Lollapalooza 2008
posted Aug 9, 03:32 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
Hit lollapalooza last weekend. It was awesome. Mad thanks to C3 presents for the hookup. What a great festival. I gotta hand it to them. Unbeatable setting. Convenient accommodations. No one mile walk to a car. Awesome VIP area. My only gripe – speaker poles in the VIP area. It’s quiet over there. Coachella rocks that. Anyway, it ruled. Here’s the recap:
The Bands: Steven Malkmus and the Jicks, Radiohead, Gutter Twins, MGMT, Devotchka, Explosions in the Sky, Broken Social Scene, Okkervil River, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Wilco, Brazillian Girls, Chromeo, Iron & Wine, Flogging Molly, Love and Rockets, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West
Pictures are here
Friday, August 1 – got TONS of sleep. Then I met up with Emma and began our Lollapalooza experience! It started off not so hot, with a 2 hour wait in line for my C3 VIP passes. I should have gone the night before like emma and ashley! Emma politely waited in line with me until Ashley arrived, and off they went. I could here Mates of State, Grizzly Bear and Bloc Party while waiting, and I made some line friends, which is always nice, but I was woefully unprepared for 2 hours in the direct sun, and I got serious sunstroke. Luckily I didn’t burn, but I did get a nice tan. When I got to the front of the line ran into my man Fef, VP of Marketing for C3, and he let me pick up the passes for all the Barbarians coming, so at least no one else had to wait in line. Finally made it into the park and found Emma, Ashley. Kate Beaton, Doug P, Mike P and a few of Mike’s friends and we all congregated in the VIP area. Caught Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, who were totally as wanky as Ashley said they’d be. So sad. Pavement RIP. Then, of course, the mighty Radiohead, who were awesome and had an awesome light show. And then fireworks went off, and then the fireworks finale was right when the crescendo in “Fake Plastic Trees” broke and everything was right in the world and I nearly cried and god damn I’ve probably seen Radiohead 20 times at this point – from their first show in Boston at the Paradise in 92 when I lived across the street from it and went because I secretly thought “Creep” was a great song, right through to one of their only shows in the US for Kid A at the Greek Theater in LA to their pre-In Rainbows tour in 06 which I caught from the third row of Harborlights. It’s easy to be inurred by now, but they pulled it off and now I am plotting going to the Greatwoods show, esp. since Judi missed them due to a delayed flight. So on that note, me, ashley and emma walked back to our hotel area (our hotels were three blocks apart). We found a loungy bar for drinks and dinner and then went to their bar for more drinks, but I was so tired and when Judi finally got in at 1 I opted to go back to the hotel and meet her and promptly pass out of heat stroke and sleep 12 hours.
Saturday, August 2 Woke up the next day fully recharged and ready to rock. Luckily for all my time in the sun on friday I drank 8 bottles of water so I stayed hydrated, and I didn’t burn so there was no long term damage. Judi and I walked to the festival in time to catch the last song (Number 9) by the Gutter Twins, who I love love love. Then we caught a bit of MGMT, or tried, but the crowd was so insanely huge and it was so hot we gave up almost immediate (esp. since we just saw them @ the paradise like two weeks ago) We retreated to the north stage VIP area – oh and man, the VIP areas were so sweet. You could sit in the shade and get free massages and free drinks and dinner and yeah man, I’m 36. Fuck it. I’m gonna roll in VIP areas if I can get it for free why not, right? I am forever in debt to C3 presents. They are awesome. They made our weekend. Anyway, we listened to Devotchka, who were really good actually – I had been meaning to check them out for a while. Kinda worldy but not in a bad way. Then I chatted up the backstage access girl and she informed me that our wristbands would get us onto the sweet side stage balcony, so shit yeah, Judi and I did that for Explosions in the Sky, who were awesome, and later for Broken Social Scene, who were also awesome. In between we caught Okkervil River, who were almost awesome. Caught up with everyone – Kate, Mike P, Doug, etc. And Carrie S. joined us today, from our San Francisco office. It was really a great day. We rounded it out with Wilco, opting to skip Rage Against the Machine, since, well, their crowds are terrifying and we already went through that once at Coachella last year. Wilco were awesome in their ridiculous sewed embroidered suits, in different colors, each one matching their guitars. They had like teddy bears n shit sewed on them. It was a solid show, and for me it was highlighted by an amazing, pumped up, totally driving version of Kidsmoke/Spiders that was awesome. We spent a long time waiting in line to get back up the Balcony, but it was worth it once we did. Great view. Afterwards we all went out to a bar in Wicker Park, called Gold Dust, which was a good time, then another one called Maggie’s, I think. Brandie told us funny stories, doug entertained us with his silliness, and me and one of mike p’s friends shot the shit about Alaska, where her boyfriend lives. Good times.
Sunday, August 3 Last day of Lollapalooza! Woke up pretty late but still managed to get to the festival to catch a bit of the Brazillian Girls, who didn’t do it for me, then Chromeo, ditto. Then over to see Iron and Wine, who were also a bit boring and has lost the hauntingness and turned into a jam band. Judi had to leave then, which was sad. Back to Boston for her since she had to work early on Monday. And a wise move, too, given the airport hell we experienced monday. The day kicked in after that, really, when we met up with Fef and he got us backstage on the side stage for Flogging Molly, which were super high energy and MAN do they amp up the crowd to a ridiculous extent. After that Love and Rockets, who are great trip down memory lane for me, and their song selection is a fanboy’s dream and they even bust out the Bubblemen, which is kind of awesome and ridiculous. Then The National, who sounded awesome and great and yay. Then Nine Inch Nails who had too many new instrumentals for my liking, but they still rocked and are always a good time. Left halfway through to see Kanye again, who had retooled his set since the Glow in the Dark tour, but the set was basically the same. Man that dude’s got an ego. He’s a great performer, but he needs to stop reminding us of it. Someone needs to explain to him that he has been endowed with an ego AND talent, and despite his protestations that the ego drives the talent (a message that might be useful for the youth, as he was hoping, if he didn’t interject himself into it so much) – in fact he has talent and an ego. The ego doesn’t drive the talent. Someone should explain that to him. Ha. Anyway, the long march back to the hotels and me, emma, ashley, kate and carrie had a good champagne nightcap, bringing lolla to an end. what a great time.
3 Shows, 3 Cities, 3 Days
posted Jul 25, 01:34 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road ,
Tuesday: Jarvis Cocker, Terminal 5, NYC. I like Terminal 5 more now, after going to a show there that was not unreasonably crowded. But it’s big, it’s cavernous, and it’s hard to fill, and hard to rock to a crowded, albeit 80% crowded house. Jarvis did a great job, though. His new songs were awesome, but it was the first time in, oh, I don’t know, a decade, where I’ve seen him and not already known every song, so that was a little weird. He closed with “Black Magic,” which was amazing, though I’m starting to think he should just do it first to get everyone fired up, because MAN does that song get everyone fired up.
Wednesday, MGMT, Paradise, Boston. I knew that despite their hit “Kids” and their dancy sound that MGMT is a rock band live. I had caught them a little bit the Playboy/C3 Presents party SXSW last year, so I was prepared. If you take MGMT to be a band in the psyche pop realm of the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev (whose Dave Friedman produced their record, apparently, along with many of the lips records), it works. The noise bits and rock bits are awesome, but the fact is the kids just wanted to dance, which they only got to for three songs. They closed by playing “Kids” karaoke style, sans band, more in the Cut Copy realm (backing tracks, vox and a bit of guitar only) and the kids ate it up and danced and woo! Man, kids do not care if you play an instrument anymore. Still, though, I love the new dance rock – the rapture, MGMT, Cut Copy, Hot Chip. it makes me happy.
Thursday, She & Him, Academy of Music Theater, Northampton, MA. The best of the three. I love the album, but I still wasn’t sure if Zooey D. actually had a voice or it was all studio trickery. Well nosiree, no studio trickery here. All the backing vocals and harmonies were perfect, her voice was strong and confident and assured, and she hit everything personally and wow was she just cute as a button to boot. 6 piece band, 4 peeps doing backup singing, acoustic and electric guitar and piano (three different members, including Zooey and M Ward played). They started mid-tempo, went super intimate (the backing band left the stage for a few songs) and rocket it out hootenany style for the last 3-4 songs. It was a great show all around. M Ward has a great voice, and their sexy pregnant bass player was a pretty awesome bonus. Haven’t seen that in a long time. The venue was intimate and our seats couldn’t have been better – second row. A great night out and a great show all around.
Recap, Lollapalooza, ATPs, ACL
posted Jul 19, 05:08 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Hit the Road
Well, I missed Yaz this week due to some stupidity around set times and an errant Brooklyn Vegan entry. UGH.
Since Leonard Cohen, I caught a few other shows “on the road.” Caught Kanye’s last Glow in the Dark show, or so he kept saying at the show, even though more and more of them keep cropping up. Not sure what’s up with that. It was pretty awesome, it has to be said, and man, the kids are all right. Excellent vibe there. Totally chill. Also caught Ludacris at a Webby Awards event, which was gloriously surreal.
Caught REM at Great Woods, which wasn’t really tourism since I live in MA, but we did take a limo there, which is always fun – we do it once a year to a show out @ Great Woods and REM won out this year. It was pretty awesome.
Worst is that I missed Sup Pop 20 because of my work load, which hurt a LOT, but I did trek out to Brooklyn to South Paw to see the one band I cared about the most: The Vaselines, which were wonderful and perfect and played their 18 songs and nothing more, nothing less, and had some seriously genius Banter. Some friends of my friend Aug opened up – band called The Indelicates who were pretty awesome.
Jarvis in New York is next up on the road, and then She & Him in Northampton, and then Lollapalooza next week, so things are picking up. Also hoping to catch Tilly and the Wall again here in Boston, and of course George Michael, which is insanely exciting.
Other upcoming Rock Tourist adventures include the My Bloody Valentine All Tomorrow’s Parties in Upstate New York, and Austin City Limits in Austin.
I debated hitting Tom Waits in Atlanta on the 5th of July but couldn’t get a flight back to NY that night and didn’t want to stay there. Ha. I was hoping for some European love too this year – Iceland Airwaves again, maybe, but the dollar is so insanely low I’m not sure I can pull it off.
Mike Patton and the Melvins are hosting the Christmas All Tomorrow’s Parties and I’m on the Fence about going. Is it psychotic to go to Minehead, UK just for the dancing?
Leonard Cohen
posted Jun 8, 04:03 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road , Reunions
In a hard core bit of Rock Tourism, Judi and I took a 9 AM flight from Boston to Buffalo, and drove to Toronto Saturday to see the legendary Leonard Cohen at the Sony Center.
Oh my god.
One of the best shows I have ever seen. Leonard’s still got it, along with his ten piece band. He played selections from his whole career – I’m Your Man, Tower of Song, Democracy, Waiting for the Miracle, The Future, A Thousand Kisses Deep, Closing Time and more from the 90’s and on, and Bird on a Wire, Suzanne, If it Be Your Will, and more from the past. The best of the set: a tear-jerking version of “Hallelujah” that had the audience in spontaneous one minute long mid-set standing ovation, all 3,000 of us. I nearly cried.
His wit is intact, his politeness is impeccible, his voice is as solid as ever. I had wondered before the show how he’d merge the casiotione cheesiness of the instrumentation of the I’m Your Man era with the folk of the past and the lounginess of the present, but it was so effortless, so perfect that it seemed a silly question to even ask. His spanish guitarist was genius, his backup singers could bring a tear to your eye on “If it Be Your Will” and crack you up with their “Doo da dum dums” on “Tower of Song.” Everything was genius.
A three hour set, with intermission and 4 encores. Oh my god.
Before we left, Judi and I are both so busy, we debated not going. “We’ll probably regret it the rest of our lives” she said when we contemplated a quiet weekend at home. If I had known how good it was going to be, I never would have doubted. And thank god we made it.
Leonard’s playing 47 more dates, though none in the US. Your best bet is Montreal the week of the 21st of June. “I know many of you went to significant geographic or financial pains to get here,” he said, “and for that, I thank you.” It was worth it. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.
This is shaping up to be the best year of my life for live music.
She & Him Sleuthing, Sub Pop 20, etc
posted Jun 2, 10:50 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road , Festivals
Haha! I feel so Sherlock Holmes! I had read on Brooklyn Vegan that She & Him were doing some more shows. I had missed all of their SXSW shows and haven’t had a chance to see their NYC shows yet, so I decided to check out if they were coming to Boston or not. They were not. BUT they were doing a show in Northampton, MA, on July 24. That seemed undoable until I realized I had to be in Connecticut for a wedding the next day. Serindipity!
So I set out to buy tickets, only to discover it’s basically impossible to buy tickets for this Academy of Music Theater over the web. Not at Ticketmaster, not at Ticketweb. There was a website, but all of the tickets said to call. So I did, and went to the ticketing extension, only to listen to a really long voice mail about a lot of movies that aren’t Zooey Deschanel and M Ward singing cute songs. Then it hung up.
But!
But I noticed that one movie had tickets available at something called Tix.com, so I went over to the site and sure enough, I did a search! And yes! the show was there! AND I GOT 4 TICKETS, SECOND ROW CENTER. Score! Buy now.
In other news, I’m hitting Sup Pop’s 20th Anniversary Festival in Seattle In July. I was on the fence about it until a) I just visited my friends in Seattle and realized how fun it would be, and b) THEY ADDED THE VASELINES TO THE BILL. OMG. That’s too exciting. I bought a ticket for their Brooklyn show @ Southpaw too to be safe, but I’m pretty sure I’m going. That’ll be fun.
Also figured out where to see Nick Cave this year – 9:30 Club in October.
So that leaves really one artist I haven’t figured out how I’m going to see. Leonard Cohen. Still gotta figure that out. Dude’s not playing america. Road trip anyone?
Nick Cave
posted May 17, 05:10 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Hit the Road ,
Had a really hard time fitting the upcoming Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Tour – everywhere he was, I had to be somewhere else, most notably the date closest to me, the New York date, where I have to be at a wedding in Delaware that day.
But A Ha! The next day he’s playing DC, at the 9:30 club! Like HALF the size of Terminal 5 in DC. YAY. So down we go, DC road trip!
Echo and the Bunnymen
posted May 14, 07:41 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Reunions , Hit the Road
Oh I should also mention the 30th anniversary Echo and the Bunnymen show @ Radio City. I wasn’t gonna go because while I love the Bunnymen with an endless passion, the last couple shows have been a bit lackluster – Ian’s been on the sauce again, and his voice has been crackling and it’s all been kinda painful.
But then I learned that a) this is a one-off, b) it’s at Radio City Music Hall, which I’ve never been to, c) it’s got a 12-piece orchestra, and d) they’re doing all of Ocean Rain, in order. OMG. yes please. I am there.
Now I just have to figure out what city I can catch Nick Cave in this year. It’s looking like DC, for its combination of fitting into my crazy schedule and being at the 9:30 club, which is a pretty solid venue. I think. Or maybe I’m mixing it up with the Black Cat. Anyway, that’s the one for me.
New Music Purchasing Habits for the Digital Age, plus Yaz, British Sea Power, Built to Spill
posted May 14, 07:16 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Rock Musings , Festivals
I’ve been excited for a while about the upcoming US shows by Yaz at Terminal 5 in New York, even though Terminal 5 is a bastardization of everything a club should be. But whatever. It gets the job done, and when it’s a choice between going to some arena show or seats, often I’d prefer Terminal 5. But today I learned that after selling out two shows at Terminal 5, both of these for which I have tickets, they are adding a third show at the much nicer Beacon Theater. MAN. Not fair! Do I need to buy again?
In other news, I saw British Sea Power again last night. I think that band thrives on the crowd. They had a good sized crowd this time – compared to their last Boston show which was unfortunately timed to land on the day the Sox beat the Yankees for the title. Paradise was probably about 85% full this time. But they played for a LONG time, and a lot of mid-tempo stuff from their second album. I have a few theories about this. First, I think it takes a while for a band to realize and accept which album is their best, and which the fans like the best. BSP are still trying to make us like the second album, which I kinda like actually, but isn’t as awesome live. Songs from that one should be nuggets that suggest a deeper, richer offering in the recorded world. Goldfrapp does this brilliantly now, four albums in. She knows which songs from which albums work best live, and doesn’t push too much.
My other thought about this is that I think in this modern downloading age, there’s a trend in record sales bands may not have identified yet. I think that people do still purchase albums, but they purchase albums in a different way. They’ll discover a band, listen to a free-downloaded album over and over, and when the next album comes out, they’ll buy the album, as a sort of micropayment/patronage/makeup thing for the one they didn’t buy the first time. I have very little data to support this, save for some anecdotal stories by my friend the wife of an indie band of moderate fame who says people routinely try to just hand her $20 at shows when she’s working merch to make up for their downloading habits. And I could totally see BSP being under the impression that people like the second album better because it sold better, when every fan knows their first album is their best (though the new one is a strong contender), and thus playing a lot of songs off of it. Except every single one of us who discovered BSP on their first album pretty much discovered it on the internet, and didn’t buy anything of theirs till the second. Um, actually, to be honest I don’t think I’ve bought a single BSP album, but I have paid good hard cash to see them five times or so plus two rock tourist outings to Coachella and SXSW, so I think they made a buck off of me.
In other news, Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr and the Meat Puppets are playing a show together just after their appearances at The Greatest Rock Festival Ever planned. Will BTS and the Meat Puppets play their don’t look back sets? Man, that ATP lineup is so awesome. So Awesome that I keep forgetting that BTS are going to play all of Perfect From Now On, in order, which is like a great rock event in its own right.
65daysofstatic, The Cure, Cut Copy
posted May 13, 06:29 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Reunions ,
I didn’t tourist for it, but I saw three pretty awesome bands last night. First, I headed over to the Agganis Arena at Boston University, my Alma Mater. I hadn’t been there before, so I decided it was time. The show was The Cure, an old fave of mine, and 65daysofstatic, a new one, that I hadn’t had the chance to see live yet.
The show was a reschedule so I was lucky enough to get good seats at the last minute. And man, was it worth it. 65daysofstatic are in the Mogwai mold, and they totally delivered. Loud, awesome post rock that I love love love.
I approached the Cure with some trepidation. I’ve loved them since I was a kid, but man I have no idea of a single song of theirs since Wish, which I still conisder to be late period cure and it’s, um, 16 years old (I have this problem with REM as well – I still think of Green as a new album).
But man, did they deliver. Out of the first ten songs, 5 of them were from Disintegration. The amazingly opened with “Plainsong” and “Prayers for Rain” back to back. They played a few new songs, which were decent, but in the 100 minutes I saw them they also played “The Blood,” “Hot Hot Hot,” “A Night Like This”, “Pictures of You,” “Lullabye,” “Lovesong” and “The Edge of the Deep Green Sea.” Wait they may have also played “The Same Deep Water As You.” In any case, it was awesome.
Then I left early (That HURT) to go see Cut Copy next door at the Paradise. AWESOME. The kids of Boston dance again at shows, did you know that? This is like the fourth show I’ve seen recently in town where the entire place was hoppin. They don’t stand around with their arms folded anymore. Yay Boston. You loosened up. Or the kids did. Or something.
I also think it’s interesting this whole new school of merging rock and dance. Cut Copy, MGMT, and Hot Chip are the leaders of it. All of them are basically a dance band with guitars. I mean there was the whole dance punk thing a while back – The Rapture and !!! – and LCD Soundsystem’s been blazing that trail too, but I LOVE IT. I love it. I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve been constantly frustrated with the separation between dance – which has been totally limited in the techno realm – and rock – which most people think you can’t dance to.
So this whole new thing, these last few years, I love it. Yay dance rock! Yay dancing Bostonians! Yay 30 year old goth bands that still play half of Disintegration 20 years later! What an awesome night out of rock.
Also, I caught Shearwater last friday and Clinic. Shearwater were awesome. Then my friend Lele told me that the amazing Jetpack McLeod Interviewed Shearwater at our McLeod Residence recently. Awesome! Also caught some of Clinic, who I’d heard a little bit of, but they didn’t really do it for me.
British Sea Power tonight. Cut Copy in New York again tomorrow. Bought tickets to Bon Iver, Beth Orton and Phosphorescent today. Gotta figure out where I’m gonna see Nick Cave on this tour.
It is the season of the rock.
Coachella 2008!
posted Apr 29, 12:03 AM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Reunions
Bands: Architecture in Helsinki, The Breeders, Múm, Goldfrapp, Spank Rock, Swell Season The Verve, Fatboy Slim, Hot Chip, Scars on Broadway, Cinematic Orchestra, Dwight Yokam, Deathcab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley, Kraftwerk, MIA, Portishead, Prince, The Shout Out Louds, Stars, Swervedriver, Does it Offend You, Yeah? Spiritualized, Metric, My Morning Jacket, Love and Rockets, Roger Waters, Chromeo, Justice
Movies: Out of Sight, Margot at the Wedding
Coachella, year 4. Things that were different: Better art. Much better art. We had backstage access, and VIP access, which was awesome for the good bathrooms and vodka. The middle drinking area between stages 1 and 2 was MUCH bigger, and stage 1 was brought forward enough to make the sound better. The whole entry area was re-worked to get faster entry, and that worked awesomely. Much better signage. Better fencing. The frozen lemonades weren’t frozen solid. There was a crappy VIP area behind the dance tent. It seemed like most second-tier bands were in the tents and not on the second stage. The stupid rave in the middle of the festival was still there. The sound was, generally, much better. There was still a ton of pot in the air. No one was wearing any clothes. Man, Coachella is Cognitive Dissonance defined for New Englanders still used to winter. It was awesome to have my sister there, and our friend from Alaska growing up Lila Marley was there, which was awesome. I had randomly run into her at Coachella two years ago, so this was a treat to get to have her with us. Emma’s friends were super nice, and it was hilarious to see Christine and Emma interact and bicker and whatnot. Our vacation house was bigger than last year. Maybe like 5% less nice, but the AC worked, which was awesome. Judi managed to save like $200 on the car rental – I think she should do the car rental every time. Never caught up with half my friends like Laurance and Baily, but I did randomly run into Trammel, which was awesome.
All in all, the headliners are getting bigger and weirder and I have NO IDEA how they’re going to top that next year. Prince, Roger Waters and Jack Johnson were all gutsy moves for an alterna-festival. Prince and Roger Waters delivered. Jack Johnson did not. I’m hoping for Bowie or the Beatles next year. I mean, come on. What can they do? Oh, they do need to get Spacemen 3 together if they can. ha. And Ride. And Tones on Tail. But as you can see, none of these are particularly big. Oh, the Smiths. ha. yeah. This Mortal Coil. Cocteau Twins. Wolfgang Press. The Dead Kennedy’s with Jello. The Knife. Jay Jay Johansen. Man, one day into the next year and I’m already carried away with 2009 Coachella speculation.
Thursday, April 24 BOS – PSP. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUG! Got up insanely, uncomfortably early and caught a 7 AM flight to Palm Springs via Salt Lake City. Judi and I landed around noon and headed to In N Out Burger, of course. Then we tried to go to our rental house, but there was no key under the mat as there was supposed to be, so we thought maybe it was the unit upstairs, and, um, I walked in on an old man on crutches. Oops. So then we called the rental place and they said we couldn’t check in till 2:30 so we went to Radio Shack and got a cable for the iPod so we could rock in the car, and then we went and picked up my sister Val at the airport. Then we went grocery shopping for the weekend and then got to the house. We ate and debated going and seeing the Salton Sea – something I’ve wanted to do for ages, especially since Judi and I watched The Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea this year – but none of us could work up the energy to inspire the other ones to go. So we watched Out of Sight. Judi went to bed and Val and I drunkenly watched Margot at the Wedding, which is pretty funny to watch with your sister. At the end she said “man I’m glad I’m not insane.” Every bit of the film was great, and the dialogue was solid, but it was just… too much. And with no resolution, it missed something. Which is pretty much how I felt about Squid and the Whale. Anyway, eventually Emma’s friends Christine and Mike showed up, and they went to bed, and then around 2 AM
Friday, April 25 – Got up and I made breakfast for everyone – my absolute favorite thing to do on Coachella vacations. Big piles of breakfast potatoes, eggs, bacon, tortillas, two kinds of home made salsa, etc. Yummy. Then we sort of got motivated and headed to the festival via our secret back-door route. And we passed the Beer Hunter again! Best name for a bar ever. I had forgotten all about it since last year. Funny how all of the Desert Cities roads slowly came back to me over the weekend. Anyway, we arrived at the festival at exactly 4:09 and caught a few songs of Architecture in Helsinki, who were upbeat and fun, before heading over to The Breeders. The Breeders were in good form that day – they can be sloppy. But they nailed it pretty much, and played the hits. And for an old time fan like me, I was happy to see their first album, Pod, represented in Iris and Happiness is a Warm Gun. Pretty awesome. Next up was Múm, who are like totally twinkly and saddle creeky now and not sigur rosy like they used to be. I liked it but it was a bit muddled. Still, though, an interesting change. Up next was the winner for the day, I think, Goldfrapp, who had some sound troubles for the first couple songs but bounced back and was fuckin’ fantastic by the end. She ended with “Caravan Girl” and “Strict Machine” and it just sounded glorious. I shot a video of “Number One” as well, which I gotta put on youtube soon. Next it was over to the dance tent for a quick peek at Aphex Twin, but he was doing exactly what he did in December when we went to All Tomorrow’s Parties, so we moved on. Listened to a song or two of Swell Season while getting dinner, but they had rejiggered the fences so you coudln’t eat and watch the band this year, those meanies. Then on to the main stage for The Verve who were fucking awesome, and opened with This is Music. Other than that, though, they basically played all of Urban Hymns, which, you know, is a good album, but i would have liked to hear something from A Storm in Heaven. The old stuff was represented by a single song – “Life’s an Ocean” which is certainly good but no “Slide Away” or “Already There.” Still, though, they delivered, and “Bittersweet Symphony” was one of those Coachella singalong moments you love. At least up front. Anyway, by this time we also picked up a friend of Catherine’s, Danny, who is the new drummer in Chop Chop. Danny also is friends and he had two backstage wristbands which was pretty sweet. We made much use of these, and man, it’s awesome back there and in the VIP area and now I feel dumb for blowing off my CAA guy to hand out with my friends because by the end of the weekend we had 4 wristbands and five people. The VIP area is a totally different and luxurious and has sushi and video games and an air conditioned bar. We popped back there for the shorter bathroom line throughout the weekend. Oh and red bull and vodkas. Anyway, after the Verve we caught a smidge of Spank Rock , who were fun, and then ended the night with Fatboy Slim, who was big booming techno like you’d expect. Nothing awesome. Good intro, though. Then we went back to the house and watched the two hour pilot of Firefly, which was awesome.
Saturday, April 26 – Woke up, made breakfast for everyone. Mine and Val’s friend from Alaska (though she lives in SF now) Lila showed up at 10 AM so I got up a bit earlier than I’d wanted. In the end, I knew we’d miss MGMT, and there was nothing else I really wanted to see till six, so Christine and Mike and Emma left and I took a nap. Catherine went and drove out to Joshua Tree – she had a genius sightseeing in the day/rocking at night approach that I was impressed with. So me, judi, val and lila headed in round 5 and started the day with Hot Chip who were as awesome as they were last week and sounded AMAZING in the dance tent. Then I took a walk and checked out a bit of Scars on Broadway (not my thing), Cinematic Orchestra (ditto, but in a early Massive Attack kinda way), and Dwight Yokam who was pretty genius. Then I met up with the gang and we caught Death Cab For Cutie who delivered a solid but mildly uninspiring set. Then we popped over to stage two for some Rilo Kiley who were better than one would think. Then Kraftwerk who were AWESOME on the main stage – amazing sound, great visual show. They totally delivered. Popped over to the dance tent to give MIA another chance, but again, I didn’t like her. Checked out a bit of Akron/Family but they were doing their noisy freakout thing and not their awesome mellow “sorrow boy” type thing that I totally dig, so back to the main tent for the end of Kraftwerk. Next up was Portishead who did the same set as I saw in December, but man, it totally worked on the giant stage. AMAZING sound. Visuals looked brilliant. Seriously, Coachella really, finally, worked out the sound problem on the main stage this year. Portishead sounded as perfect as a rock show I’d ever heard. I do with they’d can that dumb rave area in the middle of the festival, or move it away from the second stage and the gobi tent, though. There used to be NO sound bleed problems at Coachella, and ever since they put that dumb rave in the middle, you can hear it everywhere.
ANYWAY, the night was capped by PRINCE. Yes Prince. And man, did he deliver. A 3 song intro that “got the night going” by introducing MORRIS DAY AND THE TIME, and then SHEILA E, who did “The glamorous life.” Then he busts into 1999 and then oh, look, Chaka Kahn’s there too and they all do “I feel for you.” He also does “U Got the Look,” “Cream,” a great version of “Little Red Corvette,” “Musicology” and a bunch more. Judi and I eventually decide we’ve had enough. Prince was phenomenal but the sound was kinda crappy and REALLY quiet: the LA Time theorizes they just started the show at a low volume because they knew it would run late. On our way out he covered “Creep” by Radiohead, and then, apparently, Sarah Maclaughlin and the Beatles before ending with “Purple Rain.” Nice. He was pretty f’n amazing, I have to say. I’m happy to have seen it.
Sunday, April 27: Got up 11 ish, made breakfast for everyone one last time, and headed to the festival. Got in at 3:30, in time to catch the last half of The Shout Out Louds, who I really dig. Then we moved up close so we could see Stars, who were awesome, even if they didn’t play “The Ghost of Genova Heights.” They threw a lot of roses into the audience and started with “Elevator Love Letter,” which made me really, really happy. Next up was Swervedriver, who I LOVED back in the day, but I really loved their first album, “Raise,” and they were playing a lot from “Mezcal Head.” They did play “Rave Down” though, which was pretty sweet. Then Judi and I popped over to see the last coupe songs of Does it Offend You, Yeah? who were not what I expected but were awesome! I’d go check them out. Then Spiritualized, who were doing an acoustic mainlines set, and, sadly, it went about as well as you would expect at a massive, booming festival. Tons of feedback, couldn’t hear the strings, too much noise bleed from the other stage. I kept pushing forward, though, and by the fifth song or so he did “Walkin With Jesus” and the sound problems were worked out and I was in the front row and it was sublime, but after having seen that at the MFA, I am ready for him to go back to rockin. Next was Metric, who were great and energetic and she had some funny silver lamé hot pants on which you can’t ever really complain about. Then I popped over to the main stage for My Morning Jacket, who I listen to a lot but I had NO IDEA they were so good live. Like, man, effortlessly perfect harmonies and solos and perfect sound. I was really impressed. Then I popped back stage to pee and to take a picture of Roger Water’s giant pig. Then over to the second stage for Love and Rockets who were actually good! Weirdly, their best track was “An American Dream,” which I had never thought much of, but man, they nailed it. Their entire set was from their first four albums, which was funny. But it did the job, and nostalgia was running high.
Good thing, too, on the nostalgia front because next up was Roger Waters. Um… Okay. I thought this would be a mildly funny thing to watch but it turned out to be AWESOME. First off, it was billed as him doing Dark Side of the Moon, but he played for an hour and a half before that, doing really solid versions of “Up Against the Wall,” “Mother,” “The Final Cut,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” “Have a Cigar,” “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” one of his solo songs from Radio Kaos (which involved serious explosions which was awesome) and a few others. The finale, though, really took the cake, when he did “Pigs” and brought out a GIANT FLOATING PIG, AND HAD A PLANE FLY OVER THE AUDIENCE AND DROP SPARKLES. Oh, and did I mention the whole show was in surround sound? Like 12 point surround sound. Um… Yes. The best part, though, was a the end of Animals, they LET THE BIG GO and it flew up, up and away into the air, never to be seen again. “There Goes My Pig” he said, barely containing his self satisfied glee at the absurdity of it all.
THEN he settled into Dark Side of the Moon. Oh, and it ended with a fireworks display. YEAH. I didn’t think anything could top Prince, but I gotta say, ole Roger Waters pretty much did exactly that. And the SOUND was so much better. Smart man, starting at 8:30 instead of 11. He was done not long after Prince went on.
Then over to the dance tent to end Coachella was Chromeo and Justice. Both of which were a little better than I remember from SXSW, and Justice was particularly solid, but exhaustion was catching up with me, so home I went.
Modnay, April 28 PSP – BOS. Take sister to the airport, back to the house, pack up, and me, judi and emma hit In N Out Burger, and then to the airport and fly home. Landed around midnight.
