Blazing Saturday

Oowee what a weekend. Friday was spent preparing, packing, and sleeping before the big trip out to the southern California desert for the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. I can't quite relate the full experience in words, but there's no doubt I can at least try as much right here on the ol' blog. In order of appearance, here's how the show ran:

First up on the main stage were the Raveonettes. A female lead singer, some intensely reverberating guitar, and a decently enthusiastic crowd made for a good opening act to catch, but I wasn't too inspired. I'd like to check out more of their music to form an overall opinion. Seeing as I caught the first minute of their performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and then skipped it, you could say I'm not rushing to buy their CD anytime soon.

K-os was our next stop at the Gobi tent. A politically energized underground hip-hop artist, he's got some good flow and a great live backing crew. At one point, he forgot his lyrics but freestyled so well, I didn't realize it until someone told me. I'm not much for buying the hip-hop, but I enjoyed what I saw, even if it was brief.

Perry Ferrel nee DJ Peretz started off pretty chill, which is something to be expected when it's almost 90 degrees outside. The Sahara Tent is something I wanted to check out last year (when Paul Van Dyk was there), so I caught the first few songs out of him. He dropped some good beats, but didn't start really breaking it down until we got up to leave. Meh.

A French band by the name of M83 caught our ears on the way by the Mojave tent. These guys are Air with less lyrics and more rock than electronica. Instrumental, emotional, and gripping, they were pretty darn good. I definitely want to check out more of their music in the future if I can find it.

After a slight food break and listening to some bands in the distance, we traveled back to the Mojave Tent to see the rock duet called The Kills. These two intensely energetic performers convulsed onstage with an animal passion I don't think I've ever seen in a live performance by a rock band before. Screw the supposed "sister/brother" or "ex-wife/ex-husband" relationship of The White Stripes, The Kills displayed some raw tension unmatched all day. Riffs galore, they ripped the crowds ear drums apart with their brand of Rock. Great stuff and another to add to my must-listen list. I wish I would have stayed to see their full set because...

We wandered off to see Razorlight at the Outdoor Theater. Now, I just recently got their debut album on the strong recording of their first track, but something was missing from their performance. Granted, the lead singer was into it, trying to whip the band up into a Stooges like frenzy, but I left briefly after their few initial songs feeling empty. I don't know, maybe it's lack of experience, nervousness or something, but I expected much more.

Another little break and then we ran to the Outdoor theater again to not only see Rilo Kiley, but to also see Alex from "The OC" standing not even 2 feet behind us. Rilo was great, but almost moreso because she was there, haha. Despite being a little distracted, I got enough of a listen that I was impressed by the local band. The lead singer has sort of a Shirley Manson meets Lisa Loeb thing going on, which makes her pretty darn unique and makes the band enjoyable. Fantastic.

We then saw the last little bit of Wilco's set on the main stage. I'm not much of a fan, so we didn't stick around for long. No opinion to form here. Mostly we stuck around to see...

Weezer! I've seen them before so not much was new, but I can also say I've seen them better. Their performance was decent and I still like their music, but Rivers Cuomo was a little static and not too talkative (which is actually expected) so I didn't get into it as much. Their new music left me thinking "Huh?" which is a bad thing seeing as I really wanted to get their new album. I might end up evaluating it more later on, but I liked their more difficult music and most of the new songs seem quite pop. Good for the masses and bad for die-hard fans? Who knows.

We ended up taking off for the Mojave Tent again and caught The Secret Machines last few songs. I've seen them before, with Interpol, and I have their album. It's really different kind of stuff with an interesting set-up. This time around they were more polished, more energetic, and much, much louder. This made their set even better than I remembered it and makes me believe that they'll get even bigger as time goes on. Maybe I'll see them at a venue larger than the Wiltern next time?

We were really at the Mojave to catch Bloc Party, the warm up to the main event. Bloc Party had quite a crowd brewing when they finally took to the stage a few minutes later than expected. It surprised me a lot, really, since their album isn't that old at all. They didn't disappoint. From the opening number, there was an energy carried over from the Secret Machines set that barrelled from song to song so incredibly that many people who probably went to check out the buzz probably left as fans. I already knew I liked them, but seeing them live made me like them even more. I wish I had caught them a couple months ago when they were in LA, but now I'll have to wait for the second go-round. This brings us to...

Coldplay! Seeing them could never get old. I love, love, love this band so much for reasons inexplicable. People call them bland, people call them the poor man's Radiohead, people think Chris Martin thinks he's Bono, but I don't care, I loved their show, I loved their new music, and I want to see them as soon as their tickets go on sale. Inspirational to the point that they'll need a new post when the new album goes on sale, there can't be enough said about how great their set was and how awesome it was they were headlining. I've heard someone say more people were there to see Radiohead last year, but how long has Radiohead been around and how long has Coldplay been so huge? I'm impressed there were 40-50,000 people there in the first place and believe they deserve all the success they've gotten. June 7th cannot be here any faster.

In all, I had a great time, as you might be able to tell. I caught some new acts I had never heard until Saturday and am planning on going again next year. Coachella is hot, it's sticky, it's dusty, but I love every minute of it. Masochism aside, it's an experience not duplicated anywhere else by some Radio station's fuax-festival. Half-hour sets cannot replace hourlongs and the creativity, talent, and diversity is well-represented by the diverse group of people I see there every year. Maybe more people will join me in the journey, but for now, I'm content that I'm able to go at all.

Cheers to Coachella!