7.5.06

coachella (slight return)


I posted some of my Coachella pix on my Flickr page if anyone is interested.

Starting off with the crap, I was really disappointed with Sigur Ros. I was looking forward to them, as they are one of my faves. I don't know what it was, but their show didn't translate for an outdoor festival like this. They're much better indoors.

Gnarls Barkley, I really dig that song "Crazy" and they weren't too bad. It was just that it seemed like everyone was hyped about them and the tent was absolutely packed. We were actually hangin' outside, about 20-30 feet from the entrance, so they kinda got lost in the mix.

A couple other dudes who were okay were Common and Kanye West. Common's DJ was pretty cool, but the rest of the set didn't do a lot for me. Kanye was slightly amusing when he played A-ha's "Take On Me" (claiming it was one of his all-time favorite songs) and busted out some 80s style moves, but that was about it.

Luckily, Seu Jorge didn't have that kinda crowd and we were actually able to get into the tent. If you're like me, you first heard of him from watching him do David Bowie covers in portuguese in the film, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. He's got an album of his own tunes, called "Cru", that's very worth checking out. His voice is excellent and he puts on an energetic live show.

If there had been a roof on the Outdoor Stage, Mogwai would have blown it off. They were simply amazing. I love these guys and they didn't disappoint. I kinda wanted to check out Madonna, but she and Mogwai were playing the same time slot. You know who won out that one.

I popped my Depeche Mode cherry, and they were excellent. More guitars/bass/drums than I expected, although I've heard that they were strictly synths way back when. I'm a casual fan, and I have a handful of their albums, but now I can say I've seen them at least once. I liked the stuff they played from Violator as that's my favorite album of theirs.

Massive Attack
pretty much fit Stef's description. I like their albums but their live show is pretty fucking dull. It was nice to hear "Angel", though. That song is gorgeous.

Tool, well, what can I say, I'm a fan. They can do no wrong to my ears. They played a tight, but short, set. The musicianship is great, the songs are great, the new album is great, I love it, BLAH X3.

Anyways, that's all I can think about at the moment. It'll probably be quiet around here for a bit as I'm going on vacation starting this week.

4 comments:

Stef said...

Sounds like a good festival, Mogwai do indeed rock :-)

To be honest though, I'm not really a big fan of festivals for all the reasons you mentioned: bands being lost in the mix, one tent being crowded while another is empty, some styles of music just not working in a big field... Everything is good in a small club.

I hear though that coachella is the cleanest festival in the world, they even have toilet roll! Is that true?!

robot hero said...

Yeah, they have rolls in the toilets. I don't know if it's the cleanest festival in the world, but it seems like they try. It could probably be much, much worse.

Coachella is usually the one festival I set my sights on, I'm not really a fan of festivals either. Once in a while is cool, though. I've seen some pretty cool acts there, so it's worth the trip once a year.

Stef said...

I'm planning on trying to get to a festival this year but nothing has really grabbed me.

Glastonbury is of course the classic but a) it's not on this year and b) the chance of getting tickets is 100-1.

Butt-fingers!

Anonymous said...

Butt-fingers!?!?! Hahahahaha! Word of the day!