Kevin Bronson on April 18th, 2010

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It was as if somebody flipped a switch and turned Coachella into the kinder, gentler (but no less bustling) place of my memories. Saturday’s second day of the 2010 festival was an exuberant affair; gone were the traffic snarls – automobile and human – that sullied the first day. A thin layer of clouds kept the heat bearable. And the lineup delivered: headlining Muse seared the evening sky with its arena rock; five consecutive bands kept the grounds around the Outdoor Theatre packed from 5 p.m. on; and veterans Faith No More and Devo showed that they belonged, and then some.

The 2010 festival does have one puzzle, though – the stage assignments. As it was on Friday, when acts such as Grizzly Bear and La Roux were relegated to small tents, several bands and their venues were mismatched on Saturday. In the 5 o’clock hour, for instance, you couldn’t take one step anywhere near Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ show at the Outdoor Theatre without tripping over an aspiring hippie. Meanwhile, they could have held a Monster Truck Rally on the grassy expanse in front of the main stage, where Tokyo Police Club was slugging it out. And so it was the rest of the night at the Outdoor Theatre, for The xx, Hot Chip, MGMT and the Dead Weather.

Favorite shirt of the day (which, unfortunately, I spotted when my camera had ceased to work):

“IMA Magnetic Zero”

Favorite guy of the day, who was heading toward the dance tent: