I just came back from an amazing Coachella festival. This is my second festival, and this one is definitely the best of the two. The weather was completely bareable and the large crowd did not delay me too much. Granted, the main stage line-up this year wasn't as strong as last year's, in my opinion, the sheer brilliance of the performers made up for it. What follows below is a run down of each band I saw, with a rating for each band and then a rating for the entire day. The parenthetical info refers to where the band played and how long I stayed to watch.
Snow Patrol (Main Stage, 4:15 - 4:30 p.m.)
Boring. That's the best way I can sum up their main stage performance. I don't understand this band. They just don't translate that great live. I love their new album, Final Straw, but like Stars, it just doesn't work live. Also, the sound was pretty bad at this point. I don't know why, but I'm sure the sound guys were just getting used to fixing the bugs. Probably the only interesting thing Snow Patrol did was to crack a joke about how Irish men boil at this weather.
Beer Rating: 6 pack and Liquor
Razorlight (Outdoor Stage, 5:10-5:55 p.m.)
After ditching Snow Patrol, we headed over to see Razorlight. I've never seen of Razorlight, but from what I hear from their CD and from others, this is definitely a must not miss show.
Razorlight is one of those Gang of Four influenced bands. Short songs with a lot of punch. They did provide such a performance with Björn Ågnen just going all out crazy at times. In between songs, one can hear Keane play on the main stage. When Björn asked the crowd who was playing, and after they responded that it was Keane, he said, "Who cares?" He then encouraged the crowd to be more boisterous, but the semi-hot weather and the small fan base this band has really didn't help. Although the crowd did somehow cooperate at some points of their set. "Rock N Roll Lies" and "Give It Up" received the most applause while newer songs fell short.
Beer Rating: 3 Beers
Rilo Kiley (Outdoor Stage, 6:20-7 p.m.)
We stuck it out on the Outdoor Stage and secured an okay spot for Rilo Kiley. At this point of Day 1, I was really anxious on seeing a superb show and Rilo Kiley should be the one to do it. Pedro of Napoleon Dynamite introduced the band, although nobody heard anything he said. The mic was off and he did say something about voting for him. Must be repeating the lines from the movie. And he was wearing the "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt that was ever so popular at Coachella that I wanted to make a punch buggy game out of it. Oh, and Pedro looked like a thug instead of his shy looking self in the movie.
Here comes Rilo Kiley after that shitty introduction by Pedro. They came out on time and Jenny Lewis looked as cute as ever in her short dress. Her bright red hair really shone in the blistering sunlight.
They opened up with "It's a Hit" which the crowd just ate up. More people proceeded to arrive during this song as well. I love this song! It was a great start and it was a sign of things to come. More songs from More Adventurous was played, including the wonderful "I Never," which the crowd sang, in unison, Jenny's line that goes, "And I-I-I-I never..." Well, okay, some did and I was one of them. "Potions for Foxes" and "Execution of All Things" were also played.
Blake then took the mic for a song, singing "Ripchord." It was good, but I am not a big fan of Blake singing since his voice isn't all that great. My friends and I decided to leave at this point to grab dinner and secure a good spot for Weezer. They only played one more song, "Does He Love You?" which I would like to have heard, but I figure that I'll see them again in June.
At this point, I was getting pretty amped on how great the rest of Coachella is going to be.
Beer Rating: 1.5 Beers
Weezer (Main Stage, 8 - 8:50pm)
I have to admit, I never really liked Weezer that much. I bought their debut blue album back in 1994 but never really listened to it other than the obvious hits like "My Name is Jonas," "Undone (The Sweater Song," "Say It Ain't So," and "Buddy Holly." I figure that these guys should still be good live and decided to check them out.
It was a good decision to check them out. The Main Stage was packed, but we were able to secure a good spot on the very far right side of the stage. The band sans drummer were visible, but most of the time I looked at the big screen for the close up. I forgot what they opened up with, but the second song of their set was "Say It Ain't So." The crowd loved it and applauded for older material, which they did. They pretty much played all their hit singles such as the ones mentioned above and "Hash Pipe", among others.
Their new songs were pretty mellow for the most part. Their most "poppy" song of the bunch was this song called "Dddrugs..." Or something like that. It sounded like "Hashpipe" v.2 because of the topic and the silliness of the lyrics.
Overall, it was a surprisingly good show. They were much more mellow than I would have thought, especially since their songs are a bit loud at times. Also, they played S.F. the night before, so probably they were tired?
Beer Rating: 2 Beers
Bloc Party (Mojave Tent, 9:30 - 10:15pm)
After Weezer, we decided to walk really fast to Bloc Party. We know that this is going to be a crowded tent and we definitely wanted at least a semi-decent spot for this. We arrived earlier than expected because Secret Machines were still playing. They played 15 minutes over their scheduled end time, which didn't bother us too much since this gave us a time to recuperate and just relax. As you can probably see from the times, we were going back-to-back-to-back on schedule. We weren't the only ones doing some relaxing as a plethora of people were just laying around waiting for their chance to go inside the tent once the Secret Machines crowd dispersed.
We got in (finally!) and secured a spot in the far left side of the stage, about midway. We were surrounded by really tall people. I'm not that short, but these guys seemed to be at least 6'2" or taller. It was a weird crowd too. I can't explain why they were weird, but I just thought they were.
Bloc Party played pretty much all the songs off of Silent Alarm. Of course, "Banquet," the fourth song played, received the highest applause. People were dancing and hopping around, while others were bobbing their head in approval. I was so tired at this point, but I liked what I heard. Kele asked the crowd several times how we were doing. He even took an impromptu poll, based on the sound of the cheering, on who was there to see Coldplay (loud applause), Arcade Fire (even louder applause, with me screaming) and then Bon Jovi (sound of "huh?" all around).
Their sound was amazing in the tent. I saw them at Bottom of the Hill, which is a good venue with so-so sound, but seeing them at a higher stage with a more sophisticated sound system made Bloc Party a much better band to see live. Matt Tong, the band's drummer, is probably one of the most talented drummers I have ever seen. He was just so good, so in synch, so loud, and so into what he's doing that all aspiring drummers should watch this man play. Jonny Greenwood wannabe Russel Lisack was also great on guitar. His outfit, a shirt that is almost a baby tee with jeans, coupled with his hair and method of guitar playing just proves how much he wants to be Jonny Greenwood.
Beer Rating: 1.5 Beers
Coldplay (Main Stage, 11 - 12am)
After Bloc Party's amazing set, I made a pit stop and then ran to the Main Stage to catch Coldplay. At this point, everyone and their mom were either at Coldplay or at Chemical Brothers. In the Coldplay side, thousands upon thousands of people were already situated, waiting for Chris Martin and co. to come out. I was in the right side of the stage, pretty close to the soundbooth.
Coldplay was a little late coming out, but everyone didn't seem to mind. Especially since their fans, like me, are anxiously awaiting the release of their new album, X & Y.
They opened up with "Square One," the opening song to their new album. People seemed to be into it, but this only received moderate applause after all the screaming and applauding as they entered the stage. I guess because "Square One," and all the other X & Y songs they played like "Speed of Sound," among others, are a little more complex musically than other Coldplay songs.
Coldplay played their classic singles such as "In My Place," "The Scientist," "Yellow," and "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face." These received the loudest applauses since this is the setlist that the crowd was looking for. Chris was wearing an all black outfit, with a tatoo of the Make Trade Fair equal sign painted on his hand. During "Yellow," instead of saying, "And it's called yellow,"Chris sang "And it's in Coachell-oh." This caught us by surprise, while others thought it was cheezy. Chris Martin also performed part of a Nine Inch Nails song towards the end of "Politik." Also, Chris changed the lyric on one song by saying out loud that he is not leaving the band for a solo career. Which makes sense because without his band, there is no Coldplay.
My final memory of Coldplay were listening to the new songs. Chris told the audience that this song "is the best one we ever wrote" and another time hailing his lyrical genius by declaring taht this next song was sheer sexual brilliance. I agreed.
Another fantastic set from Coldplay.
Beer Rating: 1.5 Beers
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