| May. 5th, 2004 03:17 am Coachella: The War and Peace version First off, pics are at: http://buster.arpa.org/2004-0501-0502_coachella/
So, a synopsis of the Coachella experience this weekend…
So I took Jason S for Sober with me because he is as broke as I am and he is much more into music than any of my other friends down here, and of course I couldn’t deprive him of the fucking Pixies. Well, we drove down there later than we wanted. We didn't get into the show on Saturday until around 5 or something. We were starving so we grabbed some nachos and watched International Noise Conspiracy from afar. It was hot as all hell and we were adjusting. Water was only $2. Which, compared to other shows, was pretty nice. There were a fuckton more people at this Coachella than the other 3 I had gone to. It was insanely crowded and the people seemed more like bugs in my way than fellow concertgoers. Aaaak...am I just becoming a cranky cynic? Anyway, the guy from INC was talking politics...which always gets me excited. Their show was ok, but we were too far away to be good judges. We then caught a little bit of Death Cab for Cutie, which was pretty good.
We wandered about the grounds and people-watched for a bit. The first night we pretty much just stayed at the main stage, occasionally leaving to find a cell-signal to try to track down our friends. At first I thought that I just didn't get signal there, but I eventually realized that with that many people in one place, the network was simply overloaded. We saw some of Sparta's show, which was ok. We were preoccupied with finding our friends so we could see the Pixies together. We ran into some friends we weren't expecting to see and hung out with them for pretty much the rest of the weekend.
So let me tell you, the Pixies were fucking awesome. They played all of their hits and classics. "Where is My Mind" about blew me away when the whole crowd was singing Kim Deal's part. Wow, what can I say about it? They were so on it and seemed so glad to be playing. It was so awesome to see such an important band to music as well as one of my own favorites. Kim seemed a bit older and a bit heavier...but good for pushing 40 or something. Frank seemed to be having a great time at the show, a bit older himself and about the same shape. The bottom line in regards to the Pixies, Jason and I about shit our pants.
After the Pixies, we left to go check out Stereolab...but they were nowhere to be found. We waited a bit, but the schedule must have changed or they didn't show up. We were a bit disappointed. So we fought our way back to the main stage and still ended up ridiculously far away for Radiohead. But it didn't matter. The sound was good and they kicked ass. They played a lot of their new stuff, which I’m as familiar with, but it was still great. They played a bunch off of “OK Computer,” but not much off “The Bends” or “Pablo Honey.” In a tribute to the Pixies, they played "Creep," which apparently is something they rarely play live. The lights during the show were incredible. Thom Yorke reminded me of Joy Division's Ian Curtis as he flung himself around the stage throughout the show. Good times.
After Radiohead, the festival was clearing out but we wanted to check out Kraftwerk. I only kind of wanted to see them because of their importance to electronic music. Let me just tell you, their live show kicked my ass. They were using the same sounds they used back in the day, but they still sound modern. They had an excellent light show and some cool sight gags. At one point, they replaced themselves onstage with robots. Dude, robots. It just doesn't get any better than that.
After their show, the festival was done. We had to figure out what we were going to do for sleep that night. Our friends had a campground that we decided we'd try to crash. After walking forever through the chaos that was the parking lot, we got to the campground. It was conveniently located next to the main lot. The whole area was fenced in with only an opening at (of course) the far end of the lot. After hiking there, we found that they were searching everyone and their stuff as they went in. This was particularly retarded because the fences were all only 6 feet tall and were not watched anywhere but the entrance...and this place was huge. So we ended up paying $25 to sleep there. Luckily we had brought a tent just in case.
We found a spot that would do but we needed to get to the car to get all of our camping stuff and provisions. We said fuck the entrance and security and this fucking fence. We cut the zip ties holding one of the fences together and made it out to the car. We moved the car near the exit so we could get out quicker the next night. We made it back to our hole in the fence and snuck our way back in. Security? Hah! It is so funny that we invest so much in this idea of security. But it is merely the idea. No real security existed here. People were tossing alcohol over, under, and through the fence the whole time. Meanwhile, security was calmly searching all the “good and honest” people at the far to reach entrance. Dumbasses. I slept like a log that night.
I woke up pretty early to the searing heat in the tent. We found sanctuary in the shady spot our tent made on the side. Let me tell you, I will always do camping at Coachella if I go again. It was so convenient to not deal with the parking lot or checking out or any of the hotel bullshit. The no shower thing sucked, but I guess I could have waited 2 hours in line to take one. No thanks. They had vendors in the campground, which was convenient, but just as expensive as inside the venue. After my hobo bath and hydration, we packed up the tent and made our way back to the cars and eventually back to the venue.
We met up with Ryan whom we couldn’t get ahold of for all of Saturday. We caught up on our Pixies’ stories and previous day adventures while looking at all the water bottles filled with urine on the way to the front gates. Security was another joke as we were asked to empty our pockets and were then trusted that we completely did so. As we were walking in, some guy came flying out of the bushes that ran along the wall of the venue but opened up inside the entrance. I went up to that guy, pulled a branch out of his hair, and told him he was punk rock. Most of the time, security as a concept seems so retarded. I guess they just want to make people have to work to commit so-called “evil” acts.
Earlier, I had called a few people try to meet at the beer garden. I only got voice mail, but I had hoped they would have got the messages and been able to make it. We got into the festival on Sunday at around 12:20, which gave me an extra 10 minutes before the meeting time I told peeps. Unfortunately, no one was there. I talked to some of them later and it was just too early for them.
Jason wanted to check out Pretty Girls Make Graves. I had never heard of them, but they were not bad. Good energy in their show. They were just happy so many people got up early enough to be able to see them. The guy from American Pie that screwed Stifler’s mom was standing in front of us for the whole set. I had to sneak a picture. I don’t like bothering celebrities, but I have no qualms with being the stalker picture-taker. Okay, I took three pictures.
After PGMG was !!!, pronounced “chik chik chik” or “ungh ungh ungh” or “pow pow pow.” I figured they had to be good with a name like that. It was this kind of glam New York dance rock psychedelic hippy style fusion. The band was awesome, but the singer was absolute crap. He was entertaining, but he served no real purpose in the band. He was just so easily replaceable and he seemed to know it. He kept trying to find things to do when he wasn’t screaming unintelligible things into the microphone. He was more of a cheerleader than anything. And he’s from Rancho Cordova, and claimed it. Something has got to be wrong there. Although, I was caught up in the excitement and screamed back “Rancho!” There goes any street cred I might have had. Everyone around me seemed to think the exact opposite about the singer though. Hmmm…
I had to get out of the 107-degree weather, so we got some food and hung in the shade for a while. Jason ran into a few of his dodge-ball buddies and we chatted for a bit. Meanwhile we watched Broken Social Scene from afar. Those guys really surprised me. Of all the bands at the show that I’d never heard of before, they had to be my favorite. They had very good arrangements and songwriting skills. At one point they had a gal singing with them whose voice I can only describe as giving me a semi.
We headed over to the main stage and caught a few songs by the band Muse. I knew a couple of their songs from the little radio exposure that I have and actually had a good time watching them. They had a great energy and the crowd was into it. Everybody seemed to know their songs. I thought they sounded like Stabbing Westward meets Radiohead. It is a strange combo, but it was pretty damned good.
None of us cared to see Thursday so we walked around the booths for a bit before settling down in our favorite shady bench spot near the second stage. It was such a great spot for watching a show. We saw Cursive, whom I had high expectations for. Boy, I was so disappointed. That was one of the worst live performances I have seen in a long time. Sorry, they were just that bad. People all around our table kept asking who they were because they sucked. I felt sorry for them, but damn…you just can’t suck that bad and play in public. Maybe I’ll give their CD a chance. Some bands just don’t translate well to the live experience. But we just had to leave.
This was a stark contrast to Belle & Sebastian. I was astounded by how good their sound was. They had tons of people playing in the band. At one point, they grabbed people from the audience and had them play simple percussion instruments. It was like this tongue-in-cheek folk party. Their arrangements floored me. I have a couple of their records, but their live show knocked me on my ass. I was actually sad when they said it was their last song. So many of these bands are going to get ticket sales money from me in the future.
Next came Air. I have never been a huge fan of Air. I’m a big electronic music fan, but they just have never impressed me. Their live show did just about the same. They sometimes use repetitive and irritating sounds that go on for their entire song. I almost had to punch someone. They did some cool things with their instruments though that almost made up for it. Still, I had to leave early…and part with Jason for the rest of the show…to go see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Let me just tell you, Interpol and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were the highlights of my year as far as records went last year. I wanted to see the Pixies, Radiohead, and the Cure the most during this show…but I secretly had the most passionate desire to see BRMC. And let me tell you, sometimes I just hate sound people. They completely fucked up that show. They didn’t have the singers’ microphones on for almost the whole first song. 2 bass guitars died. The mics kept getting turned down. The band desperately tried to pull the show off by doing acoustic songs, but it just wasn’t the same. I think only one song worked without incident and of course it fucking rocked. Then the problems kept happening. The band was getting visibly irritated and eventually seemed to just give up. I have never been so saddened at a show in my life. What should have been a mind-blowing show became an absolute clusterfuck. At least no one died, I think. Perhaps someone should have…I just hope someone became unemployed for that, or at least learned a big fucking lesson.
So a bunch of bands were playing after this and it was a big blur. I ran around trying to find some quick food. There was nothing that wasn’t $46,549,862,764.00 that I wanted and no one seemed to have water. I heard the familiar sounds of Crystal Method and checked them out for a couple of songs. It was the exact same boring repetitive show I’ve seen them play at least 4 times before. I knew Mogwai was going to be playing in the next tent, so I hopped over there. Oh my dear god they were awesome. Such a fluid, intricate, beautiful sound flowed from their many guitars. The crowd was mesmerized and so was I. I feel dirty even trying to describe it. You must see Mogwai. They were definitely one of the highlights of the entire weekend. Unfortunately, I only was able to stick around for about 3 songs. I owe these guys attendance at another show of theirs or ten. I was so dehydrated that I could barely stand. I wandered out and finally found some water at one of the vendors. I saw a crazy light show and wandered over to see Bassment Jaxx blowing the roof off this mutha. I have never been a big fan of theirs, but their live show rocked. Full band onstage with all the fixins. And their singers could have made Satan a Baptist.
Damned festival shows. They always seem to schedule all the good bands against each other. I had to leave that crowd of crazy dancing hooligans to make my way to see the night’s headliner, The Cure. I’ve seen the Cure about 3 or 4 times before…but it’s The Cure. They are good every time I’ve seen them; except the first half of this show. Robert Smith seemed to only be going through the motions. He just wasn’t into it. Their setlist was also a bit unbalanced. They played a bunch of their more moody stuff all at once and seemed to lose the crowd pretty quickly. But all of a sudden, the mood seemed to change. Robert Smith seemed to want to put on a good show. And boy did they. They played a lot more of their poppy, upbeat, and popular stuff as well. And they wanted it to be good. They even played “The Love Cats” which I’ve never seen them play live before. They turned themselves from being the old rocker guys with nothing to prove to the fucking maniacal rock stars that have everything to prove. On one track, he went to town on that guitar. He molested that thing and it did his bidding. The crowd was singing along with the songs and was finally dancing. My fatigue from walking and standing in 107-degree heat all day instantly vanished in my mental return to 17. They did around a 7-song encore and played until around 12:30 a.m. And it was good.
After the Cure, I went to meet Jason at the head of this giant spider statue (how appropriate.) We followed the sea of people toward the parking lot. The whole thing was done really stupidly. They were trying to get a hundred thousand people or so to leave through a single 20-foot-wide opening. I was a bit concerned it would turn into a soccer riot. Every time at Coachella when we’re leaving in this manner, I start to sing “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie and the crowd always joins in. I chickened out this time, but Jason started to sing it just loud enough for the people immediately around us to hear. Some chick next to us joined in. At that point I belted out “oooh baby yoouuuuuuuuuuuu…got what I neeeeeeeeeeeeeed!!!” and sure enough the crowd around us joined in. Soon we could start to hear the echo from people pretty far away singing along. Aaaaaah, good times. Thanks Jason, the tradition has been saved.
The parking lot was a huge dustbowl and chaos ensued. We parked next to the exit, so it only took us an HOUR to get out. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all. Overall, this Coachella was super hot, there were way too many people, I got to see the fucking Pixies, I spent a ton of money, and I didn’t poop all weekend. Oh yeah, and I saw a lot of great artists, some of which I knew from before and many that I’m sure I’ll be much more familiar with in the near future. And yes, I did have a great time…Now I’m just afraid of Vegas. Current Mood:  tired
Current Music: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
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