Tuesday, May 3, 2005

2005 Coachella Valley Music Festival: my review (s) of Saturday

Got back late Monday night from the 2005 Coachella Valley Music Festival. Click the link for the bands links and more.

Just a 7 hour drive from the Championship City of Oakland CA.

How was it? Man where to begin...

A few items to cover the bases if you have never been there or never heard of it. It is a 2 day music festival held at the Indio Polo grounds near Palm Springs CA. The place is huge, it seems like the size of maybe 6 to 8 football fields. There are multiple stages and almost always 5 acts on a stage somewhere at any one time. At one far end is a huge tent where the dance dj's do their sets, and groups like Prodigy perform.

Close to that is an open tent, smaller, and this year I heard some dj's spinning sets and some hip hop acts.

About 40 yards away from that is a semi closed in tent, pretty big, where bands play. Then off in a far corner is the outdoor stage, and near the entrance is the main stage where the biggest bands play.

Like I said there is almost always somebody on these stages all the time. To walk from the big DJ tent to the main stage is about a 10 to 15 minute walk.

They limit the number of tickets they sell so while about 40,000 people are there they could fit in 140,000. We (the paying joes) are glad they don't. You are never in a crush of people unless you want to be. If you are a go to the front type to see your favorite band well you can do that. But I'm not. They have the video screens and since you are in the great outdoors not a football stadium, the sound doesn't bounce all around, it sounds really good. And there are too many bathrooms, food booths, water stations, etc. The lines (if there is one) are pretty short. Oh except when they close off the toilets so they can be cleaned. That's right cleaned out during the event! Takes a few minutes then they open up again.

The bands start around noon, and play until midnight. After the sun sets the desert sky is its usual self, beautiful and huge. Last year French band Air did a beautiful set just as the sun had set behind the mountains west of Indio.

This year the camping sites (tents not rv's) were in a big enclosed area next to the entrance. If you are thinking of camping there it seems like a good deal. But no open fires or cooking. There are some catering food services on site and ins and outs if you want to run into town.

OK so here's my 2005 Coachella (KO-CHELL-A; "chell" like shell with a c in front)

Saturday the plan was to get there early enough to see the Raveonetts at 3:00 then bounce around and end the night with Bauhaus and Coldplay on the main stage. There was a bit of a line to get in but not much. Soon we were making our way to the quick pat down and backpack check, and handing the guy our tickets. When mine got scanned it beeped a few extra times, he looked at my ticket and asked if I had a Saturday ticket! AHH It was back at the hotel! (You can buy one day or 2 tix) So in went my SigOther and back I went with a long walk to the car, and a drive back to the hotel. Got the ticket and came back. It was about 45 minutes later but there was no line to get in, so I finally made it in time to see Keane end their set.

KEANE B+ (didn't see the whole thing)

Ok no worries, it was off to see Rilo Kiley who did a very good set. You can tell that former child actress Jenny Lewis is really comfortable on stage and she has a good band and tight songs. She played some keyboards and her voice sounded great. Very good job. In fact so good we stayed to hear them finish up and missed most of Wilco, but made it over in time to hear the last part of their set. I really like this band and their mix of "normal" songs meets noisy Velvet Underground songs works for me. That's how they ended their set just as it was getting dark. It was one of those hard Coachella choices, to leave Rilo Kiley or hang out and miss some of Wilco.

RILO KILEY A

WILCO B+ (didn't see enough of the set)

So it's 7:40 and time for a dinner break. We walked over to the food booths near the outdoor stage and got some grub. No line. Sweet.

They had some tables set up nearby so you could eat and sit down. We ate and talked to a 40 something guy there with his daughters. He was saying how good the Wilco set was and how he was really looking forward to New Order Sunday night. We agreed. New Order can be a sloppy band live, and for years they weren't very good live at all. But I LOVE their music, all the dance pop hits, and album tracks. But more on them later.

We were facing the outdoor stage while eating and this wild band came on stage, the crowd was going nuts! It sounded like some kind of Red Hot Chili Peppers, but the singer was doing it all in Spanish. A few songs in they were goofing around with a polka song!

We quickly finished up eating and walked (in a brisk fashion) to check them out. It was Cafe Tacuba and they were going crazy! The crowd was way into them and singing along in Spanish, the whole thing was going off! I had heard of the name, but not their music, now I'm a fan.

CAFE TACUBA B

After their set we had until 9:15 to get over to see Bauhaus. Since we weren't Weezer fans it was off to check out Secret Machines. They are a noisy rock band, with some feedback type stuff and a few quiet songs. At their noisiest they reminded me a little of the Jesus and Mary Chain. I hadn't heard of them before, but I really liked it. Bought their CD to listen to on the way home.

SECRET MACHINES B+

Just before they finished up we went over to see Bauhaus. I never saw them the first time around, and well never ever saw them. I am a big fan of Peter Murphy and Love and Rockets, and have seen them both a few times, but I and lots of others were really looking forward to this reunion show. Bauhaus are one of those bands that I think broke up right before they would have been huge. Maybe they saw that coming and didn't want to go thru that I don't know. Among their big songs is a 9 minute Goth anthem "Bela Lugosi's Dead." It was never really a radio hit, but everybody into "alternative rock" knows it. It has a very slow quiet intro and a non stop beat behind the lyrics.

That song had to be either first or last I guessed. I thought it would be last. I was wrong.

It was now Saturday Night as the sunlight was all gone, and time for Bauhaus to start their set. Looking at an unlit stage you could not see much but could hear the light drumbeat that is the intro for "Bela..." Soon the scratchy guitar kicked in then after the long intro the vocals started. You couldn't see much as the stage was barely lit but on the video screen I saw Peter Murphy singing, it looked like he was upside down. I thought it was some kind of camera trick and looked at the stage and there he was hanging by his feet upside down in front of the drum kit singing the song. Like a freaking human bat! As I said it is a long song, about 9 minutes, and he did the whole thing, and did it well, hanging upside down. The band finished up and when the song ended the crowd went nuts. And that is how it started. They did some popular Bauhaus songs, no Love and Rockets, no Peter Murphy solo songs, and the set ended.

Peter might not have been to into the reunion. At the end of the set he thanked the crowd and said "Now you can say you were there." It immediatley reminded me of Johnny Rotten at the last Sex Pistols show who ending it by saying "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Johnny meant it to be directed at their manager Malcolm McLaren, Peter Murphy ending the Bauhaus show that way gave me the impression that it might have been a one time deal. David J, and Daniel Ash played great.

To prove I was there I wanted to buy their Bauhaus t-shirt with the bands big face logo over a set of palm trees, made just for Coachella. No band name on the shirt, no tour dates. Just that "tropical Bauhaus" graphic. It is kind of funny in a way... But alas no XXL.

BAUHAUS A

So now it was either head all the way to the other side for the Chemical Brothers of hang out a bit for Coldplay. My dogs were achin' and I didn't feel like the hike, and I did want to see Coldplay since 1) I play them on KFOG, and 2) they have some new stuff to play from the new cd and 3) I like them.

The band came on to a great response from the crowd. They got lotsa fans. I thought band leader Chris Martin would be be a whiney, piano playing, moody, brit rock star (see Thom Yorke) but he and the band were really fun to see. He tells a few jokes, a few quips, and they have a collection of great songs for such a young band. Live they really make it all work. Chris moves from piano to guitar easily and at one point at the end of a song (maybe "The Scientist"?) he was finishing it up on the piano playing some chords and started to sing "I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain the only thing that's real, the needle tears a hole..." then he stopped and said "Oh wait that's for tomorrow night." I am sure I wasn't the only one hoping he would finish Nine Inch Nails "Hurt"! The crowd got a laugh out of that. Maybe the only time ever anyone would laugh at those lyrics!

They played previous hits and new songs from the new CD. "Speed of Sound" the new single sounded great under that desert sky. "Yellow" had Chris throwing in "Coachella" during the chorus, later admitting it was a "cheesy" thing to do, and on a new song he had everyone take pictures during the end piano section. It was cool.

COLDPALY A+

That was Saturday. Sunday reviews coming soon.

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