Coachella Music Festival, Indio, CA - 4/16-18/2010

Day 1 - 4/16/10

We flew out from Columbus and without any major hitches arrived in Palm Springs, CA, which boasts an amazing, open air airport. It was really cool. We rented a car, stopped by In N' Out Burger (which was crazy busy with a ton of Coachella folks getting their fix), and then drove over to check in to our room at the Hyatt Grand Champions (part of a travel package). Daaaaaaamn ... nice digs. We were pretty pumped.

We shuttled over to the festival around 3:30 or 4:00 and already had our wristbands, which was key, as the line to get a wristband (as in ticket holders just showing up) was insane. (Same thing happened last time I was here, too.)  We breezed past and walked in, the weather a dry high 80's.  We were feeling good.  The biggest issue was going to be how to choose between different acts.  It's always a conundrum at these things, though.

We paid $7 a piece for a Heineken (ugh) and caught a little of Street Sweeper Social Club, Tom Morello's (Rage Against the Machine) side project, playing on the main stage.  Nothing great, but they did a pretty cool, heavy cover of MIA's ubiquitous "Paper Planes."  Also, he is a sick, sick guitar player, which I enjoyed.

We then made it over to the other big stage to see the full set from She & Him.  They were fun, Zoe was cute, it was a good time if a little wispy to make it out over that big field with competition from lots of bass and low end all over the rest of the park.  But they were good, and hearing M. Ward sing "Roll Over Beethoven" was pretty crucial.

We stuck around that stage for about 3 songs from Passion Pit ... I just don't get it. Not my thing.

We headed to our first tent show next and caught the last 4 songs or so from Lucero. Man, this was loud. Good ol' Southern rock, though, and something like the Drive By Truckers and Bruce Springsteen having a lovechild. It was also not too crowded, so we were feeling good about our spot for Grizzly Bear.

Boy, were we wrong. It got very, intensely, uncomfortably crowded quickly. They were a bit rusty, opening with "Southern Point" and playing (while we stuck around) "Cheerleader" and the beginning of "Knife" (plus a couple others) before we had to bolt. It was difficult to even get out of the tent, and being able to breathe again was pretty great.

We made it over to the second stage to catch the full set from Echo & the Bunnymen, a big draw for me and one of my favorite 80's bands. They were great, and his voice sounds exactly the same as 30 years ago, which is amazing. Ian, the singer, just stood there smoking with a black trenchcoat and sunglasses on. It was kind of perfect. Setlist included "Lips Like Sugar," "Bring on the Dancing Horses," "The Killing Moon" (which he introduced as "the greatest song ever written") and a closing "The Cutter" (which he introduced as "the second greatest song ever written"). Strong stuff.

We then kind of ambled over for a far off gaze at the main stage to see LCD Soundsystem, another big draw for me and one of my favorites of the last 5 years. We saw them rip through "Losing My Edge," "All My Friends," some new songs, "Yeah," and a closing "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down." Not the same epic level shows from 2007, but pretty great nonetheless.

We were even farther off the second stage for Vampire Weekend, who sounded great (and very tight). They've grown a lot since I saw them touring the first record, and they were good at what they do. We were fading, though, and decided to skip Jay Z (controversial decision though that was) and get back to the resort for some Z's (pun semi-intended).

Day 2 - 4/17/10

Amazingly, we started Day 2 with a 10-mile run through Palm Springs. It was kind of grueling, I'll be honest. We survived, though ...

We got into the festival around 4:30 and started out with Beach House, who were one of my favorite sets of the festival. They kind of rocked (in a dreamy, Beach House way), and some of the Teen Dream material sounded quite epic. Mid-set, they busted out "Zebra," and it was thrilling. Spine-tinglingly good.

We grabbed a beer and a margarita and kind of watched Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, though this didn't do much for either of us (well, not for me), though I hear great things. We ambled back to the tents for Dirty Projectors, where there was shockingly not a big crowd. They sounded fine, though again seemed a little off (similar to Grizzly Bear the night before). Ezra from Vampire Weekend was standing about 15 feet from us for a good bit of this.

We left that set early and made it over to the second stage for the whole set from Hot Chip. I had last seen them in 2007, and they killed back then. This was a much bigger production and felt a lot less organic than 2007 did (in stark contrast to LCD Soundsystem, who are still keeping it pretty real, as the kids say). They did play "Over and Over," but they pretty much avoided The Warning otherwise, much to my chagrin. I'm not big on their output since then, either.

MGMT were a far off ball of noise for us, and this is another band that I just don't completely get. Again, not my thing. (Yes, LCD and Hot Chip and a lot of electronica is right up my alley while some of it just isn't ...)

Finally, we stuck around for about 6 songs from Muse. They are a true stadium rock band and sounded friggin' huge. The guitarist/singer/main dude is an Eddie Van Halen level shredder and was a great entertainer. The music was very, very one note, though, and something I knew I didn't love but just wanted to see for the sheer spectacle (of which there was plenty).

It was off to bed then ... the 10-miler was catching up with us ...

Day 3 - 4/18/10 (my birthday)

So this was the day - most of the bands I'd come to see were on this day, including Pavement, one of my top 5 all time favorites. This would be my 10th time seeing them and first time since 1999. It was a dream come true to finally see them again.

We started the day with poolside drinks (Bloody Marys and margaritas), and it was hard to get moving thereafter. But we did and made it in for the start of Local Natives. They sounded pretty good and played all the hits (including their cover of "Warning Sign"). The kids were digging it, and so were we.

We next caught most of Deerhunter, which was reliably good, including "Nothing Ever Happened," which always slays. This was followed by beer and then about 3 songs from Sunny Day Real Estate. These opening songs included "Seven," a big hit for me in high school, which was very cool to see. They seemed to be having a ball, too, which is nice to see.

We then made it to the main stage for the trifecta ... Yo La Tengo, Spoon and Pavement, all in a row. Yo La Tengo were their typical, underwhelming selves. For a band that was once so great, they just seem to have kind of lost it. I wanted to be digging it more, but it wasn't happening.

Big Day Coming
???
Stockholm Syndrome
Mr. Tough
You Can Have It All (w/ dance routine)
Sugarcube
Autumn Sweater
???
Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind

Spoon came out next, and as usual, they absolutely slayed. They are so tight and have such an incredible catalog. They also seemed to be having fun and mentioned that this was the end of their current tour.

Is Love Forever
Don't You Evah
The Way We Get By
Got Nuffin
I Turn My Camera On
Don't Make Me a Target
Who Makes Your Money (w/ Bradford Cox)
Written in Reverse
Small Stakes (!!!)
Rhythm n Soul (w horns)
Stay Don't Go (w horns)
The Underdog (w horns)
Black Like Me

And finally, after 11 years and countless dashed hopes, I finally saw one of my rock and roll heroes (or 5 of them, I guess), Pavement.  They sounded great, probably better than most any time I saw them back in the day, though they routinely transcended their own limitations back then and somehow elevated things to otherworldly places.  Malkmus played almost exclusively without a guitar pick, which was weird, and Bob Nastanovich was unchanged completely.  They didn't even look all that much older.  Some rarities came out, too.  Interestingly, the crowd was kind of thin.  (Phoenix was playing opposite, and that probably helped.  We could hear a little of them, and they sounded great as always.)

Silence Kit
In the Mouth a Desert
Stereo
Frontwards (!)
Father to a Sister of a Thought
Two States
Shady Lane
Gold Soundz
Grounded
Perfume V
Date w Ikea
Fight This Generation (!!)
Range Life
Trigger Cut
Starlings of the Slipstream (!!!)
Summer Babe
Unfair
Cut Yr Hair

We were both pretty spent at this point, and though we tried to muster the energy for Gorillaz (which I'm sure was awesome), we had to head in.

Day 4 - 4/19/10

This is worth mentioning due to more pool time (nice), a second trip to In N' Out (animal style, always), and some more QT at the Palm Springs Airport.  I mean, this was the view from Gate 5 as we waited on our flight:

I don't know if I'll make it back to Coachella (probably not without a VIP pass and some extra time off afterwards for recovery), but this was a good 'un ...