Another year, another Coachella... Great music, managable weather and appalling organization.
Let's get the bad stuff out of the way, first the wristband fiasco: getting into the carpark was worse than previous years - our usual back route led us past our regular parking spot which seemed to be occupied by a few camper vans and tents. Once we finally parked we waited in line an hour for our three-day wristband. Waiting in a mad scrum is never fun, particular in sweltering heat - indeed a girl next to us collapsed and I'm sure this wasn't an isolated incident. I guess we were lucky to get a wristband at all as Goldenvoice (allegedly) sold 85,000 tickets, which would explain why the wristbands ran out (the capacity is 75,000). Day 2 it took us an hour to get into the carpark due to the incompetence of the fool who was directing traffic. Inside the venue there were noticeably less stewards, and trash/recycling bins, making it impossible by nightfall to walk without stepping on an empty water bottle or worse. Finally, there were the cancellations of some of the UK and European bands (Gary Numan, Bad Lieutenant etc) because of the volcano. At one point there was a rumour Ash was flying over from Iceland... (I'll get my coat...) Oh, and the main stage caught fire during Coheed & Cambria but unfortunately there were no casualties...
As far as the music goes I think this was my best year so far:
The Best:
The Specials - seeing them twice in two days (they played Club Nokia Thursday) was brilliant. Terry was at his deadpan best, with Lynval and especially Neville running around the stage with boundless energy. The music sounded amazing, much better than the sometimes dodgy production on the LP's... Quality...
Grizzly Bear - playing tracks from a complex LP like Veckatimest would be fraught with danger for most bands but Grizzly Bear were more than up to it. Brilliant vocal harmonies from all 5 members and a really dynamic set - I've only seen The Dears match their intensity when they rock out at the end of songs...
Beach House - wonderful set from Grizzly Bear cohort Victoria Legrand (composer Michel Legrand's niece) and band... 'Zebra' and '10 Mile Stereo' were the highlights of their set, the latter building in intensity towards a climactic finale...
Thom Yorke - Atoms of Piece played through the gripping Eraser before Thom came back for a solo acoustic rendition of 'Airbag' and piano version of 'Everything in its right place'.
Gorillaz - really cool set with Damon taking more of a front man role than previous Gorillaz tours, ably backed by a band featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonen. Some great guest appearances by De La Soul, Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon, Bobby Womack and Gruff Rhys; all reprising their parts on Plastic Beach.
Charlotte Gainsbourg - gained momentum as the set went on finishing with a delightful version of her father's 'Couleur Cafe'. Charlotte is the coolest woman in rock and she looks more like Jane Birkin than Serge now, which is probably a good thing...
Charlotte:
Camera Obscura - enjoyable set from the Scottish jangle popsters
Local Natives - I had an open mind about the much hyped LA band but they were really good. A more rocky Fleet Foxes, with appropriately less facial hair...
MGMT - opinions have apparently been divided on the new LP but I liked what I heard. When we saw them live before they had a whiff of Pink Floyd about them but the new stuff is more indie glam, sounding like Of Montreal and even The Auteurs in places.
Echo & the Bunnymen - I only caught the last four songs but McCulloch/Sergant were on fine form. The former was in good spirits, telling some crude Knock Knock jokes, describing 'The Killing Moon' as the best song ever written and 'The Cutter' as the second or thrid best song ever written. The Bunnymen sounded good but when I see them I only hear what's missing rather than what's there...
De La Soul - really got the crowd going at an early time slot... 'Me, Myself and I' was classic but they didn't play 'Three is a magic number' so points deducted for that...
She & Him - actually pretty good. Zooey Deschanel sounds like Nancy Sinatra, which I guess makes M.Ward the new Lee Hazlewood... Anyways, it was poppy and cute...
Pavement - sounded great but overall the crowd just didn't seem that into it. Maybe they had all had their fill at the Fox Theater in Pomona on Thursday night... Anyways, great to have Pavement back on the scene...
The Rest:
PiL - predictably there was a lot of wailing from Mr Lydon and the effected guitar was a little tiring after while. 'Poptones' was brilliant but we were well on the way back to the car when the wind carried us the epic refrain of 'Public Image'...
Hot Chip - the Londoners put on a lively set but to me it sounds like dance music for people that don't like dance music.
Vampire Weekend - it was ok, didn't despise it as much as I wanted to...
The XX - dull x2... The fact that the best thing they've ever done is a Florence & The Machine remix says it all really... Mind you, it is brilliant...
See you in 2011...
