Another year, another Coachella. Not that it’s lost its magic because of so many consecutive years going, but there’s a groove we’ve gotten that makes it easier to not have to think too much about all the things we've done already and instead enjoy the irregular things that stand out, especially the performances by the bands. This year they scaled back the amount of people they let in, which made for a nicer time for us but it had to have sucked for the people who didn’t get tickets before they sold out, in less than a week this year. This didn’t bother us in the least since we all knew we were going so we were smart enough to get our tickets as soon as they went on sale. We were set. Most notable this year was the first year that I had a female companion with me. Carla had been to most of the first Coachellas but she hadn’t been to the most recent few. Of course she fit in just right with our group. I thought it might be a drag having someone attached to me but she’s as into the music out there as I am and she actually got me to see some bands I might have missed. And she’s as maneuverable as I am so we were able to get around and through the crowds and see as much as we wanted. The only downside being that the later mornings (or early afternoons) were hard to get out to early so we got into the festival a little later than usual, though you won’t hear me complain about that. Everyone else did just fine. This year’s “everyone else” being Andrew & Heather (the other couple, who we split a hotel room with), Vanessa, Rachel, Jonathon, Jenn, and Jenn’s friend, but the less said about her the better (and she wasn’t even with any of us at the fest anyway so she shouldn’t have to come into play here). Getting out there was like any other year, arriving on Thursday and having the vaunted, traditional dinner at Sizzler, then relaxing in our rooms, though the others in the other room went to some pre-party late Thursday night but I don’t know much about what happened. I was there for the festival and I was planning on conserving my energy.
Friday we got in early enough -- again no problems but we heard that they fixed whatever trouble there was last year for the people who came in later -- and we made our way to see some of the early bands. Andrew suggested Hurts, who were modern British music in every sense of the phrase: a slick singer with the melodrama of Morrissey, a cracking band, and even a guy dressed as an opera singer behind the rest of them. Actually pretty good. A bit of a surprise, though I didn’t hear anything more about them after that weekend; not much going on after that so we wandered over to the Rural Alberta Advantage but they didn’t do a thing for us; to kill a bit of time, and just to make an appearance at the Sahara tent, we went to check out Skrillex, just as Andrew texted to say that he was there and it sounded like noise. I couldn’t disagree. But that guy got a lot of press after Coachella so maybe there was something I was missing; a highlight for the day was going to be seeing Cee-Lo. Of course he’d do “Fuck You” but was he going to do “Crazy” (which I just barely got when Gnarls Barkley played Coachella years ago)? We went over and waited. And waited. And waited. It was only 20 minutes, which would have been forgivable at a regular show, but not at a festival, and not one like this one. There were other bands we could be seeing. Heck, we could be doing anything other than looking at an empty stage. You start to feel like you’re being played for a sucker. There are time-tables and schedules that need to be kept -- any professional musician should know this. Cee-Lo can pull some diva shit and think that he deserves it but that’s only going to piss people off and lose fans. We took off to see something -- anything else. I read that he eventually got on stage and only played only a few songs (including “Fuck You”) so at least they didn’t give him more time to make up for being late and throw off the rest of the schedule, which he clearly had no regard for. Hopefully he got what he deserved, though he might have lost at least two fans. Fuck you, Cee-Lo. No, not quoting the song. Really: Fuck you, Cee-Lo; I had recently really gotten into the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Just enough fuzz, just enough confidence, just enough indie tunefulness to keep me coming back. That’s all I want from my music. They’re a young band, and they certainly seemed like they were having a good time and happy to be there (unlike a lot of the bands, who see Coachella as just another tour stop). I expect to see a lot more of them in the future; I wandered over to see the second half of Tame Impala and they were even better than I thought they would be. Clearly a band that’s better live, though their album is just fine. Then again, it might be because they played “Alter Ego,” my pick by them, and it still sounded great; Sleigh Bells were another band I was really looking forward to. Carla got me into them and she said they had been amazing when she saw them at the Hollywood Bowl. I had high hopes for them and they met them. Bowel-shaking volume and a screeching female singer who just seemed perfect for the time. Some great stuff. I’m glad I didn’t miss them (though it would have been for Interpol, which wouldn’t have been a bad alternative); Carla had also gotten me into the Black Keys. I knew about them, had heard and heard about them here and there, even saw them at Lollapalooza but they went right through me then, my assuming that I didn’t really need to get into them and, out of all the bands I’m into, I could pass on these guys. Then I heard “Howlin’ for You” randomly on KROQ and something clicked with me (hearing something I liked for the first time on KROQ -- when’s the last time that happened?). I finally got around to them and they really turned me around. And so much better live that you’d wonder why anyone would try to capture them on disc in the first place (though that’s still great, too). And certainly at this show, two guys in front of so many people, they totally pulled it off. Based purely on performance, and even having missed the first half, one of the best acts of the entire weekend; I always joked about the Aquabats playing Coachella. You could argue that the Coachella organizers aren’t snobby and have a sense of irony and there’s still no way the ‘Bats’ music would be anywhere near the same orbit. But they’re one of the most fun live bands still going, and considering even good live bands have lost any sense of fun, it’s to say that they’re also one of great, current live bands. And they really did make it to Coachella, for a late-evening slot, no less (though that’s not always a great thing). It was a crowded tent and I know I’ve seen most of the set before (remembered more from the videos playing behind them) and surely the hipsters skipped it but the band were as much fun as they’ve ever been. Still maybe not a good fit for that festival but still a band that knows how to entertain in concert, and that should be enough; there were more bands to see but we decided it wise to duck the crowd getting out so we left a bit before the final end for the night.
A late start for Saturday but got in on time to see Gogol Bordello. I’ve seen them and they’re still an astounding live band (it's kinda their thing) but I probably would have gone to see another band if Carla had not -- inexplicably -- ever seen them. She had to, to help correct her lack of experience with them. We all had to go. And we got a good position, for a performance being so early in the day. And they never disappoint (even for playing Coachella for the third time). And Carla was suitably impressed; I was surprised that the New Pornographers would get Neko Case to go on tour with them and I was more surprised that it lasted as long as it did. Better that it goes for as long as it could since it might not happen again. They’ve played Coachella before but it was without Neko and it just wasn’t the same. Still great, and would probably still be as acclaimed even without Neko, but she really does put them over that edge. Even better that Dan wasn’t with them at this tour stop so they could probably focus better, and I doubt they suffered without the songs that Dan would sing on. Such a great band and good live but probably lost among all the other great performances in the height of the day and throughout the whole festival; we only saw the second half of Elbow’s set. I figured they played all their older stuff -- the stuff I knew -- early in the set but Andrew said later that they’re not playing any old stuff on this tour. Not a great idea. That old stuff is great, but that’s me saying it because I hadn’t warmed up to their most recent album at the time, and they were certainly trying to build on its acclaim. They became huge in England with the newer stuff so it made sense that they would try to carry that on through the rest of the world. I couldn’t get much out of the set since I kept waiting for “Red,” and maybe it would have been bad timing to play that so late in their set even if it was a possibility, so, sadly, this set was a bit lost to me. But it’s one of the performances I heard a lot about in the time after the festival so apparently they made some kind of imprint on the U.S. market from it. They deserve the acclaim but hopefully they can rediscover the stuff from their past that got at least one fan into them (or maybe that fan will try to keep up a little better); after that was a little bit of wandering, over to the Kills. They run really hot and cold with me: I love No Wow but Midnight Boom didn’t do much for me. I didn’t have their newest one at the time. But this could have been the first and best time to experience their newest stuff before I knew it but only catching a few songs didn’t move me. And there was quite a crowd for them, so seeing them from a great distance on a small stage (relative to the main stage) didn’t quite have a great effect. I’m sure they were great, I just should have been there for the whole thing and have a better place for it to take me over; then some wandering over to Wire. I know they’re legends but they just seemed like a bunch of old guys playing really loudly. Not that there’s anything at all wrong with it, it just didn’t do much for me, having no past experience with them (other than with everything that Elastica did that they stole from them); I keep wanting to give Animal Collective a chance. Coachella 2006 was the first time I ever saw them and they didn’t do anything for me then, and I've seen them at least a few times since and they still do nothing for me. I keep thinking I’m missing something, something I just don’t understand when I see them and don’t enjoy them as much as everyone else seems to. So I keep trying to give them a chance but every time it’s just noise and weird videos to me. Apparently my patience with them hasn’t worn completely out because I tried them again but it was the exact-same thing: noise and weird videos. Carla was on the same page as me, though she was at least holding out for “My Girls,” maybe their biggest hit and most accessible song, but we took off to something -- anything -- else, and they didn’t play it anyway. They got second billing for the day overall, right under the arena-packing headliners. Everyone else can have them, then; the musical highlight of the festival (I predicted before even going) and what made me shriek when I first saw the line-up was Suede. Now, I’ve never been the biggest Suede fan in the world but they were part of my world of beloved mid-’90s Britpop and I’ve certainly followed them through the years, since they first were exposed Stateside and actually got played on KROQ, back in the day. And yet, I never saw them in concert (though that shouldn’t be a shock since they didn’t get much to the States when they were biggest in the rest of the world, then they stopped touring the U.S. altogether). This was the only show they were doing in the U.S. for the year. I don’t know why the tent wasn’t more packed than it was (though I couldn’t tell to what extent since I got there early enough to be right up front, though without Carla because I didn’t think she could get into them and wouldn't have cared for the packed crowd that close and would be much better served seeing another band elsewhere. Looking back, maybe a mistake on my part but I didn’t want her to be disappointed by something I was so excited about). I had thought that with the reunion being a big deal that it would be the original members but it was the line-up without Bernard Butler. Still a good line-up, and still some great music, and I can’t say that I’m a purist, but it was a little disappointing knowing that it wasn’t the most classic members in the band. Predictably, then (though I couldn’t tell at the time that Butler wasn’t with them), they stuck to songs off their biggest album -- the self-titled one -- and the next-biggest one (in the U.K., at least) -- Coming Up. It’s the set I would have picked (though it might have been nice to have some of Dog Man Star in there, that wasn’t really the venue for it, and it seemed like that was more of Butler’s album anyway). They played every song like it was a hit (even if it wasn’t in the country they were playing in), one-two-three, and on to the next one. Anderson might not have said a thing but there were certainly some screaming girls up front that seemed to think he was talking to them with his hips. It was as good as it could have been, the crowd as rabid as you could hope, though smaller than if they were in their native parts, but that’s good enough for here. Maybe next year we can get the Elastica reunion?; as blasphemous as it sounds, I actually could have missed Arcade Fire, or at least have seen another band opposite them but there wasn’t much that interested me. Not that I’m not a huge fan and haven’t gotten even more obsessed with The Suburbs since last time, just that that Shrine show fulfilled me utterly for this tour and I could be okay with letting that live at its height in my memory. But Carla was over there and I had to find her so we could get back together (quite an effort, as if I have to tell you. Took about three songs or so to navigate through the crowd). And it was a monumental performance (their third at that festival), but that should come as no surprise. It’s a band that came up small but worked hard and they came up hard and now they’ve earned a place headlining festivals, even above the hype and the wishy-washy hipsters. They prove that a good band that makes a real effort to perform and connect maybe can really make it big. Then all those balloon-balls near the end and I don’t know what those were about but they certainly made the performance unique. How in the world could Kanye top that?
Another late start on Sunday but there (hopefully) wasn’t much early for us anyway. As it was, we wandered over to Ellie Goulding to see what all the hype about her was about. I took my usual early-Sunday nap, sitting amidst the crowd but letting the music wash over me anyway. I can’t say I had a solid opinion and I can’t say that she was just another Brit pop-tart, though it seemed odd that she was there amidst all the much hipper music. It was a big effort for her to break in the States and maybe it worked, to whatever extent. The most impact she made on me was playing Elton John’s “Your Song,” an interesting but unadventurous choice. She probably would have done just as well playing another one of her own songs since it seemed like she had already won over most of the packed tent; we saw some of the end of Nas & Damien Marley waiting for the main stage. I note that mostly because I should be familiar enough with those artists for them to have some impact on me but really, we were just waiting through them; then Death from Above 1979. These guys slipped by me when they were around originally, ten years ago, but luckily my Coachella-e-mail-circle compatriots warned me in advance and I got into them leading up to the festival. Not as many bands there that weekend that could aptly be called “blistering.” They would have exploded a smaller stage so maybe a spot on the main stage was well-earned, though from what I read it was so they could avoid a riot like they had previously at a show in Austin. Whatever. Even just two guys and they filled the space as well and as massively as any band bigger than them (both metaphorically and literally, in member count). Their live show made me get into them even more, and I have to wonder how I missed them in the first place. I tried not to miss them again, since there was no telling how much longer they were going to stay together; Carla & I have a thing with the National. It has to do with the night before we met in person, that we were both at a show of theirs but didn’t meet there, so the National performance at the festival had a bit of special meaning for us. It was another good performance by them, road-dogs that they are, but mostly I remember lots of gorgeous, green lights flowing over and around us in the desert night, and Carla being there with me in my arms. Everything there just then, it was just a perfect. One of the best concert moments of my life; as far as we were concerned, PJ Harvey was the headliner of the whole weekend. We were flabbergasted how she didn’t get higher billing, then how she was playing the smaller stage. Maybe it made sense that she play the smaller stage since she would have gone on in the middle of the afternoon on the main stage, and while that’s not the worst indignity, and maybe something she would have done back in the earlier, more ferocious days, it just wouldn’t have seemed right this time. After seeing the National on that stage, we took a break then came back, moving up to the front, only one or two people behind the barrier from the stage. Carla hesitated to be so close only because crowds at shows like this can get crazy but the whole time the crowd was peaceful and completely calm. I’m not sure if anyone else even came in physical contact with me, even though I was only feet from the stage. The crowd were awed into a respectful sedation. It was a beautiful and graceful thing, maybe fragile underneath it all, as Polly has always seemed, but the exterior was free and lilting when it wasn’t snarling, only because the older material, especially “Down By The Water” led it there, though by now the edges have been sanded down to a more attractive sheen. Polly and her band have been doing this for a while so she knows how to put a crowd under her spell and the audience was respectful for her and her art, as they allowed her to take them away. The performance was also a rare thing, as this show was one of a scant handful she did for this album in the U.S. (though that’s more than she did the time before that). We knew we were seeing something special, though it would have been just as magnificent in any other city or any other stage or time of day. She just has that power. She always has. After she got done at the un-festival hour of 10:35, we were done. There was no other place we could go after that performance, as well as after the other ones of the day. We had no choice but to leave. But declared it another great Coachella, just like the others.
Missed: Cold Cave (Andrew was all about them but we were wandering around doing whatever else); the Drums (again, we were wandering around but I don’t remember why we didn’t go by for a second); Warpaint (we went with Cee-Lo since we’d already seen Warpaint recently but obviously we bet wrong on that one. Really wrong. Fuck you, Cee-Lo); Lauryn Hill (Ms. or not), Cold War Kids, Kele (I honestly don’t remember what we were doing instead of seeing bands. Drinking probably would explain it easily. Maybe too easily); Interpol (conflict with Sleigh Bells, but I read there was a really awesome visual presentation they had, so that might have been the better show but how would we have known?); Cut Copy (conflict with the Black Keys. And no, there was no plan to see Brandon Flowers in the first place); Crystal Castles (conflict with the Aquabats, and I wasn’t all that impressed with Crystal Castles last time (or in general) but I read they really did it this year); Robyn, the Chemical Brothers, Flogging Molly (left early); the Joy Formidable, Cults (didn’t get there early enough); Glasser (Jenn was all crazy over her but we didn’t know about the act at the time); Broken Social Scene (part conflict with the New Pornographers (and perplexing why they would put these two bands against each other) but I didn’t really know about them anyway); Bright Eyes (conflict with the New Porn and Elbow. And when I went to write this, I realized, for as long as I’ve liked (but not loved) Bright Eyes, and for as many festivals as I’ve been that he/they have performed at, I’ve never actually seen him. Maybe next time (probably not)); Mumford & Sons (much happier to see the Kills and Wire instead. In one show I've probably seen them as much as I ever need to); Big Audio Dynamite (assumed that they wouldn’t play “Rush” as we passed by but then they played it right after we went by); Empire of the Sun (conflict with Suede, but Carla saw them); Scissor Sisters (conflict with Arcade Fire, and we left early anyway); Off! (I didn’t realize how legendary the members in the band were until later, and we didn’t get there early enough anyway); Men (not quite enough Le Tigre for me); CSS (also too early for us); Jimmy Eat World (we gambled on Ellie Goulding instead, and maybe that was the wrong choice, but I would have wanted to see their whole show if I was going to see any of it); Best Coast (conflict with DFA but I was pretty good after the Weezer show in November anyway); Duran Duran (conflict with the National. Could have been a hard choice if Carla hadn’t been with me. But I made the right decision); the Strokes (the only conflict was with getting in good position for PJ Harvey. Minute for minute maybe not the best idea but we also knew we were going to see them at Jazz Fest, and it’s not like they really change up their show, and it’s especially not like we haven’t seen them before, so we were comfortable with skipping them this time); Kanye West (probably the biggest spectacle of the weekend but at that point, nothing could top PJ Harvey and we were just done with the weekend. He didn’t do a show like this again, and I read that it was a pretty spectacular (though not life-changing performance) so I might regret it later but at this point I’m cool with it); She Wants Revenge (would have been a conflict with Kanye but we planned to leave early anyway).
"Month of May"
"Rebellion (Lies)"
"No Cars Go"
"Haïti"
"City With No Children"
"The Suburbs"
"The Suburbs (Continued)"
"Crown of Love"
"Rococo"
"Intervention"
"Neighborhood #2 (Laika)"
"We Used to Wait"
"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"
"Keep the Car Running"
"Wake Up"
"Ready to Start"
"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"
"Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"
"Thickfreakness"
"Girl Is On My Mind"
"Your Touch"
"Everlasting Light"
"Next Girl"
"Chop and Change"
"Howlin' For You"
"Tighten Up"
"She's Long Gone"
"Ten Cent Pistol"
"I'll Be Your Man"
"I Got Mine"
"Turn It Out"
"Dead Womb"
"Going Steady"
"Cold War"
"Black History Month"
"Go Home, Get Down"
"You're Lovely (But You've Got Lots of Problems)"
"Little Girl"
"Blood on Our Hands"
"You're a Woman, I'm a Machine"
"Pull Out"
"We Don't Sleep At Night"
"Romantic Rights"
"Do It!"
"Let England Shake"
"The Words That Maketh Murder"
"C'mon Billy"
"The Glorious Land"
"The Last Living Rose"
"Down by the Water"
"Written on the Forehead"
"The Sky Lit Up"
"Angelene"
"Bitter Branches"
"On Battleship Hill"
"Big Exit"
"Meet Ze Monsta"
"Bloodbuzz Ohio"
"Anyone's Ghost"
"Slow Show"
"Squalor Victoria"
"Afraid Of Everyone"
"Conversation 16"
"Abel"
"England"
"Fake Empire"
"Mr. November"
"Terrible Love" (with Justin Vernon)
"She"
"Trash"
"Filmstar"
"Animal Nitrate"
"Killing Of A Flashboy"
"Pantomime Horse"
"The Drowners"
"New Generation"
"Can't Get Enough"
"The Asphalt World"
"So Young"
"Metal Mickey"
"Beautiful Ones"
"Shocking You" (Shocking Blue cover)
"Moves"
"Sing Me Spanish Techno"
"Crash Years"
"All the Old Showstoppers"
"The Laws Have Changed"
"Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk"
"Challengers"
"Your Hands (Together)"
"Mass Romantic"
"Use It"
"The Bleeding Heart Show"
"Belong"
"This Love Is Fucking Right!"
"A Teenager In Love"
"The Body"
"Heaven's Gonna Happen Now"
"Heart In Your Heartbreak"
"My Terrible Friend"
"Come Saturday"
"Young Adult Friction"
"Everything With You"
"The Shark Fighter!"
"The Legend is True!"
"B.F.F.!"
"Pizza Day!"
"Fashion Zombies!"
"Radio Down!"
"Look at Me, I'm a Winner!"
"Cat With 2 Heads!"
"Luck Dragon Lady!"
"Super Rad!"
