 |
| Image via Coachella |
It's that time of year again. Somehow the two-weekend formula was a success and is happening again this year. I always thought it would be better to go to Coachella the first weekend because you would get to experience everything first and not have the surprises spoiled for you, but Doug makes a good point about how there are different special guests the second weekend, so I guess the surprise element is still there. And when I think about it, it would be nice to find out which shows are worth seeing after the fact; it would help me narrow down my usual long list of singers / bands to watch. Still, I feel like all the craziness and hype of the festival pretty much dies down after Weekend 1.
I dub this year, the Coachella of the early 2000s. There are some bands that I currently like, but a ton that I used to love back in college and high school, which adds to my excitement because now I finally get to see them live when I missed the opportunity back in the day.
Many people are disappointed by the headliners. The Stone Roses I'm a bit surprised by, but Blur, YES! Some don't think Phoenix deserves to be on the big stage yet, but I get it; they've been extremely popular in the past year and have been used in a lot of commercials. I hear their songs on the radio all the time. But Red Hot Chili Peppers? I'm so tired of everything they did off Californication and beyond.
Top picks for Coachella:
Friday
- Band of Horses
- Beach House
- Blur
- Divine Fits - I'm a Spoon fan
- Foals
- Four Tet
- Johnny Marr
- Local Natives - already digging their new album Hummingbird
- Modest Mouse
- Of Monsters and Men
- Stars
- The Stone Roses
- Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Japanese ska / jazz goodness
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - I found Fever to Tell kind of annoying, but I didn't mind Show Your Bones. Karen O has an interesting voice. I'd be curious to hear her live.
- Descendents
- Franz Ferdinand - I've ALWAYS wanted to see them live
- Grizzly Bear
- Hot Chip - one of my favorite electro bands
- Janelle Monáe - adore the The ArchAndroid and Metropolis
- Jason Bentley
- Major Lazer
- Moby DJ Set - sad how he would have been a headliner at peak of his popularity and now he's been relegated to the third line.
- New Order
- Phoenix
- Sigur Ros
- The Postal Service - YES!
- The Wombats
- The XX - hopefully, the audio is much better than when they played at the festival 2 years ago. Also hoping they're in a tent this time
- Two Door Cinema Club
- Vintage Trouble - based off of seeing the lead singer in a plaid suited performance on David Letterman. Guy who can rock a plaid suit probably rocks live.
- Violent Femmes
- Cloud Nothings
- Grimes
- La Roux
- Red Hot Chili Peppers - MAYBE just to hear some old songs
- Rodriguez
- Social Distortion
- The Airborne Toxic Event
- The Faint
- The Lumineers - ok, so Ho Hey is forever associated with Hawaii in my brain because of the Bing commercial that started airing when I came back from Oahu. I can't not like them. The song brings back good memories...
- Vampire Weekend
