Coachella 2011: Day 1
Yep, it's that time again! Tamara and I just got back from our 8th Coachella Music Festival. As always, we had an amazing time.
Goldenvoice kept the same rules in place as last year: no single-day tickets, only 3-day tickets were available. But this year they really cracked down on event crashers (which apparently has been a much bigger issue than we thought) and sent all attendees wristbands with chips in them that prevented forgery -- no one was allowed into the grounds at all without one. They also expanded the grounds, which helped make it seem less crowded this year.
As always, we were staying at my mom and step-dad's place, which is only a few miles from the venue. And, as always, the heat was on -- over the past 10 years of the festival, the temperature has been higher than average. It's to the point that locals say that it's the event that brings the heat. On Thursday, the high was in the mid-80s. On Fri-Sat-Sun, the temp was 94-99-98. On Monday, the temp dropped back into the 80s. We both drove out to the desert on Thursday, in separate cars, as I had to be back at work early Monday.
On Friday, we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there, not knowing what the parking madhouse would be like, but all-in-all it was a piece of cake, as was getting into the venue (apart from it being a loooong walk. As mentioned, the grounds were bigger this year -- they moved the merchandise store, the ferris wheel, and a lot of the food vendors up into a new area, which opened a ton of space. The tents were all bigger, and it allowed them to move the second stage further from the main stage, which meant less noise pollution between them than in years past.
After a bit of a tour, we settled in in front of the main stage for Cee-Lo Green. We both like his disc, and Tamara is especially fond of him. Unfortunately, he was very late getting on -- more than 30 minutes -- and rather than be apologetic about it, he took the opportunity to bitch about his set time. His set included both "Fuck you" and "Crazy", but the sound was muddy, and when he tried to go long, they cut his mike. Probably due to issues in past years, they were very strict with set times. It was a disappointing beginning to the music.
Things turned around very quickly, though, when Lauryn Hill came on next(http://youtu.be/m1ifLzTZqGo). She was a little late, but had none of the diva attitude of Cee-Lo, and she turned in an outstanding set. I've always thought she was an incredible talent, and "The Miseducation..." is still one of my favorite albums. She was charming and had everyone up dancing and singing along. I know she's going to be touring; hopefully some good new music is in the works as well.
After Lauryn Hill, we moved over to the Sahara tent (the "rave" tent, for lack of a better word). The temperature was ideal and we caught the second half of Afrojack's set (decent house music: http://youtu.be/BvjpNQykpKw). In past years, we've spent a lot of time at the Sahara tent, but this year, whether because of the mix of bands or timing, we really didn't.
After dinner, it was over to the Gobi tent to catch Marina and the Diamonds. Generically somewhere in the neighborhood of Kate Nash/Florence and the Machine/Katy Perry (very eclectic pop, female singer: http://youtu.be/n1VTcJfL7RE) and maybe a bit of Amanda Palmer (although lighter), Marina Diamandis has a voice that evokes Lene Lovich, and while we weren't bowled over, it was a good, fun set and she has really good stage presence.
Next came Monarchy. We knew nothing about them, but liked the snippet Coachella.com had linked to them. Every year, there's a surprise band we discover at Coachella, and this year Monarchy was it. They put on a great set; the musicianship was tight and clean, the performance was crisp, and the music was really good dance music/electronic pop with a New Wave undercurrent (http://youtu.be/2w_1-GeaWCk). They blew us away.
From there, we mosied back to the Sahara tent to catch Sasha. Sasha is so old school progressive house (http://youtu.be/xyBi-omSdGY), he's almost as old as I am. His set was competent, but didn't really catch fire, so we cut out after about a half hour and walked over to catch Robyn. The Swedish Pink (as in the singer) is how I think of her, and while she was fun and energetic, I was really only interested in hearing her version of "Cobrastyle,"(http://youtu.be/1zVECruSI3k) which I love.
Finally, we walked back to the main stage to catch The Chemical Brothers, and it was a great ending to the day. I love The Chemical Brothers (http://youtu.be/p5NX1FC-7-w), and they are such pros. Great visuals, great songs, and impossible-to-sit-down beats...
And, tired as hell but high on a great first day, we drove home (got out of the lot easily!), had a lovely soak in the hot tub, and collapsed into bed...
Goldenvoice kept the same rules in place as last year: no single-day tickets, only 3-day tickets were available. But this year they really cracked down on event crashers (which apparently has been a much bigger issue than we thought) and sent all attendees wristbands with chips in them that prevented forgery -- no one was allowed into the grounds at all without one. They also expanded the grounds, which helped make it seem less crowded this year.
As always, we were staying at my mom and step-dad's place, which is only a few miles from the venue. And, as always, the heat was on -- over the past 10 years of the festival, the temperature has been higher than average. It's to the point that locals say that it's the event that brings the heat. On Thursday, the high was in the mid-80s. On Fri-Sat-Sun, the temp was 94-99-98. On Monday, the temp dropped back into the 80s. We both drove out to the desert on Thursday, in separate cars, as I had to be back at work early Monday.
On Friday, we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there, not knowing what the parking madhouse would be like, but all-in-all it was a piece of cake, as was getting into the venue (apart from it being a loooong walk. As mentioned, the grounds were bigger this year -- they moved the merchandise store, the ferris wheel, and a lot of the food vendors up into a new area, which opened a ton of space. The tents were all bigger, and it allowed them to move the second stage further from the main stage, which meant less noise pollution between them than in years past.
After a bit of a tour, we settled in in front of the main stage for Cee-Lo Green. We both like his disc, and Tamara is especially fond of him. Unfortunately, he was very late getting on -- more than 30 minutes -- and rather than be apologetic about it, he took the opportunity to bitch about his set time. His set included both "Fuck you" and "Crazy", but the sound was muddy, and when he tried to go long, they cut his mike. Probably due to issues in past years, they were very strict with set times. It was a disappointing beginning to the music.
Things turned around very quickly, though, when Lauryn Hill came on next(http://youtu.be/m1ifLzTZqGo). She was a little late, but had none of the diva attitude of Cee-Lo, and she turned in an outstanding set. I've always thought she was an incredible talent, and "The Miseducation..." is still one of my favorite albums. She was charming and had everyone up dancing and singing along. I know she's going to be touring; hopefully some good new music is in the works as well.
After Lauryn Hill, we moved over to the Sahara tent (the "rave" tent, for lack of a better word). The temperature was ideal and we caught the second half of Afrojack's set (decent house music: http://youtu.be/BvjpNQykpKw). In past years, we've spent a lot of time at the Sahara tent, but this year, whether because of the mix of bands or timing, we really didn't.
After dinner, it was over to the Gobi tent to catch Marina and the Diamonds. Generically somewhere in the neighborhood of Kate Nash/Florence and the Machine/Katy Perry (very eclectic pop, female singer: http://youtu.be/n1VTcJfL7RE) and maybe a bit of Amanda Palmer (although lighter), Marina Diamandis has a voice that evokes Lene Lovich, and while we weren't bowled over, it was a good, fun set and she has really good stage presence.
Next came Monarchy. We knew nothing about them, but liked the snippet Coachella.com had linked to them. Every year, there's a surprise band we discover at Coachella, and this year Monarchy was it. They put on a great set; the musicianship was tight and clean, the performance was crisp, and the music was really good dance music/electronic pop with a New Wave undercurrent (http://youtu.be/2w_1-GeaWCk). They blew us away.
From there, we mosied back to the Sahara tent to catch Sasha. Sasha is so old school progressive house (http://youtu.be/xyBi-omSdGY), he's almost as old as I am. His set was competent, but didn't really catch fire, so we cut out after about a half hour and walked over to catch Robyn. The Swedish Pink (as in the singer) is how I think of her, and while she was fun and energetic, I was really only interested in hearing her version of "Cobrastyle,"(http://youtu.be/1zVECruSI3k) which I love.
Finally, we walked back to the main stage to catch The Chemical Brothers, and it was a great ending to the day. I love The Chemical Brothers (http://youtu.be/p5NX1FC-7-w), and they are such pros. Great visuals, great songs, and impossible-to-sit-down beats...
And, tired as hell but high on a great first day, we drove home (got out of the lot easily!), had a lovely soak in the hot tub, and collapsed into bed...