Review: dB Magazine's 2nd Annual Coachella Diary
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 5, 2004 9:00 p.m.
It was hot. It was crowded. It was the biggest, sweatiest
Coachella ever, and it friggin’ rocked. This past weekend, a
record 50,000 plus music fans per day braved temperatures topping
100 degrees for the fifth Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Here’s a set-by-set breakdown provided by our dB coverage
team of one (hey, tickets are expensive).
Saturday 11:30 a.m. Arrival. The line is
thankfully easy to navigate this year. After checking out the film
tent and picking up some freebies, this reporter heads for the Gobi
Tent to stake out a spot for surprise guest Beck. 1:10 p.m. Juana
Molina takes the stage for a quirky, intimate set, followed by a
surprisingly strong set by The Evens. Q and Not U plays next, and
its aggressive style of indie rock causes the crowded little tent
to heat up a bit too much for comfort. Memorable moment: Flea of
The Red Hot Chili Peppers makes a cameo during the set of The
Evens, hopping on stage for a quick trumpet solo. The crowd goes
nuts, because it’s hot as a mother in there, and Beck
isn’t playing for another two hours. 4:45 p.m. By now the
Gobi Tent is fully packed, and hundreds of fans are standing
outside just to catch an earful. Fortunately, yours truly is right
up front and center. Unfortunately, not enough Beck fans wear
deodorant. The man of the afternoon finally shows up, and wings a
mostly acoustic set, taking requests from the audience and
generally having a good time. Members of the audience are invited
to go on stage and nervously suck at the tambourine while he jams.
Laughs are had by all. 6:00 p.m. The line for a chicken sandwich is
an hour long. Luckily, Desert Sessions play their first-ever live
performance on the stage next to the food stands. 7:20 p.m. The
Pixies kill. Opening on the main stage with “Bone
Machine” and flying through hits like “Debaser”
and “Here Comes Your Man,” they deliver the best and
most talked-about performance of the weekend and successfully cap
off their reunion tour. 9:00 p.m. Not to be outdone, Radiohead
admirably delivers the goods despite front man Thom Yorke’s
throat infection and rumors of a possible cancellation. A rare
performance of “Creep” during the encore is
particularly well-received. Yorke calls guitarist Jonny Greenwood a
“dirty boy” between songs. 10:40 p.m. After stopping by
the Mojave Tent for the sole purpose of catching the Electric
Six’s performance of “Danger! High Voltage,” this
reporter heads over to the Outdoor Theatre once again to watch
hip-hop acts Kool Keith and MF Doom close out the night. MF (that
stands for Metal Face) wears a mask through his set, and actually
pulls it off without looking stupid.
Sunday 1:00 p.m. Pretty Girls Make Graves,
Whitestarr, Thelonious Monster, and Supernatural all play decent
sets to kick off the second day, which is even hotter. Freestyler
extraordinaire Supernatural impresses with his
“Anything” routine, in which he asks audience members
to pass forward objects in their pockets and then raps about them.
2:05 p.m. !!! (pronounced chik-chik-chik) succeeds somewhat in
getting the crowd to dance for them, no small feat outdoors at this
hour. The crowd sings along to an unreleased single, prompting lead
singer Nic Offer to jokingly lament, “You guys have been
downloading.” 3:20 p.m. Fresh off a performance Friday at
Bruin Plaza, Toronto collective Broken Social Scene brings its
brand of atmospheric indie rock to what is probably their largest
crowd ever. Guitarist John Crossingham proposes to his girlfriend
between songs, furthering the band’s warm and fuzzy
reputation. 4:30 p.m. The Thrills are disappointingly boring. An
early dinner proves more rewarding. 6:50 pm. At the main stage
during Belle and Sebastian’s set of delicate pop, an audience
member screams “Play “˜Sinister’! We wanna
dance!” They comply with “The Stars of Track and
Field.” The audience, shockingly, doesn’t dance. 7:35
p.m. The guys from Air may speak in funny French accents, but
(sexy) boy can they put on a show. 9:05 p.m. After some delay, lead
singer Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips makes his grand entrance in
““ what else? ““ a gigantic plastic bubble. He then
proceeds to crowd surf in it. As expected, The Lips put on the most
entertaining show of the weekend, complete with the usual costumed
dancing animals and light effects. Coyne makes use of a hand puppet
during a sing-along performance of “Yoshimi Battles the Pink
Robots, Pt. 1.” 9:50 p.m. Basement Jaxx gets it moving with,
surprisingly enough, the best performance of the day. Dizzee Rascal
joins in for a rendition of “Lucky Star,” and the crowd
absolutely loses its mind during the set closer
“Where’s Your Head At,” which utilizes three
singers and five costumed gorillas. Right now, this is the
happening spot. 10:45 p.m. After catching the first few songs of a
solid if somewhat uninspired set by headliners The Cure, this
reporter leaves to get a jump on traffic. Crowd control is a must
next year. Despite missing many notable acts due to scheduling
conflicts in performance times, including Stereolab, Kraftwerk, The
Rapture, and Saul Williams, this year’s Coachella festival
was an entirely worthwhile experience.
-Alfred Lee
