Hey Hey Scenesters!: Coachella 2010 Day 3

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Coachella 2010 Day 3

FAIL: I was really hoping for smaller crowds for the third day, but I guess since people were forced to buy three-day passes, everyone just ended up showing up for the last day, so it was just as packed as Saturday.

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FAIL: Despite Julian Casablancas' amazing voice (that somehow manages to like he's singing through a bullhorn even though he's not. He has some sort of naturally lo-fi voice), his solo stuff was kind of mediocre. The only thing that was good his most popular track, 11th Dimension, and that just sounded like a remix of a Strokes song. Speaking of The Strokes, I really enjoyed getting to hear Hard To Explain and I'll Try Anything Once live because I'll probably never be able to see The Strokes play in a small venue ever again.

WIN: I was so disappointed by Julian Casablancas that I didn't mind having to leave early to catch Jonsi. I've always thought of him as the male Bjork, and I was reminded of that once again when I saw him on stage with his elaborate Native American getup. It was nice to lay on the grass and listen to his music in the late afternoon, but his last song, Grow Till Tall, made me sit up and pay attention to it in all its epic glory.

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WIN: I have to say Phoenix was absolutely one of the best acts I saw during the entire weekend. For playing such poppy music (which they played PERFECTLY, by the way, set list and everything. They just sounded fantastic live), they had one of the rowdiest crowds I had seen all weekend. There were tons of crowd surfers, giant beach balls, smaller beach balls, and an inflatable monkey. Just like LA Weekly, I was also really surprised that the audience knew all the lyrics to Phoenix's songs. Also they were in the best time slot: it was the perfect soundtrack to a gorgeous sunset. I thought the band was so simple in music and in lighting. I was kind of surprised that their lighting was so minimal for being on the second largest stage, but I really liked that it didn't distract from the band or their music. I was told later on that their lighting technician wasn't able to make it to Coachella, so they had to keep it simple. I don't even want to know how they usually illuminate the stage because in my mind, the show was flawless.

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WIN: Thom Yorke's music was much better suited to the outdoor festival crowd than the indoor theater crowd at The Orpheum. The set was very similar to The Orpheum show, so it didn't seem that new to me, but what was new was the way Yorke really got the crowd going.

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WIN: I was half-expecting The Gorillaz to be on stage as cartoon projections, but all their human counterparts actually came out, dressed like their characters. They put on a good show, got the crowd dancing, and sounded just like their albums. I was a bit disappointed there weren't insane fireworks or something because they were the last big band of the festival.