Who: Thom Yorke ????/Atoms For Peace at the Outdoor Theatre In 3 Or Fewer Words: Band shackles Yorke. I’ll Remember This Until Radiohead Surfaces Again Because: The enormous Outdoor Theatre crowd for Thom Yorke and his question mark-monikered backing band stretched well into Spoon’s main stage terriitory and reached as far back as the Gobi […]
Who: Pavement at the main stage In 3 or Fewer Words: “Gold Soundz.” I’ll Remember This Forever Because: Well, I could make a shot for extreme eloquence here, buttressed with adjective-riddled hyperbole. Instead: I’ll remember this forever because, man, this was f*cking Pavement. Playing their songs to a criminally small audience (thanks, Phoenix) with an […]
Who: The Big Pink at the Mojave Tent In 3 or Fewer Words: Falling like dominos. I’ll Forget All But One Song By the Time I Walk Back to the Main Stage Because: The Big Pink, one of the U.K. bands that did not fall victim to volcanic ash-related travel problems (they’re on a seven-week […]
Who: Charlotte Gainsbourg at the Gobi Tent. In 3 or Fewer Words: Beck didn’t show. I’ll Remember This Until I Leave the Tent Because: Given the sheer multitudes of options available each hour at Coachella, artists playing the fest have to make sure to capitalize on their buzz and live up to their promise, lest […]
Who: Yo La Tengo on the main stage. In 3 or Fewer Words: Afternoon undercard underwhelms. I’ll Remember This Forever Because: Ira Kaplan and James McNew performed choreographed dance, allegedly at Sly Stone’s request. Five years ago, the Sunday main stage bill would have been, well, the main attraction. But in 2010 “indie rock” is […]
Who: The Soft Pack at the Mojave Tent In 3 or Fewer Words: Rock ’n jangle. I’ll Remember This Until the Next Time I’m Tempted to Sleep In Because: Nervy, catchy post-punk pitched somewhere between a yelp and a roar – either way, the Soft Pack’s set early Sunday afternoon was solid, hyper-hummable stuff. Perhaps […]
Who: Sunny Day Real Estate at the Outdoor Theatre In 3 or Fewer Words: Symphonies of dissonance. I’ll Remember This Every Time I Hear a Current-Day Emo Band Because: Sunny Day Real Estate should be getting royalties from every one of ’em. In all the banter about Coachella reunions this year, SDRE’s seemed to come […]
Who: Owen Pallett at the Outdoor Theatre. In 3 Or Fewer Words: Bowed And bold. I’ll Remember This Forever Because: On a day that was arguably the most difficult of Coachella’s three to schedule, at least for indie kids, Owen Pallett earned a penned-in spot on my calendar. The violin-centric multi-instrumentalist, formerly known as Final […]
Who: Local Natives at the Gobi Tent. In 3 or Fewer Words: Joie de pop. I’ll Remember This a Very Long Time Because: Even as an early admirer of the Silver Lake quintet, I wondered whether their harmony-laden, beat-happy pop would translate to a bigger stage. Their set before an overflow crowd at the Gobi […]
Who: Devo in the Mojave Tent In 3 or Fewer Words: Discordant desert devolution. I’ll Remember This Forever Because: More bands at Coachella owe their existence to Devo than not and, impressively, festival goers seemed to know this. The Mojave Tent couldn’t contain Devo’s midnight madness, a memorable set that itself devolved, beginning with Devo’s […]
