Well, I'm back from Coachella, and had an absolute blast. The following is my full write-up on the event. It's not exactly a review of any of the artists that played (although I will have some opinions on that) but rather a recollection of my time there, just like most of my entries on this blog. Be warned, it's quite a long entry.
Day 0 (Prelude to a festival)
I woke up early on Thursday morning to try to co-ordinate where I would meet up with John, Kelly, and Cam. We decided to meet up at the LA Greyhound station at 2. That proceeded to fall to pieces the moment I got to the Greyhound station in Hollywood, where there were several bus loads of people waiting in line just to get to the LA station. Thankfully, there was a direct bus to Indio, which I only slightly hesitated to catch. I later found out that the LA Greyhound station was packed with people going to Coachella.
I got to the Empire Polo Fields at about 3 in the afternoon. The line to get into the campgrounds was pretty short at the time, and I got my bags inspected by security but had to stand there waiting for the others, as Kelly still had my ticket, including my camping ticket. I got a call from John at about 4 saying that they had just gotten on the bus at LA, which meant I needed to wait another 3 or so hours. The wait was both boring and interesting. It showed me just how badly organized certain aspects of the event was.
The Coachella campground queueFirst of all, there were 3 lines to get into the campgrounds, nowhere near as much as there should have been for the amount of camping tickets they sold. At one point, the queue, which was mostly outdoors, in temperatures well above 30 degrees, was over a hundred meters long, and was moving very slowly. The flow problems came from the fact that the will call line was right past the security check, and a lot of people had will call tickets, so there wasn't a lot of wiggle room, which brings up another funny thing.
At the start, when it wasn't too busy, I was sitting down right past the bag check. A security guard came up to me and told me to move. He said that I was creating a fire hazard by blocking the way there. I can guarantee that if there was a fire, the huge amount of people packed together in a queue with two fences surrounding them would be more of a worry than a single person with 3 small pieces of luggage in an open space. It turned out that getting to the festival early wasn't really that much of an advantage, as I had to line up again once John and co. arrived. They got there at about 8 o'clock, and were also lucky enough to get dropped off at the campground like myself. It should have occurred to them that so many people were coming to the festival and arranged more chartered buses that would stop directly at the polo fields.
Once we got in, we set up camp and got some food from the overpriced food stalls and some beer from the overpriced beer garden. It's not much of a complaint, I guess, because it's to be expected that food and beverages at any musical event would cost a fortune. Our camp consisted of myself, John, Kelly, Cam, Natalie (who found us at the beer garden), and Jesse and Nick, two Aussies John and co. met at the LA station. We had a few drinks and went to sleep, looking forward to the first day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2007.
Day 1 (Burn, baby, burn)I was promptly woken up by the warm morning sun just before 7 and, although I was very groggy from the lack of sleep, I got up and prepared myself for the day ahead. When everybody was up, we decided that some shopping was in order. We walked over to the local grocery store and bought a few things for the next few days, then caught a cab back to the fields. It was still only 11 at the time, so we sat in the sun doing not much at all until we had the wisdom to head over to the beer garden for some shade. We went in at about 3, walking past the will call queue, which snaked around for what seemed like forever, and had a scout of the field where the festival was held. I felt sorry for the people in the will call line, waiting for their tickets for several hours, and potentially missing bands that they want to see. Yet another mistake on the part of Goldenvoice, the organizers of the festival.
The first gig I watched was Satellite Party. I was very amused by Perry Farrell's antics in between songs, and took note that the bassline in one of the songs was the same bassline from Hybrid's Dreamstalker, suggesting that Hybrid helped out on the album on more than one song (Wish Upon a Dog Star took its lyrics from Hybrid's Dogstar - a track that Perry Farrel did vocals for). The crowd went wild when they played Stop!, a Jane's Addiction song, and some people who had just gotten into the fields had thought that it was actually Jane's Addiction playing.
Perry Farrell and the gangAfter Satellite Party finished playing, I wandered around for a couple of hours and eventually caught the end of the Arctic Monkeys. They were okay, but I was never a big fan, and the frontman didn't really have good skills in interacting with the crowd. I had dinner while listening to The Jesus and Mary Chain from afar, not knowing that Scarlett Johansson had supposedly gotten up on stage and sang with the band for a song. After JAMC finished, I went over to the tent where Peeping Tom was scheduled to play. Another celebrity popped up, when Danny deVito, dressed incognito, introduced Peeping Tom. Mike Patton entertained the crowd for the entire set, but was topped by the beatboxer in his band, who was unbelievable.
We all met up back at our designated meeting spot (in front of a couple of bins in one of the beer gardens) and listened to Interpol from a distance. Once Interpol finished, we went to try to get a good view of the main stage, and waited for Björk to make her grand entrance. Björk certainly did not disappoint and performed 16 songs, including many classics, some new songs, and an encore. The DJ was particularly impressive due to a device he was using, called a
ReacTable.
Day 2 (Camping out)I didn't see others for most of the afternoon on day 2. In the morning, a couple of the boys bought a gazebo for the campsite so that we wouldn't have to endure too much of the sun during the day. We chilled there for a while then headed into the fields at about 3 once again. I went to the front of the main stage, and found a good viewpoint, where I would stay for most of the day. I camped out at the front because I wanted to see Arcade Fire close up, and knew that it wouldn't be possible had I gone there later in the day. Regina Spektor was the first artist I saw from that position, and was really great. She seems like a really nice young woman, and played her uncompromising anti-folk music.
Regina Spektor sings a tuneTravis and Kings of Leon were next up, and were not too bad, but I've never been too fond of their music, so I just sat there relaxing, and observing the antics of the crowd, who were crowd surfing more and more as the day went on. By the end of the Kings of Leon set, there was a steady stream of crowd surfers getting yanked out by the security staff. Watching them kept me amused until Arcade Fire went on. Arcade Fire were, to put it simply, explosive. Their energy on the stage was electric, and the band brought the crowd along for the ride. Win Butler even got off the stage and started walking alongside the barriers where the people were. The only bad thing about the act wasn't the band itself, but the damn staff that were spraying the crowd with water. It was a good idea, but they neglected to pay attention to the people holding cameras, trying to take photos or, in my case at the time, videos of the stage. I was in the middle of recording a song they started spraying some water. Idiots.
Arcade FireThe Red Hot Chili Peppers were on next, and the only complaint I have about them was that they weren't on last, which meant they couldn't go for longer or do any encores. Flea and John Frusciante jammed for a while before Anthony Kiedis and busted out Can't Stop. The crowd, as the cliché goes, went wild. The set was full of hits, with the notable exception of Californication. They did play Dani California, so they probably didn't want to overdo the whole California thing. Flea and John Frusciante did some wicked solos, and even sang a couple of songs by themselves. It has to be said that John Frusciante is one of the best, if not the best, guitarists today, maybe ever. Flea told a joke but stuffed it up. The joke was meant to be "What do you call a sheep with no legs?" ("A cloud.") Instead, he said "what do you call a dead lamb?" The crowd had a big laugh at it. I finally left my position at the front after the Chilis finished, and had a bit of a peek at The Black Keys and The Good, The Bad, and the Queen before heading back to the campgrounds early. All in all, another excellent day of music.
John Frusciante is an absolute legendThe third day of the festival was a bit strange. It was kind of a amplification of everything that was great about the festival as well as everything that was bad about it. It was the first day that we all got into the concert grounds before the first act. We saw Mika and Lupe Fiasco before going to the AT&T tent to use the net for a while. After checking my e-mail as well as the NBA and NHL scores, I headed back to the main stage to see Explosions in the Sky, an experimental rock band who were kinda cool. I didn't stay for the whole thing, though. After a while, I went back to the meeting spot, and met up with Nat.
Creed does indeed suckWe went and saw Rodrigo Y Gabriela, an acoustic rock duo, who were very good, and kind of set a theme for the day in terms of music - seeing a wide variety of music. After a couple of songs, we went to watch the Roots, who put on a great set. The notable highlights were a medley of various songs by other artists, and a phenomenal cover of Dylan's Masters of War. It was probably the best cover of that song that I have ever heard. The first part was sung to the tune of the Star-Spangled Banner, which was pure genius.
I stuck around to watch Willie Nelson, which I was very surprised by. I hadn't really listened to a lot of his music before, but once he started he proved why he's been around for so long. There were a few solos from members of his family, including a blues number by his son. I was almost tempted to crowd surf just so I could say that I crowd surfed to Willie Nelson. I wandered around a bit after he finished, catching some of Placebo and José González, then went to see Crowded House.
Neil Finn and the gang played several hits and a few songs from their upcoming album, and was very well-received by all the Aussies and Kiwis. During Don't Dream It's Over, some idiot at the front decided it was a good idea to throw a water bottle at Neil Finn. It hit him and dislodged his microphone, so he needed the help of the crowd to sing the chorus while the mic was replaced. I assume that whoever threw it was a stupid Rage Against The Machine fan who had no sense or respect for other people's musical tastes. I hope that he got beat down by security. Neil Finn had a bit of a laugh about it after the song ended, saying "it was a good shot".
Neil Finn shown on the big screenNatalie, Kelly, and I were all very pumped up after Crowded House finished their (unfortunately short) set, and all agreed that going to the dance tent to see Paul van Dyk was the best course of action. We stayed there for a few minutes, dancing our asses off, then did the same at the Do Lab, where the music was a bit slower, followed shortly by the Dome, where the DJ from Pendulum was playing some mad drum and bass. After the dance fest that lasted longer than expected, we sat down and watched Manu Chao from afar. There was a huge buzz in the air of the humongous crowd after Manu Chao finished in anticipation of Rage Against The Machine.
Rage came on and put on a great show, but I have to be unbiased and say that it was also a bit disappointing. The crowd was way too large to enjoy the performance completely, and there were a few sound problems throughout the set. When it started, the bass was barely coming through, and once they fixed that, the sound levels for Zack's vocals kept changing, and were sometimes inaudible above the music. It also kind of sucked that I had to skip Adam Freeland and Infected Mushroom so I could see Rage. Still, it was pretty good, and it was pandemonium when they played Wake Up to finish the first part of the set, then finished off the encore with Killing In The Name Of, ad-libbing the words "some of those that burn crosses are the same that hold office" into the lyrics.
We were all feeling pretty dead at the end of the day, but apparently others weren't feeling the same way, because people were partying hard until the very early hours of the morning. It was a good thing that I had earplugs, which helped out in getting me to sleep.
Day 4 (A long epilogue)We packed up the campsite shortly after waking up and started heading to the bus station before hitching a ride from a local. There was a very long line at the Greyhound station, and only a few buses throughout the day headed to LA, so the others decided to get a taxi to Palm Springs and head to where they were going by rental car. I already had a return ticket, so I decided to wait around. It turned out to be a wait of almost 10 hours, with precious little shade during the middle of the day, and nothing to keep me entertained except for a deck of cards that I purchased after a few hours. I finally got back to LA almost 12 hours after I left the Empire Polo Fields, making for a very boring day of unnecessary nothingness.
After 3 very hot days (in more ways than one) of musical goodness, I ended up seeing around 25 acts (some I stayed for the whole way through and others I didn't), and the ones that stood out definitely made the festival worth the price of admission (which, due to bad timing in terms of exchange rates, was quite expensive) despite all the problems that could have easily been remedied by a bit of common sense. I guess, as was the mantra way back at the health and safety talk at Panorama, common sense is not that common.
I just realized that I've forgotten to mention the various art installations and demonstrations throughout the festival, all of which were very cool. I suck at describing stuff like that, so I won't attempt to try. The pictures should show off a few of them.
Indio overviewDays spent: 5 (although it should only have been 4)
Time spent waiting for something: About half a day (mostly in a queue)
Danny deVito spottings: 1
Theme song/s: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
The seedy streets of downtown Los AngelesI was picked up by my cousin at the LA Greyhound station, which was located in a very shady area of downtown LA. On the day before Coachella, Jesse had mentioned that they saw a car chase in that area. Now it all made sense why. I stayed at my cousin's house for the night, and he showed me around the area in the morning before I headed back to my aunt's place, where I was almost bitten by the guard dog (random, I know). I later heard that there was a bit of a small riot during an immigrant worker demonstration in downtown.
Photos from the last few weeks of Panorama, the Whistler trip, and the day in Vancouver can be found
here, while photos from Coachella, as well as other photos from the USA taken in April can be found
here.
