Kevin Bronson on April 18th, 2009

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[Checking in on two other L.A. bands with big Coachella duties:]

The Coachella main stage seemed a little large for L.A.’s latest success story, the Airborne Toxic Event, or maybe it was a case of nerves. It was only a year ago this month that the post-punk quintet signed to an indie label. The ensuing months have seen their single “Sometime Around Midnight” become a hit, robust sales of their self-titled debut album and plenty of hard touring. Plenty.

Frontman Mikel Jollett’s unsteady vocals – still not 100% after winter bout with laryngitis that forced several of those tour dates to be scotched – sapped a little intensity from Airborne’s melodrama. A false start here, some nervous banter there, and TATE’s set would have been forgettable if not for the palpable joy the fivesome brought to their performance. Jollett sells every one of his lovesick songs; bassist Noah Harmon is a showman; and Anna Bulbrook, whether sawing her viola or just contributing tambourine, is a firebrand. (Having the Calder Quartet on hand to play strings helps too.) Several young girls near where I stood were inspired to play “air viola.” Two things I noticed in a nearby cluster of Airborne fans: They’re suckers for strings, and they know all the words.

Two years ago at Coachella, Silversun Pickups were the L.A. breakout band to get a main-stage assignment. SSPU returned this year at the Outdoor Theatre, inconveniently slotted opposite Morrissey on the main stage. Frontman Brian Aubert [left, posing for a photograph with a fan during an autograph session at the Zio Record Store on the Coachella grounds] gazed at an almost main-stage-sized crowd (which grew even more after Moz’s set ended) seemed genuinely surprised at all the fuss. The foursome ripped through a 45-minute set that included stuff from their sophomore album”Swoon,” and despite a sketchy sound mix, the beach ball-tossing crowd ate it up.