|
|
|
hedphukkerr
from mathbotton (United States) on 2007-05-01 15:48 [#02078089]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular
|
|
So it's that time of year again. The time when I take a 5 day break from life and get entirely immersed in music.
This years Coachella was even better than last, and here's why: while last year's festival was entirely eclipsed by Daft Punk's mind blowing performance, this year there were so many bands who played so well, and they all fit together perfectly.
Day 1 I saw, in chronological order, Digitalism, Peaches, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Peeping Tom, Interpol, Sonic Youth, Bjork, DJ Shadow. Highlights were Peeping Tom, Bjork, and what little I saw of DJ Shadow as he was playing at the same time as Bjork, but just kept playing tracks until they shut off his sound (including a beatalicious remix of Rabbit in Your Headlights!).
Peeping Tom was an awesome spectacle - it was truly amazing to finally see Mike Patton live. He is such an enigmatic performer on stage, and a true virtuoso of the vocal chords if i have ever heard one. Also, he had this female beat boxer with him who absolutely blew the crowd away. Her bass kicks were so deep, I could hardly believe a woman was making such low sounds, and she executed the "singing while beatboxing" trick flawlessly.
Bjork's set was... well, it was Bjork, how could it not have been anything short of spectacular. She came out wearing some kind of bone-patterened corset which was decorated with brlightly colored feathers. Her set was an all female brass/vocal section all dressed in multicolored robes with tall flags sticking out the top and with odd heirglyphics drawn on their foreheads. Off the the other side she had three guys playing with all sorts of computer programs, which, oddly enough, was the focus of the video show, as they had both a reactable (the one with different modules which you can add and remove to make different instruments/effects) and one of those multitouch screen tables. Seeing both of those pieces of hardware in action was crazy - it truly is a seamless interface. And the music? Ever expected Bjork to fucking rave?? Yeah,
|
|
hedphukkerr
from mathbotton (United States) on 2007-05-01 15:53 [#02078092]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular
|
|
Yeah, that's right. Particularly stand out were all is full of love (plaid remix) which made an excellent transition from entirely electronic to incorporating the horn section to play out the many vocal harmonies in the original. Also, Army of Me got a new make over and was harder than ever. Absolutely immense bass. The new tracks worked quite well, except for earth intruders which she luckily got out of the way as it was the first song she played. But this set was only a precursor to the amazing danceability that was day 2.
I will update this more later, but in order on day 2 i saw: Hot Chip, MSTRKRFT, !!!, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, and Tiesto, and every fucking one of them was spectuacular.
|
|
hedphukkerr
from mathbotton (United States) on 2007-05-01 16:04 [#02078096]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular
|
|
Bah, fuckit, im on a roll, so ill just keep adding.
Day 2 I had planned on taking E, but decided not to, and am all the more ecstatic because of it. Seriously, I got the highest I have ever been sober this day.
First off was hanging out in the Do Lab, which was a smaller stage with DJ's and water cannons spraying over the crowd. Raving in 108 degree F desert heat never felt so good. After some good chill out time, we went to see Hot Chip, who played a great set. A mix of old and new tracks, except, like Bjork, each one recieved a 4-4 club makeover, really getting the crowd moving. The obvious highlight of the show was the single Over and Over, but each song was qiuite well done.
MSTRKRFT, who i had only discovered breifly before the festival, played a really solid set, as its really hard to get a crowd really going in the dance tent while the sun is still up, but they managed effortlessly.
!!!, who I had seen in a much smaller venue before, did not dissapoint. They really know how to put on a show and get the crowd dancing. The two front men have a great energy between the two of them, and you can really tell that the band isn't just going through the motions; each member is rocking the fuck out, just surpemely pleased to be pushing so much energy through such a great crowd of people.
And next.... wahahaha.... Justice. Highlight of the whole festival for me. The stage set consisted of their signature light up cross, surrounded by analog looking equipment which patch cables hanging out everywhere, which was in turn flanked on either side by 3x3 Marshall stacks. I was with a few friends who had been planning on skipping out at some time to catch the end of blonde redhead (who according to another member of my group played a great set), but once they saw that set-up, the decision was made: we have to stay for this set. I had no idea there were so many rabid, loyal Justice fans in the world, let alone california.
|
|
jkd
from Twitch City (Canada) on 2007-05-01 16:05 [#02078097]
Points: 1138 Status: Lurker
|
|
Fuck you dude. I'm jealous!
|
|
jkd
from Twitch City (Canada) on 2007-05-01 16:09 [#02078099]
Points: 1138 Status: Lurker
|
|
It's completely insane how many excellent acts played.
coachella.com
|
|
hedphukkerr
from mathbotton (United States) on 2007-05-01 16:12 [#02078100]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular
|
|
Crosses were flashing everywhere, people screaming, and this was before the show even started.
Hardest. Show. Ever. Harder than RATM on the third day. Ever seen stage diving at a rave? Yeah, thats how fucking hard justice rocked the sahara tent. it was a moshpit, a sea of people, dancing, jumping, bumping, just a pounding collection of human movement. Particularly awesome was the extended intro to D.A.N.C.E., which went through the whole song with only the vocals and some minor synths, and had everyone in the crowd swaying with their lighters in the air. These guys are through and through rocks stars of the house world. I have a short cell phone video which will at some point be posted on youtube hopefully, but it obviously falls quite short of capturing the energy that was in this crowd.
LCD played a good set, not great though. Im sure particually it was because nooone could hardly move, let alone dance more, after justice's roof-tearing set. Also, the live versions of the songs dont have quite the propoer tension build and release which a good DJ knows how to do. If Justice were DJ's trying to be rockstars, LCD was a rockstar trying to be a DJ.
Tiesto I only caught from a distance, but despite my initial bias, it was pretty fucking epic of a show, with enormous enveloping bass which reached hundreds of yards back.
Next: Day 3: Explosions in the Sky, Junior Boys, CSS, Placebo, Air, Manu Chao, and Rage Against the fucking Machine!
|
|
jkd
from Twitch City (Canada) on 2007-05-01 16:14 [#02078102]
Points: 1138 Status: Lurker
|
|
Bjork uses the reacTable for Pluto (YouTube)
|
|
EVOL
from a long time ago on 2007-05-01 16:27 [#02078108]
Points: 4921 Status: Lurker
|
|
initially, i was just gonna say how lame the whole thing is, but i just looked at the flyer and i stick by my intial thought which is now, way lame. out of a billion artists there was maybe a handful i'd want to go see. over hyped, over rated, and over it altogether. the end. btw... how much did it cost?
|
|
hedphukkerr
from mathbotton (United States) on 2007-05-01 16:32 [#02078110]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular | Followup to EVOL: #02078108
|
|
tickets cost 300 for a three day pass, plus gas driving halfway down california, plus minor food expenses, plus drug expenses.
unfortunate you only would have wanted to see a handful, I was seeing at least 3 or 4 who i was absoutely stoked about, and caught many more excellent acts in between.
excuse if im not continuing to update about day three, I just threw on the new justice single and danced myself silly again and now i have to regain my composre in order to study and write papers for the rest of the day because I missed them all this weekend.
|
|
EVOL
from a long time ago on 2007-05-01 16:44 [#02078116]
Points: 4921 Status: Lurker | Followup to hedphukkerr: #02078110
|
|
fourth of july twenty 04 i went to warped tour in vegas for $12.
|
|
hedphukkerr
from mathbotton (United States) on 2007-05-01 17:32 [#02078126]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular
|
|
yeah, um, the operative word there being warped tour, a one day festival made for 12-16 year olds. youre comparing that to a three day music and arts festival why?
|
|
tolstoyed
from the ocean on 2007-05-01 18:54 [#02078151]
Points: 50073 Status: Moderator
|
|
im going to start uropean version of coachella..anyone wants to join me?
|
|
swift_jams
from big sky on 2007-05-02 07:53 [#02078391]
Points: 7577 Status: Lurker
|
|
I'm going to miss it this year, but I'm going to Bonaroo in Tennessee.
|
|
cuntychuck
from Copenhagen (Denmark) on 2007-05-02 08:21 [#02078406]
Points: 8603 Status: Lurker
|
|
you saw ratm live, for that i envy you.
|
|
hedphukkerr
from mathbotton (United States) on 2007-05-02 10:51 [#02078436]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular | Followup to swift_jams: #02078391
|
|
my bank account allowed for only one this year, and as much as i would have liked to go to bonaroo, coachella wins... or won, i guess. plus, i have a certain stigma of bad luck with tennessee.
hopefully i will find a job soon and go to burning man this year tho, i have been making friends with far too many burners and feel like id be far too much at home from what ive heard not to go.
|
|
swift_jams
from big sky on 2007-05-03 09:32 [#02078815]
Points: 7577 Status: Lurker
|
|
Too bad man, I feel Bonaroo will be great. Road trip with 5 buddies of mine and our girlfriends. Tents, acid, AK47, etc...
|
|
Messageboard index
|
|
|
|