Kevin Bronson on April 15th, 2013

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Who: Phoenix on the main stage.
In 3 or Fewer Words: R you kidding?
Memorable Because: Hang on to your robot helmets, kids, you’ll get Daft Punk in 2014. (Odds are.) The rumored cameo by the transformer men didn’t happen Saturday night; instead, R. Kelly provided the evening’s jaw-drop when he waltzed onstage, grabbed a sparkly microphone and commingled his song “Ignition” with the French headliners’ “1901.” As surprises go, it felt obligatory: You know, it’s a Coachella headlining set, and there has to be a talking point, a hologram or something that fits in 140 characters, right? Not that it was bad – in fact, nothing about Phoenix headlining set was any less than great. Their grandiose pop-rock did everything but move mountains for over an hour, and the Frenchmen were downright friendly and gracious to boot. No disappointment here; my only drawback was having to make my way from the photo pit through the incredibly tightly packed crowd to a reasonably comfortable vantage point. It took three-plus songs to navigate that crowd, most of whom were in throes of either dancing or various forms of amorous behavior. From Paris, with love.
What I’d Tell My Friends Who Were at Sigur Ros or New Order: On this night, you missed a true headlining set.
– K.B. (Photos by Bronson except R. Kelly by Dennis O’Regan)