Kevin Bronson on April 20th, 2009

0

I have a T-shirt my kid sister gave me as a joke gift for a recent (ahem) “milestone” birthday that says “Middle Age Is All the Rage.” I thought about it and chuckled on Saturday when 48-year-old Bob Mould was tearing up the Gobi Tent, and it came to mind again Saturday at the Outdoor Theatre, where Paul Weller, 50, turned in a vigorous 50 minutes of soul-tinged rock ‘n’ roll in front of a modest-at-best crowd.

Fronting a tight quintet, Waller sampled from his vast catalog, from “The Eton Rifles” – a song that is just shy of 30 years old – to “22 Dreams,” the title track off his 2008 album that reached No. 1 in the U.K. The former Jam/Style Council principal seemed a bit miffed when he was told he had only 15 minutes left in his set. “Not long enough in the desert,” he huffed, and it was hard to argue – the Outdoor stage was scheduled to be vacant for the duration of My Bloody Valentine’s main stage set.

But after a smoke, a stroll around the stage and another song, he whistled, summoning former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to stand in on “A Town Called Malice.” A great surprise, but that’s Coachella for you: Sometimes the most memorable moments happen in the least populated corners.

Photo by Todd Nakamine