As Coachella on Sunday reverted to its familiar (and reliably ticket-selling) fallback position – best-of-the-1980s headliner – it was left to the kids to cut some edges. And in the 100-plus-degree heat of the Mojave Tent, that’s what” Vivian Girls, No Age and F’ked Up set out to do. The verdict? The kids are all […]
When she supported Beck in opening Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles in December, Jenny Lewis seemed not-quite-ready to fill a stage of that size. Sure, the Los Angeles’ songstress’ vocals were crystalline and sweet, and she was amiable and charismatic as ever, but she never commanded the place. At least, not like she commanded […]
[Contributor Ali MacLean was not missing in action during this set:] A month and a half after giving birth, and two months after pogoing on the Grammys stage practically in labor, M.I.A. was back to delight the Coachella crowds. Though she has a strong message for her disciples: “Just because I’ve been to the Grammys […]
[Contributor Monica Alvarez reports from the main stage:] As the sun vanished Day 2 of Coachella, the masses shifted west and settled down for a type of spiritual meditation that only a band like Thievery Corporation could lead. At first, it felt as if the ninjas on the giant video screens busted a little sneak […]
[Contributor Ali MacLean stations herself at the main stage:] On Saturday, the main stage at Coachella resembled the KCRW World Music extravaganza, Paolo Nutini, Michael Franti, M.I.A., and, ahem, representing the exotic Las Vegas Mormon contingency, the Killers. But no group was more of the world than TV On The Radio. Touring on their new […]
I remember Amanda Palmer telling me in the early days of the Dresden Dolls that she had a music teacher who didn’t think she was very good. Wonder what that mentor would have thought of her set Saturday in the Gobi Tent at Coachella. The painted songstress/performance artist turned in one of the most memorable […]
Saturday afternoon bloomed hotter than Friday at Coachella (and today temperatures promise to reach triple-digits), but the heat hardly discouraged early arrivers to the tents, where Ida Maria, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and the Bob Mould Band had the most promising early sets. Stickers touting Ida Maria’s chorus “I Like You Better When You’re Naked” […]
[Temps are expected to reach triple-digits today – can we just move this festival up a week? … Oh.] 1. Three years out of the past four, including Saturday’s headlining mega-party: M.I.A. simply ought to have her own stage at Coachella. 2. Thirty minutes in the Do Lab will make you believe anybody can be […]
[Contributor Ali MacLean checks in from the Friday main stage:] What can one say about Morrissey that hasn’t already been said? In Los Angeles, the man is a transplanted deity where one can find him belly up at the Cat & Fiddle Pub or overachieving with a string of 12 dates in a row. He […]
It’s Saturday morning, the coffee hasn’t yet rid me of the Coachella Day 1 hangover, and I’m still in something of a trance-like state after Paul McCartney’s nearly-three-hour headlining set Friday night on the main stage. I’m very fortunate to be a child of the ’60s and ’70s, when the artistic progression of pop music […]
