05.22.07
Coachella (finally)
A few weeks late, but below are some of my Coachella pics. It was a much different festival this year, no doubt because of the Rage reunion. Turning it into a 3 day festival seemed to turn off a lot of people, too, especially since it was hard to get single day passes. I actually enjoyed getting 3 full days of desert music in, though it was hard to schedule with work. The lineup was not as good as last years, yet I still managed to catch some amazing performances and overall, I truly enjoyed the event. The key to Coachella is good planning and common sense. For example, do not drink alcohol at 2 pm when it is 100 degrees and you are in unsheltered sunlight. Do drink alcohol as the sun is setting. Do not camp out at the 2 main stages all day, as you will surely die from heat exhaustion. Do check out the lesser known acts at the smaller, covered tents. I did see more victims of heat exhaustion this year than last, which I blame on the Rage Reunion Effect (RRE).
LA’s own DO Lab designed a beautiful city in the center of the Empire Polo Field that evoked an elfin village, perhaps an Ewok city, of shade tents that looked like leaves. This organically-inspired city had a stage in the center, raised up on wood - it was like a treehouse party with psy-trance DJs spinning through most of the event.
There were amazing art installations all throughout the fairgrounds, including this massive, spider-looking thing. There was also a set of tesla coils that turned on occasionally at night.
This guy is charging his cell phone by peddling on a bike. Seems like more than a few people forgot their chargers and figured they had to peddle to chat. Pretty impressive considering the temperatures.
As for the music, Rodrigo y Gabriela rocked the Gobi tent with their metal/classical guitar music. The duo used two acoustic guitars to create fervent, classic guitar music. Gabriela played percussion on the barrel of her guitar to great effect. Their cover of a Pink Floyd song rocked.
I actually had no interest in seeing The Decemberists, but I had nothing better to see. Their show was in the late afternoon at an outdoor stage without sun shield, so I broke my own rules to see them. The sunny, outdoor stage would not seem to suit the melodramatic, intellectual band from Portland, but they rocked the crowd. Their tight and witty songs projected out well to the huge audience, and the playfulness of Colin Meloy kept everyone into the folktale style of songwriting. One of their new songs described a deep sea adventure in which the hero is swallowed by a whale, and the live performance included a band member in a ridiculous whale costume swallowing up other band members. For their last song, Colin organized 3 dance offs in the crowd, as sun starched festival goers battled each other on the dance floor.
Conversely, Jose Gonzalez was disappointing at the Gobi tent. He seemed to plod through his songs with useless guest musicians (one, i believe, hit a flute note every now and then.) Perhaps Jose was the one not suited for an outdoor festival.
Amy Winehouse put on an amazing show at the Gobi tent. Her live R&B band and backup dancers, combined with her skimpy outfit and amazing voice, combined for one of the better Coachella performances.
While everyone else was watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers, we snuck off to see The Teddybears at the Gobi tent. The band came out with bear heads and projected classic movies with bear heads superimposed (think about the scene from Scarface at the end, but with a bear shooting everyone up at the mansion.) The guest vocalist rotations made the show quite interesting and the band blended through different styles, including vocoder electro and rasta-rap songs. They even covered an Iggy Pop song.
How could a Coachella 07 review be complete without mention of Rage Against the Machine? There was definitely a tension in the air on Sunday as everyone waited to see Rage. Obviously, a huge segment of the crowd was there to see Rage, and it just looked like an endless sea of people near the main stage. Rage finally took to the stage, looking the same as they always did, and prepared to . . . fizzle. The sound engineers dropped the ball - it sounded like Rage was being pumped out of a boombox. I could actually hear people talk next to me as they crunched through the first 3 songs. After the levels were finally changed, the real show began and Rage brought it back old school. There was no rioting, and corporate america still pulsed on, but for a minute, it felt like we were part of something big and volatile … and then the show ended and we were slowly herded out to the very crowded parking lot.