Who: Die Antwoord at the Sahara Tent In 3 or Fewer Words: A phenomenon already. I’ll Remember This at Least Until They Can Play More than 20 Minutes Because: It’s still amazing that a band can go from zero to Coachella phenomenon in the time it takes one video to spread around the Internet. Which […]
Who: Band of Skulls at the Gobi Tent. In 3 or Fewer Words: Meat and potatoes. I’ll Forget This By Morning Because: (And only because) their sets last year in smaller L.A. venues were so memorable. Not that the U.K. trio’s meaty blues-rock had any trouble carrying the packed tent, but some of Russell Marsden’s […]
Who: MGMT at the Outdoor Theatre. In 3 or Fewer Words: Zzzz”¦ Zzzz”¦. Zzzzz”¦ I’ll Forget This Set by Morning Because: In fact, it was one of the least memorable Coachella sets that this writer has ever seen. Despite having one of the largest crowds of the day (second only to headliners Muse), and certainly […]
Who: Faith No More at the main stage. In 3 or Fewer Words: Midlife crisis averted. I’ll Remember This Forever Because: Faith No More was the first band I’ve ever seen reunite and proceed to cover “Reunited.” Forty-two-year-old vocalist Mike Patton – in many ways the prototype for many of today’s hard-rock frontmen – clearly […]
Who: Dirty Projectors at the Mojave Tent In 3 or Fewer Words: BYO dance moves. I’ll Remember This For a Few Months Because: I never realized people could sing along to Dirty Projectors. Yes, there was that in the comfortable but crowded Mojave Tent, and there was also a lot of really gnarly body-shaking, because, […]
Who: Coheed and Cambria on the Main Stage. In 3 or Fewer Words: Space metal sunset I’ll Remember This Until the Next Halftime Show I See Because: Coheed and Cambria was right for the Saturday “sunset slot” on the main stage? Their conceptual prog space opera appeals almost exclusively to devoted fans (You see, the […]
Who: The xx at the Outdoor Theatre. In 3 or Fewer Words: Minimalism stretched thin. I’ll Forget This Pretty Quickly Because: The sonic appeal of The xx, a sleek, sexy minimalist rock duo, comes largely from their intimate headphones vibe. Subtlety’s rarely a strong suit at Coachella, and the blog darlings failed to turn their […]
Who: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros at the Outdoor Theatre In 3 or Fewer Words: Festival-sized folk. I’ll Remember This Forever Because: Alex Ebert has suddenly become a Devendra-like figure. From the moment Ebert took the stage (and knocked a mic stand into the pit, bloodying a photographer’s head), he owned the overflow crowd […]
Who: Girls at the Gobi Tent In 3 or Fewer Words: Hipster hype justified. I’ll Remember This Set At Least Until Pitchfork Selects Another Lo-fi Band for Me To Insecurely Adulate Because: At first, it didn’t quite feel like San Francisco’s Girls were going to live up to the sea of blog hype generated by […]
Who: Portugal. The Man at the Gobi Tent. In 3 or Fewer Words: Four letter word. I’ll Remember This at Least Until I Dig Their Latest Album Out of My Discard Stack Because: It’s prog. And it wasn’t stultifying. The quintet, now based in Portland but hailing (rather famously) from Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, […]
