It's that time of year: Coachella, day one
First of all, it's a great news day: my wife, after 17 months of unemployment, has just gotten a job. So we're both back working, and this is a wonderful thing.
The timing works well too -- she starts next Monday, meaning we had last weekend to enjoy the Coachella Music Festival. As my faithful readers know, Coachella is very important to Tamara and me. We got engaged there in 2003, and this year is the seventh time we have gone. This year, Goldenvoice changed their policy and you could only buy 3-day passes, rather than mixing and matching multiple days. On the plus side, this ended up making some things easier (in-n-out of the venue, for example). But it also meant more money (we would have only gone for Sat and Sun), and actually more people (even with only 3-day passes, the event sold out @75,000 tix). The event was also a week earlier this year, which meant slightly cooler temperatures -- in the high-80s or low 90s each day.
Having done all three days once before (in 2007), we knew that we were going to have to pace ourselves a bit, especially being old folk...
Friday, we headed out to the venue, and facing horrible traffic, wound our way around and found the easiest back way into the event we have ever found. Bonus! And we ended up in the venue earlier than planned (around 4pm). Since we didn't have anyone in particular to see, we headed over to the Sahara tent (where there is non-stop dance music), found a bit of shade and settled in. No more than 10 minutes later, a stunning early-20s woman bounced up to us, asked if she could sit down, and proceeded to tell us how cool it was that older folks like us were sharing the experience. While we were taken a wee bit aback, she was so cute and earnest and charming that we didn't really care. She then gave each of us a homemade bead bracelet and bounced off with her equally cute (male) best friend.
So, back to the music. We had been thinking we'd go see She & Him (Zoe Deschanel's band), but we ended up really liking Aeroplane, a (French?) House act at the Sahara tent, and hung out there, before heading over to the main stage to see The Specials. WOW! While the band is a wee bit long in the tooth, they played an outstanding set -- energetic, tight, and so much fun. I was a wee bit sad they didn't play "Ghost Town", but otherwise, they were outstanding.
We stayed at the main stage to catch the first half of Them Crooked Vultures, Dave Grohl's latest venture (with John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin and Joshua ? from Queens of the Stone Age). While neither Tamara nor I particularly loved the style of the music, the musicianship was outstanding, and we enjoyed the 30 mins or so we saw.
Next was Echo & the Bunnymen. I am a huge fan of theirs, and have been since the 80s, so I was really excited to see them. But they were a bit underwhelming. Not bad, but lower energy than I would have hoped, and I was not thrilled with their song choices (although, they did a fun cover of "Walk on the Wild Side").
From there, we scooted over to the Mojave Tent to catch Imogen Heap, a late add to the lineup, and someone we've really wanted to see. But there's something cursed about the Mojave tent. In prior years, Cat Power, Ladytron, TV on the Radio, and Goldfrapp have all had sound/technical/instrument problems in that tent. Imogen fell prey to the curse too -- she had mixing and instrument issues throughout. That said, she was disarming and rolled with the punches as well as she could. And when the sound was clear her voice was truly beautiful...
Finally, we headed back to the Sahara tent for Benny Benassi. He spun a great set, and Tamara was dancing up a storm. We were fading fast though, so we headed back to the car and apparently missed an outstanding set from Deadmau5. But we did get to soak in a hot tub and the get lots of delicous, sweet sleep...
The timing works well too -- she starts next Monday, meaning we had last weekend to enjoy the Coachella Music Festival. As my faithful readers know, Coachella is very important to Tamara and me. We got engaged there in 2003, and this year is the seventh time we have gone. This year, Goldenvoice changed their policy and you could only buy 3-day passes, rather than mixing and matching multiple days. On the plus side, this ended up making some things easier (in-n-out of the venue, for example). But it also meant more money (we would have only gone for Sat and Sun), and actually more people (even with only 3-day passes, the event sold out @75,000 tix). The event was also a week earlier this year, which meant slightly cooler temperatures -- in the high-80s or low 90s each day.
Having done all three days once before (in 2007), we knew that we were going to have to pace ourselves a bit, especially being old folk...
Friday, we headed out to the venue, and facing horrible traffic, wound our way around and found the easiest back way into the event we have ever found. Bonus! And we ended up in the venue earlier than planned (around 4pm). Since we didn't have anyone in particular to see, we headed over to the Sahara tent (where there is non-stop dance music), found a bit of shade and settled in. No more than 10 minutes later, a stunning early-20s woman bounced up to us, asked if she could sit down, and proceeded to tell us how cool it was that older folks like us were sharing the experience. While we were taken a wee bit aback, she was so cute and earnest and charming that we didn't really care. She then gave each of us a homemade bead bracelet and bounced off with her equally cute (male) best friend.
So, back to the music. We had been thinking we'd go see She & Him (Zoe Deschanel's band), but we ended up really liking Aeroplane, a (French?) House act at the Sahara tent, and hung out there, before heading over to the main stage to see The Specials. WOW! While the band is a wee bit long in the tooth, they played an outstanding set -- energetic, tight, and so much fun. I was a wee bit sad they didn't play "Ghost Town", but otherwise, they were outstanding.
We stayed at the main stage to catch the first half of Them Crooked Vultures, Dave Grohl's latest venture (with John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin and Joshua ? from Queens of the Stone Age). While neither Tamara nor I particularly loved the style of the music, the musicianship was outstanding, and we enjoyed the 30 mins or so we saw.
Next was Echo & the Bunnymen. I am a huge fan of theirs, and have been since the 80s, so I was really excited to see them. But they were a bit underwhelming. Not bad, but lower energy than I would have hoped, and I was not thrilled with their song choices (although, they did a fun cover of "Walk on the Wild Side").
From there, we scooted over to the Mojave Tent to catch Imogen Heap, a late add to the lineup, and someone we've really wanted to see. But there's something cursed about the Mojave tent. In prior years, Cat Power, Ladytron, TV on the Radio, and Goldfrapp have all had sound/technical/instrument problems in that tent. Imogen fell prey to the curse too -- she had mixing and instrument issues throughout. That said, she was disarming and rolled with the punches as well as she could. And when the sound was clear her voice was truly beautiful...
Finally, we headed back to the Sahara tent for Benny Benassi. He spun a great set, and Tamara was dancing up a storm. We were fading fast though, so we headed back to the car and apparently missed an outstanding set from Deadmau5. But we did get to soak in a hot tub and the get lots of delicous, sweet sleep...