Coachella in Review: The Black Keys, Kings of Leon and more worked wild crowds at the weekend music festival
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 17, 2011 11:30 p.m.
The Black Keys
Friday, Coachella Stage
As the first night of Coachella wound down, The Black Keys took the stage to deliver some good old-fashioned, straight-up rock and roll.
The duo, consisting of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, performed a good number of its older tracks, but stuck mostly to newer material. This was probably wise on their part, as the audience reacted more strongly to the new material, especially songs off their latest album.
That included “Everlasting Light,” “Next Girl,” “She’s Long Gone,” “Howlin’ For You” and “Ten Cent Pistol,” among others.
Toward the end of their set, Auerbach made the announcement that it was Carney’s birthday, and the entire audience banded together to sing him happy birthday.
Unfortunately, the show was plagued with difficulty from the beginning, as the band didn’t begin its act until 15 minutes after it was scheduled to. After this, the large screens that were meant to project what is happening on stage were not turned on until four or five songs into the set.
This meant that for a good portion of the show, those who weren’t close to the stage didn’t get a good view of the band. As such, the overall energy during the show wasn’t particularly high.
This might have also been hindered by the fact that this was one of the most crowded shows at Coachella. While it may not have been particularly high energy, The Black Keys still showed their prowess, and it was clear why the show was so crowded.
““ Matthew Overstreet
Email Overstreet at [email protected].
Crystal Castles
Friday, Outdoor Theatre
The duo that makes up Crystal Castles, Ethan Kath and Alice Glass (along with live drummer Christopher Chartrand) took to the stage on Friday night, despite a previous foot injury sustained by front woman Glass.
However, Glass used her injury to her advantage, incorporating her “weakness” into her stage performance as she sang and screamed to Kath’s sound manipulation and Chartrand’s savage drums. She also didn’t let her injury stop her from jumping into the crowd on several occasions.
Crystal Castles opened the show with “Fainting Spells,” the first track off of their latest album. Other highlights included “Empathy,” “Baptism” and “Alice Practice,” the band’s first song ever recorded.
Easily one of the highest points of the show was the band’s performance of its latest single, “Not in Love.” It was during the loud, rocking choruses that the lights flashed white-hot, and the entire crowd jumped to the beat.
However, this was one of the only songs that really managed to get the crowd heavily involved. Despite the band’s high energy and strong performance, it seemed an extremely difficult task to get the crowd pumped up.
Another highlight of the show was when the band played “Crimewave,” one of its most popular tracks.
At this point in the show, Glass’ mic began experiencing technical difficulties, and much of her singing was obscured or impossible to hear.
Some in the audience felt this gave the song an interesting angle and juxtaposition to the recorded version, while others were upset and almost didn’t recognize the song.
The band closed its set with a strange new version of “Untrust Us,” which ended with a three- to four-minute noise and drum solo.
It was a loud and raucous ending to one of the best performances at Coachella.
““ Matthew Overstreet
Email Overstreet at [email protected].
Mumford and Sons
Saturday, Coachella Stage
“Shall we have a dance?” lead singer Marcus Mumford asked the crowd a few songs into their set. And, boy, what an enthralling dance it was. Beneath the light of a full moon, Mumford and Sons led the crowd through nearly their entire debut album, “Sigh No More,” and showed why a small British band that rocks out with a banjo can hold down a prime evening time slot on Coachella’s main stage. All four band members spent the majority of the show lined up side by side. That fraternal feel carried through the set as the other three members of the band repeatedly addressed the crowd, expressing their disbelief at playing in front of the largest audience of their career. Even in harmony, their voices were stronger and more evenly balanced, with Mumford’s gravely bray, than on their record. The crowd eagerly danced and sang along during the banjo breakdown of “Roll Away Your Stone” and even raised their hands in delight when the band performed two new songs. Still, the rowdy festival crowd chatted and socialized throughout the set, drowning out the quieter moments and frequently distracting those who had come to see more than just the biggest hits, “Little Lion Man” and “The Cave.”
Nevertheless, when Mumford and Sons finally wrapped their set up with rousing versions of those songs, thousands of voices roared in unison, united in the beautiful dance Mumford and Sons had given them.
““ Madeleine Clare Flynn
Email Flynn at [email protected].
Kings of Leon
Friday, Coachella Stage
In front of shrieking fans and not a few who were ready to write the band off for being too radio-friendly, Kings of Leon scraped the polish from their studio recordings and played a blistering set of hits from all five of their albums. Kicking things off with the dark and ominous tones of “Closer,” they careened into “Radioactive,” the rollicking single from their latest album “Come Around Sundown.” Lead singer Caleb Followill was dressed in an unbuttoned blue denim shirt, white undershirt and silver cross necklace, and he howled at the crowd in a voice that was more raw live than in recordings as it cut through the night air like a buzzsaw. Stage effects were kept relatively simple. Aside from the Hipstamatic iPhone app-like treatment applied to video footage of the band, some smoke and flashing lights, Kings of Leon instead let the grittier live versions of their songs speak for themselves. By the time the band played its biggest hits, “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody,” the whole crowd was enthusiastically bobbing their heads and wildly screaming the chorus back at the stage. When the set finally climaxed in a crackling display of red and orange fireworks, Kings of Leon had transported the audience back down South with them and erased any memory of palm trees and desert sun.
““ Madeleine Clare Flynn
Email Flynn at [email protected].
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group
Friday, Gobi Stage
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the Mars Volta guitarist, has a total of 21 individual albums released since 2004 under his solo title. Still, no one had to be familiar with the artist’s work to enjoy the show put on by him and his associates.
This time around, the Rodriguez-Lopez Group consisted of common collaborators such as his brother Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, Juan Alderate and Deantoni Parks. The face that sparked the most excitement among the crowd, though, was Mars Volta singer and co-founder Cedric Bixler-Zavala.
The group, known for blistering progressive rock songs, jammed at an insane rate, segueing from one song into another indiscriminately.
Only those with extremely intimate knowledge of Rodriguez-Lopez’s discography would be able to tell where one song ended and another began ““ or, for that matter, which parts of the performance belonged to a song and which parts were simply extended jam sessions.
The crowd was appropriately excited to see the performers, and while none of the songs particularly lent themselves to activities such as dancing or fist pumping, the crowd still managed to rock out alongside the band.
““ Matthew Overstreet
Email Overstreet at [email protected].
Sleigh Bells
Friday, Mojave Stage
Before Sleigh Bells stepped on stage, sweet and melodic wind chimes could be heard over the black stage, coming from the speakers.
A sampled heavy metal song (think Cannibal Corpse), with pounding kick drum and heavy guitar, quickly interrupted these calming sounds, and anyone who was unfamiliar with the band got a quick taste of what they were in for.
The band then entered the stage and performed a strange cover/remix of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” before playing its first song, “Crown on the Ground.”
The crowd was immediately receptive and was one of the most high-energy groups of the day.
Other notable songs played included “Riot Rhythm,” “Kids” and “Infinity Guitars,” all of which had the audience jumping up and down, throwing their hands in the air and clapping along with the heavy beats.
One of the duo’s more popular tracks, “Rill Rill,” while a bit slower, still had the entire group swaying in time to the music with energy and passion.
Derek E. Miller’s guitar work was spot on and noisy, and Alexis Krauss performed her duties as front woman admirably, bringing an extra level of savageness to the vocals and constantly interacting with the crowd by shouting out to them and encouraging them to clap along.
““ Matthew Overstreet
Email Overstreet at [email protected].
