Indio, CA – Welcome to day 2 of Coachella. I promise you this won’t be as lengthy as part 1, through no fault of my own. I had a leisurely lunch with some friends in nearby Palm Springs that afternoon, then got stuck in an inexplicable traffic jam trying to get into the festival on Saturday and didn’t get in until 6pm. In contrast to Friday, I had never seen any of the bands I decided to check out.
That wasn’t my initial plan, though. Once I got through the gates I hightailed it to the back of the field, wanting to catch Glasvegas. They were a highlight of SXSW for me and I wanted a chance to see them closer up, and I didn’t really have anything else I wanted to do during their time slot. I arrived just as they were supposed to go on, and immediately I knew something was amiss. Another nice thing about Coachella is that it is very efficient; bands almost always start on time, and barely any gear was on stage at this point. I overheard someone saying Glasvegas canceled because singer James was sick, then a keyboard rolled onto the stage. Glasvegas do not have a keyboard player so I correctly assumed they weren’t going to be playing. I was sad but ran back to the front of the field in order to see TV on the Radio after all.
Not sure what to say about TV on the Radio that hasn’t been said by almost everyone in the entire music world, they’re awesome. After seeing them I plan to spend more time listening to them, as I really enjoyed them a lot. There were a ton more people on the field Saturday and it seemed like almost everyone was at the main stage watching them and singing along enthusiastically. The vibe was really good Saturday afternoon, everyone seemed really excited to be there. I still noticed the sound at the main stage wasn’t the greatest, though. Not sure what was going on there.
I caught about 5 songs of Fleet Foxes’ set, some of which were from behind the beer garden fence, so I probably didn’t get the full experience. Along with TV on the Radio everyone seems to love them to death, while I agree they’re really good I prefer their album mostly for background music. It flows very well, as did their live show. Not sure how they got through their set wearing flannel with those thick beards though. I was overheating just looking at them. Big problem for them was that the stage they played on wasn’t far from the main stage, so the last half of their set was slightly marred by Thievery Corporation going on. I gave up, as I wanted to migrate anyway.
Thievery were, without a doubt, the unexpected highlight of my day on Saturday. I’m a casual fan, but friends that have seen them urged me to make sure I saw them and I’m glad I did. What a cast of amazing musicians they are; so interesting to watch and listen to and the beats wouldn’t let me stand still. They are from DC and have been around for almost fifteen years. Perry Farrell showed up and sang on one song; keeping with the trend that he will perform in some way at Coachella every single year. Luckily at this point in my life I am not opposed to dancing around like a fool all by myself and I don’t really care what people think. It was nice to see that many other people in this crowd felt the same way. I wonder how many of them were on drugs.. anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed their set and am going to make sure to see them again someday when I can.
M.I.A. was next, and while I’m not a huge fan of hers I was very interested to check her out. It seems like just yesterday she showed up on the scene, whatever scene that might be.. and now she’s nearly headlining one of the biggest festivals in the country. She definitely rose to the occasion even though she just had a baby a couple months ago. In between comments about wishing she was back in one of the tents performing, she promised us seven songs instead of six. She and her DJ and dancers were covered in glow in the dark stripes and she often sang from a mock podium similar to one you’d see at a presidential press conference, launching bullhorns into the crowd. This time when audience members were invited on stage it did not end the show, and just watching was a hell of a lot of fun.
So that’s basically Coachella 2009 from my perspective. I’m glad I decided to make the trip out and if the line up is good in future years, I’ll definitely be back for more dry heat and Del Taco.