This is now the seventh year I’ve been to the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, and it just doesn’t get old. Sure, it gets tedious at times – the late late nights, the snarls of snail-paced traffic, the choking dust, the pungent body odors, the ample rolls and folds of flesh on display with regard for neither self-esteem nor gravity – but still somehow, as the warm winds blow across the night sky of ground-lit palm trees and shadowed mountains, it seems like a transformative place of joy and wonder each and every time I go. And the bands aren’t too shabby, either.This year was far more crowded (75,000 three-day tickets presold, which adds up to a record attendance), and at times one could feel the difference with the overabundance of fellow humans. But the coordination of those masses hummed as smoothly as it could under the circumstances, and given my height, there was never a shortage of good views. The heat wasn’t as intense (if you can call high 80’s and low 90’s “less intense”) and the grass of the polo field stayed green for longer than I can remember.
Friday started off with a dense traffic jam getting there, which meant that my first intro to Coachella ‘10 didn’t happen until around 3pm (hello, As Tall As Lions). From there, it was the usual peripatetic hop between stages and tents, sometimes hanging out for a full set, sometimes not. I saw entire sets from Sleigh Bells, Yeasayer, Gil Scott-Heron, and Little Dragon; also, I managed to see bits and pieces from the aforementioned As Tall As Lions, Aeroplane, She & Him, La Roux, Them Crooked Vultures, LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Jay-Z, and Fever Ray. Hard to pick a favorite among all those goodies; right now, I’m torn between the buoyant spa-pop of Little Dragon and the intense jazz-blues of Gil Scott-Heron, but the post-punk-disco of LCD Soundsystem always brings a smile to my face and a spring to my shoes, and it did so again on Friday.
As always, there were omissions galore, as I didn’t see as much of LCD as I would have liked (which wasn’t so bad, given that I’ve seen them before & that I’ll see them in a few months at the Pitchfork festival). And I missed the bright and shining dance-pop of Passion Pit entirely (which my friend Brian said was his highlight of the weekend) as well as both Grizzly Bear and Echo & The Bunnymen, casualties of scheduling. But that’s what you get with Coachella: you see all the great bands on the line-up, knowing that a few of the ones you want will be playing opposite each other, and you deal with the set-times conflicts.
And so it was for Saturday as well. Traffic forced me to miss John Waters and Porcupine Tree (two separate acts, although it would make for an interesting mixture) and the Iceland volcanic ash caused the cancellation of Bad Lieutenant and Frightened Rabbit. But I still managed to hit some full sets (Gossip, Dirty Projectors, Faith No More, Muse, Die Antwoord) and some partial sets (The Temper Trap, Girls, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus, Devo, 2ManyDJ’s), which made for a fun day. What were the scheduling conflicts? Well, I couldn’t see The Raveonettes, The xx, Z-Trip, or MGMT due to other demands, but again, that’s the nature of the beast: You could send five different people to Coachella and get five different experiences, each rich in his/her own way. But this person was delighted to finally see Mike Patton and FNM in person (singing ‘70s FM soul hits “Reunited” and “Ben” as well as gems from the FNM catalog) and the propulsive and compelling set from Devo. And the infectious energy of Beth Ditto live and unfiltered would make anyone a fan of the Gossip after just one song, especially when they threw in a cover of “Pull Up To The Bumper” from Grace Jones as the closer.
Sunday was a weird scheduling day, with plenty to do in the afternoon and just a few offerings in the evening. There was the ash-related cancellation of Delphic, Gary Numan, and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble with which to contend, which left me bummed on all counts. But it’s hard to complain when your day is filled with full sets (Mayer Hawthorne and the County, Florence and The Machine, Phoenix, Owen Pallet, Little Boots, The Big Pink) and partial sets (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Spoon, Gorillaz, Thom Yorke) of high quality. Thankfully, every full set was a favorite: Hawthorne covering ELO and NERD, Phoenix taking a hit-laden victory lap, Pallet’s gorgeously intricate sonic constructions, and The Big Pink letting their anthem “Dominos” hit like an atom bomb of awesome. Again, the hard choices meant missing some potentially cool acts (Sly Stone, Pavement, Jonsi, Deerhunter, De La Soul, Miike Snow), but as my friend Brian and I walked to our car for the easiest departure of the whole weekend, we were happy and spent and tired and already speculating about Coachella 2011. My vote is for Blur, David Bowie, and Metallica as headliners, but I’m sure I’ll take whatever the Coachella brain trust has to offer. They haven’t let me down yet.
BTW, don't just take my word for it. Here's what Spin has to say about Coachella. And here's the Pitchfork version.
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