Coachella Festival: Sunday May 2nd

The insurmountable heat that had pervaded the first day of the festival wasn’t forgotten when we woke up Sunday morning; we were all still a little drained from the previous experience. Yet as we got ready and planned to be at the festival around three we didn’t plan to encounter the bloated traffic leading up and into the festival. After more then two hours of “stop and go” traffic we parked in the dusty festival grounds and questioned once again why we were there. Somewhere around this point Gabe stated, “This was my first festival and it’ll probably be my last”. I think Alex, Marco and myself all agreed to that. It just wasn’t worth it to spend two hours packed in traffic waiting to go to a field jammed pack with 50’000 sweaty humans so we could watch music from a distance. We felt like freaking sardines.
Thankfully, by the time we got there the heat was subsiding. Moreover, we got to watch bands like Cursive, Belle and Sebastian and Air as we waited for Sunday’s headliners.

Speaking of those groups for a moment, I must say that I was extremely disappointed with Cursive’s performance. Gabe had mentioned it to me before we entered the festival, but I didn’t believe him until got to see for myself how sloppy and disjointed the band is live. It’s a humongous disappointment for me because they sound so very cool on their album. I guess they’re just a band that shapes up in the studio.
At the very least they weren’t annoying like Belle and Sebastian, who I wanted more then anything to strangle with a stray mike cord. They’re everything a popped up, substance drained version of the Beatles might be: catchy, cheery, pleasant, but utterly detestable.
It goes without saying that we left the main stage before Belle and Sebastian could finish so we could fork over some more cash to the festival’s overpriced food and drink vendors. After that we headed back to the main stage to stake out a spot for the Flaming Lips and watch Air.
I’ll be honest, I loved Air, but I’m positive that it wasn’t Gabe and Marco’s cup of tea. It was electronic music though, and that’s one of those things that you either love or hate.
After Air’s performance we all began to see some of the bands we were especially excited about, like The Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Basement Jaxx and the Cure.

The Flaming Lips
A fan on the official Coachella message board described the Lips’ performance at the festival by simply stating “over the top”, and I think I agree with him. It was loud, bombastic, and just a tad bit cheesy. But it worked in such a phenomenally energizing way that I’m almost positive they would have done better as headliners then the Cure. I can’t bad-mouth the Cure, but I can say that The Flaming Lips were ridiculously good despite the fact that they only played a 4-song set. Most of it was Wayne Coyne playing games with the audience, but they made the night memorable.

Basement Jaxx
After the Flaming Lips I departed for the outdoor theater to watch Basement Jaxx drop some beats on a very welcoming audience. In all truth, there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t hopping under that theater. People left and right were grooving to Jaxx’s piercing trip-hop grooves and thrashing electronic beats. I even wormed my way into the crowd and began to dance.
Around this time Gabe and Marco were watching Mogwai in one of the festival tents. I can’t say how that show was, but both attested that it was loud and enjoyable.

The Cure – Day 2 Headliners
The Cure wrapped up the second day at the Coachella festival, but I’m not a hundred percent sure they were the best way to end what was otherwise a brilliant weekend of musicians. My doubt stems from several different origins though: For one I’m not a big Cure fan. They’ve got some great songs, but I haven’t heard enough of them to get involved in a live performance.
Second, Robert Smith just didn’t seem to be into it. True enough, we were quite a ways away from the main stage, and Smith’s shtick has always been that of the moper. But there was nothing to identify with in his moping that night. His sullen resignation wasn’t that of the disappointed, but rather that of a man who had just wiped the bank clean and didn’t have to give much in return.
Third, we left early to beat the traffic, so we didn’t catch the entire show. Still, reviews have been disappointing. Most everyone crowned the Pixies as the champions of that weekend, not the Cure.

All in all it was a daunting experience. I think we were both overjoyed and disappointed by some of the things that occurred at Coachella. Marco was more then a little unhappy with the festival’s apprehension of nearly everything you brought onto the polo grounds, including bottles of water. The free water the festival provided was really nothing more then water out of a hose. The clots of t-shirt vendors and merchandizing didn’t help abolish the greedy image the festival projected either.
And while the heat was near unspeakable, we’re Phoenix residents. We’ve been through summers numbering in the hundred and twenty-degree range. It wasn’t until we maneuvered around the near endless seas of people that the worst of the weekend came out.
And on a slightly different note, wouldn’t it have made more sense for Modest Mouse to open up for the Flaming Lips on the second day of the festival?
Ah well…