Fri 25 Apr – Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
My experience at the Coachella Music Festival was really fun this year. I enjoyed myself more this year than I did last year. It wasn’t as horribly hot as 2007 (but still very hot), the people who attended this year were much mellower and kinder than the group of people who attended in 2007, and I saw more artists than I did last year.
Whom I saw…
Friday
DJ Mehdi: His set was a great way to begin the festival, with lots o’ dance grooves. Mehdi smiled and had fun. So did I.
American Bang: This band is my Coachella find for 2008. I walked by the Mojave tent, where they were playing, to get some water and heard them. Their music drew me into the tent, and I ended up staying to listen to the last half of their set. They play Southern-styled rock. They reminded me of
Kings of Leon, whom I like. I will be investigating their music further.
Midnight Juggernauts: This was my first proper set of the festival (i.e., watched from beginning to end). They performed a solid set, saving their best songs for last. They rocked the entire Sahara tent when they closed with “Into the Galaxy.”
One of my fave sets of the festival.
Redd Kross: On our way to the Gobi tent, we walked through the Mojave tent just to see what was happening on stage. We stayed for two songs and left. Big hair rock is not my thing.
Les Savy Fav: Les Savy Fav have quickly become one of my top 20 artists. I first saw them perform in Los Angeles in December 2007. I didn’t plan on seeing them at Coachella because I wanted to see only artists I’ve never seen before, but the Gobi tent was so full of people for
Battles (whom I planned to see) that we gave up on that idea and headed to the outdoor stage instead. It was not a second-best choice because Les Savy Fav are something special live. At Coachella, Les Savy Fav delivered a high-energy set with singer Tim Harrington pulling a lot of stage shenanigans. Wearing only red polyester shorts and sneakers, Harrington climbed the staging towers and hung from the beams like a crazed acrobat. Les Savy Fav are always entertaining and worth seeing. I’m sure that I’ll see their set at Pitchfork in July.
Architecture in Helsinki: I was looking forward to seeing them; unfortunately, their set did not live up to my expectations. I can’t put my finger on it, but they were lacking something on stage. They weren’t bad; they just didn’t wow me. The only memorable part of their set was a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain.”
Jens Lekman: I caught the last several songs of Lekman’s set. I must say that I was not impressed. He’s just a little too precious for my liking. He does, however, sound exactly as he does in his recordings.
The Breeders: Their set was the biggest disappointment of the festival for me. I looked forward to seeing them so much because I’ve been a long-time fan. What they delivered was so blah and bland. I wish I had seen
Adam Freeland instead.
Tegan and Sara: I’ve been wanting to see Tegan and Sara perform for years! Their set was really fantastic – everything I hoped it would be. Their songs were tight, their banter was funny – in short, they were charming and musically perfect.
One of my fave sets of the festival.
The Raconteurs: I sacrificed both
Goldfrapp and
Aphex Twin to see the Raconteurs. Although I feel bad about missing Goldfrapp and Aphex Twin (whom I heard put on fabulous sets), I am glad that I saw the Raconteurs. They rocked hard. Unfortunately, during the latter half of their set, I became so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open (my fault, not theirs).
One of my fave sets of the festival.
My friend and I were so exhausted that we gave up after the Raconteurs and went back to the tents to collapse. From our tents, we listened to
The Verve (who sounded like crap),
Pendulum (who sounded fantastic) and
Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson’s gentle songs lullabied me to sleep.
Saturday
The Bird and the Bee: The Bird and the Bee’s set was the surprise treat of Coachella 2008 for me. I had listened to their songs in the past, but they didn’t make a huge impression on me. Their set at Coachella, however, was very entertaining. Singer/frontwoman Inara George reminded me of an undamaged Kathleen Hanna with her naughty-but-cute demeanor. She and her backup singers were cute in their matching outfits, rocking the doo-wop vibe.
One of my fave sets of the festival.
The Teenagers: I wanted to like them; however, their set was dull. We left after a few songs.
Uffie featuring
DJ Mehdi: Uffie was not good.
Carbon/Silicon: Mick Jones! Do I need to say more? Love, love, love, him! They rocked hard.
DeVotchKa: I wanted to see them because (1) I liked the album and (2) because I had read that their live shows were like a circus. Their set was indeed like a circus. They had two acrobats who entertained while they performed. Quality gypsy music. Tubas, upright bass, violin…
Boys Noize: Young German DJ. I enjoyed his set. I wish I had more energy to dance, but the heat took it out of me.
Bonde do Rolê: The sound level for their set was too loud to enjoy. Everything sounded distorted. I’m disappointed that the sound was so bad because I think they might have been good to watch. We left after a few songs. We needed to save our ears.
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks: This set was one of my must-sees -- strange so, considering I was never a Pavement fan. In fact, I can’t name a single Pavement song. I wanted to see this set based on the excellence of their new album
Emotional Trash. Their set was one gigantic jam session with Malkmus making some snide remarks every so often. He seemed pissed off that he and his band were not playing the main stage. He did, however, make up for his snarkiness by commenting with genuine emotion that he was “the luckiest man in the world to front this great band.”
St. Vincent: This was another surprise set for me. I’m still trying to figure out what exactly I saw. I’m familiar with St. Vincent’s album
Marry Me, but I only recognized a few songs from that album performed during the set. I guess Annie was playing new material. I was caught off guard because I expected it to be a mellow set, but instead it was a guitar-driven experimental music set. I like being surprised like that.
Cinematic Orchestra: I was looking forward to their set because I enjoyed their album
Ma Fleur so much, but I was completely disappointed with their set. First of all, they made the audience wait for ages and then they sounded nothing like their albums. It was some sort of jazz fusion thing going on stage. Ick.
Kraftwerk: I feel privileged to have seen this band. They are the fathers of electronica. Their set was visually and auditory stimulating. It was WOW from beginning to end.
One of my fave sets of the festival.
Portishead: I had high expectations for this set. Portishead unbelievably EXCEEDED my expectations. Their set was so mind-blowing good. Both the old and new material sounded fresh and timeless.
One of my fave sets of the festival.
Prince: I had been told by music writing colleagues whom I respect that Prince is the greatest performer you can see, but I was not prepared for how absolutely correct they were on that fact. Prince is like Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, and James Brown in one body. His performance was phenomenal! Jaw-dropping good! Morris Day, Jerome, and Sheila E. were the frosting on the cake.
My fave set of the festival.
I listened to
Rilo Kiley’s set while I was eating dinner at the food court nearest the stage they were performing on. Jenny Lewis sounds better live than on recordings. Why was everyone talking about her boobs? Are they more famous than her or her band? LOL
Sunday
Plasticines: I really enjoyed the Plasticines’ set. I expected to be depressed by their youth and beauty; however, they were fun. Their style was old school punk, reminiscent of X-Ray Spec (without the sax) and The Slits (without the dub). Their English wasn’t very good, however, it made them more charming when they shouted things like “We are radicals!”
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Johnson simply read his poetry sans musical accompaniment. It was beautiful. With each poem, he described its inspiration and provided a historical timeline of political events. Entertaining AND informative.
Grand Ole Party: On a whim, we decided to check them out. We caught the last half of their set. I was surprised to discover that their singer is also their drummer. I think having her behind a drum kit hindered their stage presence. It’s true that the singer sounds a lot like Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The Cool Kids: The Cool Kids were the only rap artists I saw at Coachella 2008. Their set was a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed a song in which they sampled both “Paul Revere” and “Sure Shot” by the Beastie Boys.
Holy Fuck: Holy Fuck’s set was high-energy, booty-shaking fun. The tent was packed.
One of my fave sets of the festival.
Duffy: She was so incredibly boring. Blah.
Autolux: Autolux sound like a cross of Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth, two bands whom I admire. Autolux delivered a solid set; however, their stage presence was a little lacking. They didn’t talk among themselves or to the audience. I got no sense of personality, which is important to me.
Metric: I’ve been wanting to see Metric forever. I think everyone in the world – gay or straight -- has a crush on Emily Haines, myself included. She shows so much personality on stage.
One of my fave sets of the festival.
My Morning Jacket: I only saw this set because I wanted to have a good spot for Roger Waters, who performed after My Morning Jacket. I did not enjoy this set. It was too hippy-jammy to me.
Roger Waters: Waters puts on an impressive stage show. He had a huge backing band, fancy video, pyrotechnics, gigantic props (everyone heard about the pig that got away, right?). He performed the songs with precision.
One of my fave sets of the festival.
Chromeo: I left Roger Waters’ set early so I could see Chromeo. The vocal mix wasn’t very good, so I was slightly disappointed. They closed with my fave song of theirs, “100%.”
Justice: I saw them at Coachella in 2007. I saw them at Coachella in 2008. I suppose they will be there in 2009. They were a huge hit with the Coachella audience. I had more fun watching the audience than dancing or listening to the music. It was a good way to end Coachella 2008.
My Top 10 Performances at Coachella 2008
1. Prince
2. Portishead
3. Kraftwerk
4. Tegan and Sara
5. The Raconteurs
6. Holy Fuck
7. The Bird and the Bee
8. Midnight Juggernauts
9. Metric
10. Roger Waters
Adam Freeland
Head Straight' due for release 25th may, deffo worth a listen. anyway heres a couple of said remixes for your listening pleasure. oh and you can give alex metric some twitter love here.
