Coachella Sunday

[caulfield]

As some of you know, I made the trip out to Coachella this year last Sunday. Here is a quick rundown of the acts I attended.

Goodbye Radar[/u] - Sucked

DJ Jun[/u] - Cheesy set and way too long

Diplo[/u] - Cheesy set, left early

Jem[/u] - Wow, this chick is hot. I didn't recognize the name, but her singing is instantly recognizable and she was a great way to really get the day started in the right direction. And boy do her fans adore her.

Miss Kittin[/u] - Best DJ of Coachella IMO. She quickly turned the Sahara Tent into a little rave. My party favors were just starting to kick in during her set and I was blown away. I was too far away from the stage to get a good look at her though.

The Arcade Fire[/u] - This indie rock group from Montreal was one of the highlights of my Coachella experience. Watching/hearing them perform was completely different than listening to them recorded. There is a deep sadness to their music that does not come through in their recordings (at least not nearly as well), and feeling that for the first time amid those dry desert winds and the blazing heat surrounded by an audience of lost crazy kids was really something memorable.

New Order[/u] - I had no intention of attending the performance of this 80's new wave group, but my friend dragged us all there. They actually surprised me. Though many of the people in attendance were part of the older crowd, the younger people there were really getting into it. I was acting really stubborn, sitting on the grass and trying to ignore the vibe, but by the end I was up and dancing along with everyone else. By the time they played Blue Monday we were going wild. Go figure eh...

Armin Van Buuren[/u] - I keep missing AVB when he spins in L.A. so I was glad to see him on the lineup. By the time he hit the decks, the Sahara Tent had already undergone its complete transformation into a full blown raver retreat. It was cool to be back in more familiar territory. As good as AVB was though, I gotta say that after Kittin and Arcade Fire, I was somewhat underwhelmed by Armin's happy happy trance. I was coming down tho, so that's prolly why too.

Roni Size[/u] - I was never a big fan of jungle or drum & bass, so I didn't expect much. It was fun and all, but I got bored fairly quickly and stepped away to grab a drink.

Nine Inch Nails[/u] - Can you believe I missed them?? We had to pick between NIN and The Prodigy and the latter won out. Most devastating incident of the night IMO. I don't even like Prodigy all that much.

The Prodigy[/u] - BY FAR, the rudest bunch of fans at the event.  OMG these kiddies suck. Water bottles (unopened) were flying across the tent and one smacked my friend in the face while they performed "Smack my Bitch up". How funny is that? I put my earplugs in so my ears wouldn't be ringing by the time we went home. The Prodigy were okay, but the crowd totally ruined it for me and my friends. There was no room to dance or cheer and everyone was shoving to get in or get out. It was nasty.

And that was that. The enduring positive memory I have of the event was the diversity of the fandom. It was cool to see Miss Kittin's tent filled with a fair ammount of gothy looking rock fans and shy little emo-kiddies there to party with all the ravers and clubbers. Likewise it was neat to see ravers rolling at The Arcade Fire concert and dancing to New Order the way they would to techno, and then seeing clubbers playing hacky sack with new-agers and hippies and whatnot. That kind of stuff was really cool.

I also like how Coachella goes from blazing hot to shivering cold in the space of half an hour. I missed out on all the hip hop performances, but none of us were too enthusiastic in regards to that. Having to walk a great distance from area to area turned out to be pretty cool too because as you walk you can hear the music turn from one genre to another all the way till your destination, where it finally settles down.

In any case I'll be back there next year for sure.

Peace all.

-caul

[neonaut]

I agree, great show.  did you go on saturday as well?  It was my third year, and the best weather yet.

[caulfield]

No and I love Weezer.

Did you catch Arcade Fire? I used to think their CD was whatevers, but now when it plays, it really brings me back. I love them now. How is it going for both days? The one day blew me away and I really want to do the 2 day thing next year, but I don't want to be numb to it all on the second day.

[neonaut]

Yup, definetly caught arcade fire, I love the helemt drumming(lol).  They did put on one hell of a show, with the sun setting, it was truley awesome.  I have been going both days for the past three years and camping on site.  Last year was the best, coldplay,NIN, bloc party, kasabian, zion I, prodigy, tegan and sara, and many more really impressed me.  Last year the cure and the pixies were great.  even better was the year before will th chili peppers and beastie boys.  If you are going this year we should meet up.

[caulfield]

You mean next year yeah? I am definitely going. So you are a long time veteran eh? That rocks. Camping too eh? That sounds RUFF. I hate myself for not going to the last one with the pixies. That must have been awesome. But yeah, pm or email me your email addy (www.myspace.com/kaulfield) and so is the Coachella Festival it seems.