious bullshit isn’t going to sell records, and certainly not future concert tickets.
Muse was fucking incredible.
Two of Muse’s albums, Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations, belong on every intellectually honest Best of 00’s list. Muse not only successfully marries prog and glam to a host of obscure musical genres, but they weave into that tapestry themes of oppression, paranoia, desperation, and joy.
Whereas most arena rock shows lend themselves toward dumb excess, Muse’s gigantic displays of emotion, in sound and light, are nuanced and profoundly romantic. Muse is the rightful inheritor of Queen’s legacy, jazz-hands arena rock for the cyber-age.
Their Coachella set lived-up to my expectations and then some. Mathew Bellamy really crucifies himself on stage. His bare, skinless offering of self is what endears Muse to fans. The stage spectacle is representative of the most powerful and overwhelming human emotions, the chemical onslaughts of love, fear, and survival instinct that drive us to act outside of ourselves. Like the best space operas, the fantastic references and motifs in each song fell away to reveal essential, primal truths of humanity’s short and disastrous life on earth.
On top of all of that, every song simply sounded larger and more truthful than itself on record.
Hipsters forget that Muse was a Mercury Prize nominee and, before mainstream rock picked-up on them, Absolution was popular with many of the music elite. (My recollection is that Indie 103.1 was playing Muse well before KROQ latched-on.) They’re a common scapegoat for the indie rock sect, their mainstream popularity an impediment to many to-cool-for-school cats. I suppose prog and arena rock aren’t for everyone. But aesthetic preferences notwithstanding, I find it impossible to deny Muse’s artistic viability, and I struggle to think of a better live band in the world right now.
(Bonus points for Galaga-themed videoscreen graphics and using Harmonica’s theme from Once Upon a Time in the West as an intro to “Knights of Cydonia”.)
I’d like to say Devo or Pavement were the best set I saw at Coachella. But after my emotions cooled, after sleeping on it a couple nights, I have to say that Muse topped the festival.
Following Muse I scurried over to the Mojave tent to jockey for position to see Devo. I caught the last two songs from Les Claypool. Seemed like a fun set.
You can read my review of Devo’s phenmomenal set on Buzzbands.la
Other Devo Thoughts:
Coachella Day 1 04-16-10Thanks to organizational palsy on the part of organizers, I was late getting into the fest on Friday. I was supposed to cover Deer Tick, and then Avett Brothers for Buzz Bands. Both plans aborted. I also missed P.O.S., Jets Overhead, and Wale, the later two I was much looking forward to.
At some point every revived retro genre of indie becomes as stale as it was before it was brought back. These fads rise and fall like Romero zombies and, more often than not, are just as mindless. But the throaty soul-inflected vocals of Yeasayer’s Chris Keating went to war with the above notions.
You say “world beat influence” and I say “barf me out,” but Yeasayer’s appeal was tough to ignore. A cool breeze broke the hot heat right as the band played “O.N.E.”. That, erm, O.N.E. got the crowd going. Yeasayer was strongest when the instrumentals were strong; their stripped-down songs were a bit dull. And why the electric drum pads? Aren’t trusty skins good enough?
I passed by Hockey. God, this is done to death. Friendly Fires do it better. Put these goddamned hipsters in the penalty box for high sucking. I passed by The Dillinger Escape Plan. They sounded like themselves. I passed by She and Him. Their cuteness filled me with rage. Really folks, they’re just another sub-par celebrity band. We should give them the same treatment we give Dogstar.
Ra Ra Riot were the top of the baroque pop crop for this self-proclaimed rockist. Was it the strings? The pretty vocals? Exuberant stage presence? I think they were simply more talented than most of their contemporaries. Impressive set, for sure.
The Specials took the main stage in the middle of the day, not just to present their brand of second-wave ska to a new generation, but to validate their career, to prove they were a serious band that mattered in the world both then and now.
World beat, 60’s girl groups, and Gram Parsons currently influence the contemporary indie world and it is a mystery — nay, an unsolved crime — to this blogger as to why 2 Tone ska has not seen more direct imitation. Certainly, bands like Vampire Weekend and Passion Pit could not exist without the barriers broken by The Specials, and every cross-culture sampling indie act owes deference.
The Specials’ main stage set was, frankly, special. All smiles and wild styles, they played with the same fervor I assume they had thirty years ago. Nothing short of an utter joy.
Coachella offers attendees a chance to see legends in the flesh, and Gil-Scott Heron was a priority for me. He was so thoughtful, so patient. He mostly sung and I wish he spoke more to the crowd.
By the time he was singing “Did You Hear What They Said?” I was in tears. Heron’s set was the most substance-laden at a festival attended largely by people full of substances, not substance. In the face of his introspective and forlorn songs, most of the bill just seemed silly.
While Gil Scott-Heron sang “The Other Side” a cold apocalyptic wind blew-in, the sky grew dark, and an airplane bearing an Applebees advertisement flew overhead; the irony, thicker than the bottom of a Coachella port-o-let.
At the end, a couple other musicians joined Heron as they brought-out the celebratin’ rhythm with “The Bottle,” healing the wounds Heron opened. Beautiful set, from start to finish.
I passed by Grizzly Bear. Whatever.
You can read my review of Echo & The Bunnymen’s set on Buzzbands.la.
Other Echo & The Bunnymen Thoughts:
I only caught a smidge of LCD Soundsytem. I wish I could have seen more because it looked like terrific fun.
I heard most of Vampire Weekend because Coachella scheduled almost no alternative options in that slot. I’ll parse-down my objection to the band for you: I don’t hate what they are, I hate what they aren’t. I don’t think they’re particularly bad, but I feel – strongly — that they aren’t particularly worth their cred. (Nothing rubs my rhubarb like disproportionate praise heaped on toothless bands.) I found their set to be undynamic and precious.
I saw Public Image Ltd., which means I saw a Sex Pistol play live. John Lydon came out proclaiming “If Jay-Z’s starting to give you a headache, it’s time you take your PiL!” before launching into “This Is Not A Love Song”. Lydon, by the way, makes facial expressions that rival his vocal inflections in the preternatural department.
On paper, the Public Image Ltd. reunion might have been more triumphant. The reality was that Lydon and company played for a smallish crowd, against one of the most important recording artists of the last 15 years (the object of Lydon’s intro-scorn), and the performance felt more like a novelty than anything else.
I’m no PiL expert, relatively recently exposed to the influential act. Maybe true fans loved it. But I have a strong appreciation for post-punk and the avant-garde, and I wanted something more. “Tie Me to the Length of That” was the strongest song I heard.
But hey, you can decide for yourself. Here’s some official clips from the show:
PiL: Death Disco, Coachella Festival, April 16th 2010
PiL: Albatross, Coachella Festival, April 16th 2010
PiL: Public Image & Rise, Coachella Festival, April 16th 2010
I caught the opening of Jay-Z’s set before migrating over to PiL, and what I saw was so engaging as to lure me back.
Face it, folks: Jay-Z was the most pertinent and relevant artist that played Coachella in 2010. Consider this:
“He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America having had a net worth of over $500 million in 2009. He has sold 40 million albums worldwide while receiving ten Grammy Awards for his musical work. Jay-Z co-owns The 40/40 Club, is part-owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and is also the creator of the clothing line Rocawear. He is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings, one of the three founders of Roc-A-Fella Records and recently, the founder of his new venture Roc Nation. As an artist, he holds the record for most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200. Jay-Z also has had 4 number ones on the Billboard Hot 100, one as lead artist.” – Wikipedia
Jay-Z’s career ascension is one of the great American stories of my lifetime. Indie rocker kids don’t care and a lot of hip-hop heads don’t like him, but as far as I’m concerned, an opportunity to see Jay-Z perform is as valuable as a chance to see Paul McCartney. (Hip to this, “Live and Let Die” was Jay-Z’s intro music. Heh.) That I’d seen him once before, and knew the set would be stellar, helped the decision to see him again.
Jay-Z was losing his voice and showed signs of tiredness, aging. But he was supremely optimistic in his performance, always giving 110%, effusively giving thanks to the crowd. The set was a positive celebration of hip-hop at music festivals, and anyone who wanted to enjoy it would have
Where Jay-Z’s closest contemporary, Puff Daddy, has descended into cheap product hawking and embarrassing reality television shows, Jay-Z continues to exude class. The performance was one from a lovable, consummate professional at the beginning of his decline. (Think Shaq’s championship season with the Miami Heat)
When Beyonce joined Jay-Z for “Forever Young,” the main stage crowd exploded with joy. They were cheering the celebrity sighting, but I think there was more than that. I think they were cheering the love.
“He’s been with the world and I’m tired of the soup du jour!”Every year Coachella gets a new identity. Typically, the headliners set the tone. When acts like Bauhaus or Depeche Mode play, you see a lot of gothies. If it’s Tool or Rage Against the Machine, a lot of meatheads. This year there were a lot of fratty manchild alpha-bros thanks to Them Crooked Vultures, Faith No More, and (believe it) Vampire Weekend. (And, I think, less women than usual.)
In some ways this felt like an all-new festival. 3-Day passes only and the new ins-and-outs policy radically changed the dynamic of how festival goers saw music.
By limiting the fest to 3-Day passes, Coachella skewed its population towards those who could 1) afford the expensive ticket, 2) afford to take three days off, and 3) were inclined to want to sit in the desert drunk for three days.
This festival had a more belligerent party atmosphere than past years. By and large, the indie rock kids were too cheap to go. Many kindly eccentric creative-types were disinclined to spend the money, too. The frat guys and alt bros were more than happy to sacrifice whatever it took to come, though.
In years past, once you were on the grounds, you were essentially trapped. No ins-and-outs. Being such, festival goers often chose to see something over nothing, plopping down in the grass for bands they were either indifferent to or didn’t know about. A closed-gate festival lent itself toward festival goers discovering new music and taking a second look at previously disregarded acts.
With ins-and-outs allowed, all camping attendees had the option of getting drunk in their tent instead of exploring the fest. Bands such as Yo La Tengo and Shooter Jennings with Hierophant really suffered, playing for sub-optimal crowds. Paul Tollett has said the new policy would create a tighter community amongst attendees, but in fact the policy created a more individual experience: anyone was free to walk away from everyone else.
(The show sold-out. There’s no doubt the new policies were good business. On that point, some obvious corners were cut: gone were hand sanitizer trees outside of the port-o-lets, for example. )
The end result of the new policies? Upwards of 15,000 more attendees, but even scanter crowds at the early acts, with over-crowding for the headliners.
Over-crowding issues were complicated by poor stage assignments. Public Image Ltd. should have played the Mojave Tent. Devo could have easily played the Outdoor Stage. Sundays indie rock barrage of Yo La Tengo, Spoon, and Pavement should have been on the smaller Outdoor Stage, while Thom Yorke should have opened for Gorillaz on the Main. Hot Chip and MGMT drew catastrophic crowds at the Outdoor Stage; the Main would have barely contained them.
Friday suffered from great organizational dysfunction. It took myself and Travis Woods two hours to drive-in and park. It took another hour to get through bag check because – get this – they ran out of wristbands. How is this possible? (Well, probably a durpy volunteer forgot to drive his golf cart over. But still.)
To add insult to injury, it took two and a half hours to drive out of the parking lot when we left. Never in my six years of attendance have I been so miserable coming in and leaving. What baffles me is that Coachella is usually exceptionally well organized in these departments. Fortunately, problems were resolved by Saturday.
“I’ll be waiting forever. I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting…“The art installations this year were underwhelming, though giant strings of balloons that dotted the sky (by LED light at night!) were a visual joy. A new Ferris wheel made a marvelous addition to the Coachella skyline. (I wonder why it took this long for them to figure that one out.)
As for festival improvements, giant water stands were replaced by numerous small ones scattered about, alleviating some crowd congestion. The bathrooms seemed better maintained. The food stand options were significantly improved.
This year’s festival had the deepest lineup I can remember. I saw fewer jaw-dropping, life-changing sets than previous years but nearly every set I saw was enjoyable. The bill was incredibly balanced; truly, all manner of genre and style was represented. The bill was poo-pooed when it came out. In retrospect, what a bunch of nonsense.
Coachella’s formula was perfect: broad and accessible (but individually different) headliners, rare reunion opportunities, soup du jour P4K acts, and a plentiful dance tent bill. By all accounts, every box was checked-off in abundance.
One request: It’s time for Coachella to fully-embrace prominent African-American artists. There have always been hip-hop groups. Last year’s Booker T booking was a good move to dig deeper. This year was the best yet, with Gil Scott-Heron, Sly Stone, and Jay-Z as a headliner. But there’s no reason every day shouldn’t feature a sub-liner like Alicia Keys, with some up-and-coming R&B artists on the undercard.
Despite the long list of negatives this year, the purely joyful sets (The Specials, Jay-Z, Faith No More) and the rare memory-makers (Gil Scott-Heron, Devo, Pavement) more than made-up for it. Why pay the money? Why go through the hassle?
The gathering of people to consume, participate, and celebrate in art and music culture at its highest levels. Simply that.
“Black holes and revelations…“
I loved teaming-up with Travis Woods (Web In Front), David Greenwald (Rawkblog), and others for Kevin Bronson’s Buzz Bands coverage. I dunno how it came off to you guys, but to me it felt like we were doing a cool thing. I’m hoping we do it again for some of the LA fests this summer.
Full coverage to come in the next three days. Here’s a teaser:
Mouse’s Top Ten Sets of Coachella 2010
If I wanted to say the cool and hip thing, I’d tell you Pavement was the best I saw. If I went with what spoke to me the most, I’d say Devo. But objectively — critically — Muse played the most complete, most awesome, most thrilling and emotionally powerful set I saw. The top seven were “Coachella worthy” throughout.
A detailed look at Friday coming tomorrow…
Coachella Day 3 04-18-10
Getting caught-up on bloggery. Check Buzzbands.la later today for Sunday coverage from Bronson, myself, Travis Woods, David Greenwald, and more. Expect a Coachella post a day on CGT starting tomorrow.
Sunday started off terrible. (If you read my Twitter feed, you already know.) I’ll tell the whole story later this week, but the end of it is that I was not in position to watch music until 5pm. I missed Local Natives, who I am sure otherwise would have been a festival highlight for me.
Sunday Top 5 (the only five bands I saw, ugh)
Coachella 04-17-10Yeah guys, no big updates until tomorrow at the soonest.
Please be sure to check Buzzbands.la for Coachella coverage. Bronson’s La Bloga Nostra experiment is doing a really good job, rivaling the LA Times, I’d say.
The short of it: Yesterday was brilliant, a polar-opposite to Friday. Not quite as good as the best day of last year, but Top 5 All-Time Coachella Days, for me. My three favorite sets were hard to rank, at any given time I’d tell you a different was best of the day.
Saturday Top 5
Honorable mention: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Welcome to the Dark Carnival, my Coachuggalos!
First of all, I’m doing some coverage for Buzzbands.la. Kevin Bronson has assembled a crack team of LA bloggers and I am honored to be a part.
Last year I was able to blog the morning after each day of Coachella. Yesterday I waited a total of six hours getting in and out of the festival. Never say never, but the prospects of a full review of anything before Monday are grim.
Friday Quickie:
Some very good shows, but not much really in the orbit of last year’s top 10 sets I saw. The organization this year is the worst since 2005. I despise the attendees more than usual.
Friday Top 5
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