Fri 17 Apr – Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Friday
Alberta Cross – The singer has a great, kind of cracking voice. Good start to the day.
Ryan Bingham – Caught a couple of this guy’s stompers. First fiddle sighting.
The Aggrolites – Reggae rock. Did a Beatles cover. Already getting excited about the headliner.
Noah & the Whale – Second fiddle sighting. These guys were pretty cool. Kind of sounded like an Irish band.
We Are Scientists – I liked these guys. Fun, danceable rock. Good sense of humor during the banter between songs.
The Airborne Toxic Event – This was the first band we were looking forward. They rocked the big stage nicely. Brought out a string quartet for a couple songs, including Sometime Around Midnight.
The Hold Steady – We got into the tent in time for Stuck Between Stations. Awesome. We missed a bunch, but also got Stay Positive, Lord I’m Discouraged, Slapped Actress, and a few others. Wish I could have got a full set.
M. Ward – Listened to a couple of songs. Snooze.
The Black Keys – Sat in the back for these guys, pacing ourselves for Sir Paul. They sounded great. Caught Stack Shot Billy.
Conor Oberst – It was pretty cool to have somebody like Conor Oberst playing as we had dinner and the sun was going down. More rocking than I expected. Seemed a little addled at the start. Mixed it up between self-titled and other stuff.
Franz Ferdinand – Caught Take Me Out on the way to the locker.
Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah was a special moment. The rest was good for resting up. Had some good moves for an old guy.
Morrissey – Stood through this guy to get a decent spot for McCartney. Lame. He kept complaining about burning flesh. Screw you, Morrissey, have a hamburger.
Paul McCartney – Played quite a bit of solo and Wings material that I wasn’t familiar with in the first half of the set, but Paul was definitely the highlight of the entire festival. He played for about two and a half hours, including two encores, went almost an hour past curfew. Sounded really good with the band, good harmonies. It was the 11th anniversary of Linda’s death so it was an emotional show. Paul did tributes to Linda, John, and George. Live and Let Die was huge. Fireworks and explosions I could feel over 100 feet back. Then Hey Jude. It seems cliché, but singing along to Hey Jude with 50,000 other people feels pretty sweet. He went through six more Beatles classics during the encores. The festival peaked early, but this was amazing. Seeing a Beatle perform live is something I will never forget.
Saturday
Cloud Cult – I’m glad I caught these guys. I like their use of strings, female backing vocals, and sound effects. I got the two songs I was hoping for, No One Said It Would Be Easy and Journey of the Featherless.
Joss Stone – Nice set. She came way out into the audience for one song. She had a real appreciate the fans attitude.
Drive-By Truckers – These guys were great. I got Hell No, I Ain’t Happy and Marry Me. I should really know more of their stuff.
Paolo Nutini – Came over, caught New Shoes, and went back to Drive-By Truckers
Dr. Dog – Was only able to catch one song, but it was fun.
Calexico – I’d been wanting to see Calexico live for a while. Some of their songs really grab me and others don’t. It was the same live. Roka was pretty cool.
TV on the Radio – This was as close to a let down as I got. Their bass was ridiculous, to the point it was distorting their sound. They played a fair amount of older stuff I wasn’t familiar with. Golden Age was fun.
Fleet Foxes – They got a lot of Thievery Corporation bleeding in from the main stage and they apologized for some technical problems on their side. I thought they sounded about as well as they could in a festival set up. A girl passed out in the middle of the crowd and had to be carried out. Hope she is ok.
Band of Horses – These guys were excellent. Great song selection, too. Is There A Ghost, No One’s Gonna Love You, The General Specific, Marry Song, The Great Salt Lake, Weed Pary, The Funeral. So good. Best band just playing their songs, but second best show of the day.
M.I.A. – Highlight of the day. The crowd was huge. There is so much show with M.I.A., lights, neon, dancers. There was an air-raid siren going off throughout the show. She brought a ton of people up on stage for a song. She kept joking about how she was in a tent last year, but now she is on the main stage. My two favorites, Boyz and Galang, into Paper Planes to end it, plus Bird Flu, World Town, among others.
Jenny Lewis – Great set and nice to cool down after M.I.A Her band is pretty good, but the best songs were the two she did solo acoustic, Silver Lining and Acid Tongue.
The Killers – They did Human and Somebody Told Me right off the bat. We listened to a couple more and then took off.
Sunday
Okkervil River – These guys were great. Highlight of the day. Plus Ones, Pop Lie, Black, John Allyn Smith Sails, A Girl in Port, Lost Coastlines, Out Life is Not a Movie or Maybe.
The Gaslight Anthem – This has been my new favorite band and they didn’t disappoint. I got my favorites, ’59 Sound and Miles Davis and the Cool, and the rest were great, too. The singer was having such a great time.
Lykke Li – Cool sound. Interesting voice and beats.
Peter Bjorn and John – Lykke Li came over and did the girl part on Young Folks.
Antony and the Johnsons – Sounded good. Really wanted to see what this guy looked like.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Really enjoyed them. Best sunset show. Got Gold Lion, Cheated Hearts, and Maps. Karen is entertaining. They sent a bunch of eyeball beach balls into the crowd during one song.
Devendra Banhart – Got to the tent in time for Sea Horse and Carmensita, my two favorites.
My Bloody Valentine – Didn’t really watch, but heard them everywhere. I don’t get it.
The Kills – They were cool and I was glad to get Last Days of Magic. But they should get a drummer. Drum machines are lame.
Public Enemy – Why do rappers always have like ten dudes on stage? What are those other guys doing? Well, I can see I’ve seen Flava Flav in person.
The Cure – Listened to a couple songs I didn’t recognize and took off. Heard Pictures of You on the way to the parking lot.
Overall
Overall, my best Coachella yet. What an amazing line-up. No real disappointments. I can’t wait to do it again.
