These days if you want to get notice you need to bring a flying pig and add royalty to your line-up to get your music festival even mentioned. That’s just what the promoters of the 9th annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival did to stand out in a year that is over-saturated in music festivals. Yes they had Jack Johnson headline Day One, who appears to be playing all of the festivals this year, but they also delivered two legends that shined so bright in the California desert and prove they are the festival to beat.
Time and time again, Coachella has proven to be the must see festival to begin the pre-festival season. In the past they have showcased musical reunions, the latest buzz bands, top name DJ’s and even a Madonna. This year, the talk was all about the fee a certain Minneapolis resident was getting paid to make a rare festival appearance.
All eyes were clearly on Day Two to see if his royal purpleness would live up to the hype and the rumored 4.8 million paycheck he was reportedly paid. I’ve been saying all along, the only way this could possibly be satisfying is for him to play the whole Purple Rain album and bring The Time along for the ride. Well I was half right; Prince opened the show with special guests from his past. Instead of taking the spotlight himself, he passed it to Morris Day and Jerome of The Time appearing on stage to perform the Purple Rain classic, “Jungle Love” and “The Bird.” As the two pranced around, Prince hovered in the shadows adding guitar to the funkalious groove. If this wasn’t enough, next up Shelia E arrived center stage, complete with drum kit, for her big hit “Glamorous Life,” to help deliver one of the best concert openers I have ever witnessed in my life.
Prince backed by a 12-member band, proceeded to tear through a set that included hits like “1999,” “Controversy” and “Little Red Corvette.” If that wasn’t enough, he tackled Radiohead’s “Creep,” added The Beatles’ “Come Together” onto his song “7” and reminded us of the genius that is Prince. Closing on the album he began with, Prince offered up wonderful versions of “Purple Rain” and “Let’s Go Crazy.” Prince perhaps earned every bit of his paycheck with a performance that will surely be talked about all year.
Sunday’s headliner was equally an event, with Roger Waters closing the weekend with a collection of Pink Floyd classics and the Dark Side of the Moon album in it’s entirety. Waters has been playing the almost identical set for the last year or so, yet the setting at the Empire Polo Field, provided the perfect back ground under the stars for the angst driven rebellion visions of Waters.
Waters who strangely looks like Richard Gere these days, came out well tailored in a suit opening the evening with “In the Flesh” and “Mother” from the rock opera, The Wall. Waters never shy to offer his opinions, made political statements and a possible suggestion to the crowd on the Presidential race during the Animals album track “Pigs.” During the song, a two-story high helium filled Pig floated over the Coachella crowd with written phrases like “Don’t be led to the slaughter,” “Fear builds walls” and “Obama” with a checked ballot box on its belly. The floating Pig prop that has been part of Pink Floyd’s stage show for years, was clearly trying to tell us something before it disappeared in the night with the conclusion of the song. An error that has since been offered to the public as a $10,000 reward and 4 tickets for life to the festival for its return (pieces have since been found a few miles from the festival by two neighbors who will share the reward).
Prince, Roger Waters, along with the mellow but likeable Jack Johnson, may have been the headliners, yet they were merely a fraction to the more than 120 artists that performed through the course of the three day festival. The question was often not who you were going to see, but who you decided you could bare to miss.
If you are smart, you drive out to Palm Desert the night before, so you are close by to get an early start to the day of music. Friday started a bit slow for me but I still got out in time to catch Jens Lekman in the Mohave tent before I made my way over to the Outdoor Theater for the New York indie darlings, Vampire Weekend. Next up I popped up on Tegan and Sara so they could tech me the importance of wearing sunscreen under your clothes to protect your breasts. Hey I’m just reporting this, I didn’t say it.
Afterwards I checked out Goldfrapp being her eclectic beautiful self and Aphex Twin being his typical elusive self hiding between his mixer and cables, while Santogold in the Gobi tent proved she’s the next M.I.A. The National seemed afraid to jam out too much perhaps because of their short set who were backed by a wonderful horn section. The Raconteurs were their usual bombastic selves and brought the crowd into a frenzy as the sun set in the horizon. Later in the evening, The Verve gave Jack Johnson a run for his money, as who should have closed the stage the first night. If I was a betting man, I would say The Verve won.
While Jack Johnson was doing his laid back hippie rock and even offering up his take on the Zepplin classic “Whole Lotta Love,” Nicki, Paris and her boyfriend rocker Benji Madden, could be seen making multi-trips to the VIP area for drinks.
Day Two I arrived in time to catch Cold War Kids on the Coachella stage, who opened with some new songs. The multi-instrumentalists kicked ass on the hottest days of the weekend and pleased the crowd with “We Used to Vacation,” “Hang Me Up to Dry” and “Hospital Beds.” Kate Nash sat down at her piano in the Mojave tent and proceeded to tear up the ivories as well as later on guitar. Death Cab for Cutie continued to prove to me they are boring live even though I was happy they played “Soul Meets Body.”
The Outdoor Theater proved to be a good place to plant yourself for a few hours for Rilo Kiley along with a special appearance by uber-producer Mark Ronson. Ronson had a little help from his friends with the likes of Rhymefest, Sam Sparro and The Rumble Strips’ Charlie Waller, Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs and Keena to name just a few. The guests came out to help deliver on takes of songs that included “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face,” “Toxic,” “Just” and even “Back to Black.”
Portishead, who I’m sure were still fluming from being bumped as Saturdays headliners, proved they could recreate their haunting sound in the desert. Backed by a six-piece band, singer Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley offered up nice renditions of “Sour Times,” “Roads” and “Wandering Star.”
Day Three began in the Gobi tent with Sean Penn, yeah the actor Sean Penn. The Oscar-winner, while smoking a cigarette, joked about not being able to perform his rendition of the Celine Dion “Titanic” song and then proceeded to rant and urge the crowd to get involved politically. Penn encouraged the fans to join him on his “Dirty Hands Caravan” biodiesel cross-country bus trip to New Orleans the next day. Though good intentions, the idea may have been lost on a crowd that was there to just dance and listen to music. Still, if he won even a handful it was time well spent on what is becoming a fascinating and historical political year.
Duffy started out rough with sound problems with her set at the Mojave stage but quickly recovered offering up “Rockferry” and “Warwick Avenue.” Gogol Bordello proved he could handle the main stage by delivering their gypsy punk music to the masses. Gogol had to be one of the craziest sets all day with his silly but entertaining theatrics.
Today was kind of my non-committal day and I only briefly caught portions of sets by Metric, Spiritualized and My Morning Jacket. I was torn between Love and Rockets and SIA who were playing the same time, all the while I was biding my time for Roger Waters. In particularly, the special appearance by violinist Lili Haydn during Waters’ set, who appeared twice during “Leaving Beirut” and “Comfortably Numb.”
Coachella has proved once again it’s a must see on my “To Do” list for festivals. Do yourself a favor if you missed this year then buy your tickets early for next year. You never know who they are going to get to reunite next and I’ll already throw out my pick for a headliner –David Bowie. He was a rumor for this year and that to me suggests he’s on their “Wish List” and if anyone can make that happen its Coachella. Let’s just hope it is not with a reunited Tin Machine, no one wants that.
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