Kevin Bronson on April 16th, 2011

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Who: Cee-Lo Green on the main stage
In 3 or Fewer Words: Crazy.
I’ll Remember This Until: I see another male singer throw a hissy fit in front of his all-girl band. It was Cee-Lo unplugged at Coachella on Saturday. No, not that kind of unplugged, all stripped-down and acoustic. Unplugged as in having the plug pulled mid-riff, after 20 minutes on the main stage. Do the math: A scheduled 30-minute set that starts a half-hour late equals a blown opportunity of major proportions. When the roly-poly soulster with the stratospheric pipes and bent sensibility finally strolled on at 5:20, he said something about having “just landed,” which didn’t seem to impress a crowd that had been surprisingly patient, but had finally started booing about five minutes earlier. Green is the auteur of two of the most culturally pervasive songs of recent years, but even the one-two punch of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and his solo hit “F*ck You” barely turned things around.  “They’re rushin’ me. I’m f*ckin’ pissed off man,” he said, setting up the latter. Everyone else was too, making for a weirdly synchronous melding of song and situation.
What I’d Tell My Friends Who Were at Warpaint: You saw the lady killers.
– Richard Cromelin
Photos by Jim Donnelly