68,000 strong
Back at last from my 6 day cross-continental trek to sunny California. Got in to San Fran early last Thursday and spent the day wandering the city while Allison was at work. It's definitely one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. I stopped by Amoeba Music which is probably the largest/best CD/vinyl store I've ever been to. I found a number of things there I couldn't find in Boston only a few days before. The night ended rather early so we could rest up for the long drive down to Indio on Friday. It took us 9 hours to make the trip, largely because we had to go through shitty LA traffic. We didn't even stop there and I could tell it was a city I have very little, if any interest in visiting. We got to the Coachella campsite around midnight, which was a good thing too since it was about then that they started sending people away because the promoters had overbooked it.
Let me first say that Indio is in the desert, fairly close to the Mojave. Sure it's in a beautiful little valley with towering mountains and palm trees on every side, but it gets rather hot in the desert. Hot enough that it becomes impossible to sleep past 7:30 am because your tent turns into an oven. The slight breeze you get out in the open only makes it feel like 95 degrees, as opposed to 100. The nights were relatively cool, but by then you're so exhausted from baking in the sun all day you're too beat to enjoy it. That is not to say I didn't have a fucking blast and wouldn't do it again. Though next time you can be damn sure I'll be getting a hotel room...
Here's a list of the bands I got to see Saturday and Sunday (in chronological order):
The Stills
Trail of Dead
Death Cab for Cutie
Sparta
Pixies
Radiohead
!!!
Broken Social Scene
Muse
The Killers
Sage Francis
Cursive
Belle & Sebastian
Air
Prefuse 73
Flaming Lips
Mogwai
The Cure
Ash
Le Tigre
Some groups I should have seen but didn't because other people I wanted to see were playing:
The Rapture
Kraftwerk
Stereolab
Beck (last minute addition!)
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Dizzee Rascal
Danger Mouse
It was rather difficult budgeting time to see everyone I wanted to, and as a result only got to see the full sets by a handfull of bands. But, yeah, it was fucking awesome. The Pixies totally stole the show even though they played for less than an hour and had to play right before Radiohead (who didn't play anything particularly noteworthy). Mogwai, Air, and Broken Social Scene were my other favorites. The Lips were a bit disappointing, but it was quite amusing to see Wayne come out in a giant clear bubble and be rolled around on top of the crowd for the first 10 minutes of their set.
There were a lot of crazy art exhibits too: a giant Tesla coil, a huge red chandelier, and a bunch of fire breathing robots with huge arms that tore apart various props representing fast food chains and cigarette manufacturers.
I long for the day that someone decides to bring a festival like this to east coast and doesn't fuck it up by poor planning. It would have been perfect if not for the heat, and even that was of little concern with such and awesome group of bands playing.
But now I'm back in a Boston and tired and getting over a cold I picked up sometime this weekend. Time for a nice long sleep in my own bed...
Let me first say that Indio is in the desert, fairly close to the Mojave. Sure it's in a beautiful little valley with towering mountains and palm trees on every side, but it gets rather hot in the desert. Hot enough that it becomes impossible to sleep past 7:30 am because your tent turns into an oven. The slight breeze you get out in the open only makes it feel like 95 degrees, as opposed to 100. The nights were relatively cool, but by then you're so exhausted from baking in the sun all day you're too beat to enjoy it. That is not to say I didn't have a fucking blast and wouldn't do it again. Though next time you can be damn sure I'll be getting a hotel room...
Here's a list of the bands I got to see Saturday and Sunday (in chronological order):
The Stills
Trail of Dead
Death Cab for Cutie
Sparta
Pixies
Radiohead
!!!
Broken Social Scene
Muse
The Killers
Sage Francis
Cursive
Belle & Sebastian
Air
Prefuse 73
Flaming Lips
Mogwai
The Cure
Ash
Le Tigre
Some groups I should have seen but didn't because other people I wanted to see were playing:
The Rapture
Kraftwerk
Stereolab
Beck (last minute addition!)
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Dizzee Rascal
Danger Mouse
It was rather difficult budgeting time to see everyone I wanted to, and as a result only got to see the full sets by a handfull of bands. But, yeah, it was fucking awesome. The Pixies totally stole the show even though they played for less than an hour and had to play right before Radiohead (who didn't play anything particularly noteworthy). Mogwai, Air, and Broken Social Scene were my other favorites. The Lips were a bit disappointing, but it was quite amusing to see Wayne come out in a giant clear bubble and be rolled around on top of the crowd for the first 10 minutes of their set.
There were a lot of crazy art exhibits too: a giant Tesla coil, a huge red chandelier, and a bunch of fire breathing robots with huge arms that tore apart various props representing fast food chains and cigarette manufacturers.
I long for the day that someone decides to bring a festival like this to east coast and doesn't fuck it up by poor planning. It would have been perfect if not for the heat, and even that was of little concern with such and awesome group of bands playing.
But now I'm back in a Boston and tired and getting over a cold I picked up sometime this weekend. Time for a nice long sleep in my own bed...