I‘ve never made it to a music festival before (largely because I didn’t really get into festival-type music until a few years ago), but when this year’s Coachella featured several of my favorite bands I decided to spring for it, since it’s the biggest festival close enough for me to drive to rather than fly. And even though everything’s overpriced, it’s hotter than Hades, and I ended up only seeing full sets from seven bands rather then the eleven or twelve I wanted to see, it was worth it. The downside is I think I’ve caught the festival bug – I’m drooling over the Lollapalooza lineup Andrew posted the other day.

Anyway, here’s a recap of my subset of Coachella, which woefully underrepresents the available audio overload. Especially since I skipped Sunday altogether – fewer bands I wanted to see meant I didn’t care to spend the money for the extra day and night.

Details of bands after the jump.

FRIDAY

We Are Scientists

Got through the security checkpoint, the ticket takers, the ID check, and the water venders just in time to catch We Are Scientists, which was cool, since I’ve just recently been getting into them. They gave a fairly standard but very satisfying performance. Also got the first taste of the heat – the two outdoor stages were boiling until the sun started going down (at which point it got really chilly – gotta love the desert).

After Hours (from Brain Thrust Mastery) After Hours

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

Los Campesinos!

Thankfully, it was a good ten degrees cooler in the shade of the three smaller tent-covered stages. Los Campesinos! are a Welsh band that have only been around for a couple of years, but already have two full albums out. They’re an awesome band for a lot of reasons. 1) Keyboards + violin in addition to guitars/bass/drums/bocals. 2) Everyone sings! 3) Lots of counterpoint between the girls (mostly Aleks) and boys (mostly Gareth). 4) Lyrics so cynical they’re hilarious paired with music so poppy you can hardly stand it. Seriously, you’re dancing along smiling, then you realize they’re singing about how everyone’s going to die. Alone. Also, the lyrics are really clever – perhaps clever to a fault. 5) Everyone in the band is impossibly attractive. It’s a little ridiculous. Anyway, they put on a great, high-energy show that ended with Gareth (the singer in this shot) climbing on top of the amps and singing from up there. Probably my favorite set, overall, of the festival.

Ways To Make It Through the Wall (from We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed) Ways To Make It Through the Wall

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

Silversun Pickups

I’m embarrassed to say that I actually saw Silversun Pickups at the first real concert I went to, opening for Snow Patrol a couple of years ago – I’m making up for lost time, I swear!. And I didn’t like them at all – too loud and screamy. My tastes have clearly changed (also, they’re less screamy on their albums than live, so that warmed me to them), and SSPU was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to go to Coachella. They’ve just released a new album, Swoon, their first since 2006’s Carnavas, and Coachella was one of the first stops of the promo tour. They were excited, full of energy, and the crowd for them was huge, despite Sir Paul McCartney starting his set on another stage during their set. And can I just express that it’s very cool to see a band with a woman and a keyboardist who are NOT the same person? (Nikki plays the bass.)

Substitution (from Swoon) Substitution
(Also see the video for “Panic Switch” I posted a couple of weeks ago.)

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

See all my photos from Friday

SATURDAY

Ida Maria

I’m counting Norwegian Ida Maria as my discovery of the festival, even though I’d heard her album before. (I didn’t really see anyone I didn’t already know to some degree.) But even though I expected to enjoy her set, she totally blew it out. She had the first slot of the day, but it didn’t matter – she owned it, and judging by the length of the line for CD buying/signing after her set, I wasn’t the only one impressed. She totally went for everything, even to the point of getting tangled up in the mic stand and totally tearing her dress up during the wrenching “Oh My God” – I thought she was going to have a show-stopping wardrobe malfunction for a minute, but she extricated herself without too much trauma. Once she finished the song, that is.

I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked (from A Fortress ‘Round My Heart) I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked

Links
MySpace (this also happens to be one of the best-designed MySpace pages I’ve seen)
Amazon.com MP3

Fleet Foxes

After a long break during which there were no bands I wanted to see (and it was too hot and crowded for stage-surfing for new talent to sound very appealing – funnel cakes and margaritas in the beer garden sounded way more appealing), it was time to head over to the Outdoor Stage, which was apparently the “folk-rock” stage for most of the rest of the night. Fleet Foxes exploded onto my radar when some of my friends saw them at Austin City Limits last year and told me I had to get their CD. They’re a little on the folksy side for me, but I still definitely like them. Their harmonies are to die for, and they can rock out when they want to. At one point the guitarist on the right of the shot played with a bow, which is just cool.

White Winter Hymnal (from Fleet Foxes) White Winter Hymnal

Links
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

Band of Horses

promo photo

I like Band of Horses, but I’m not hugely into them. Mostly, this set was spent jockeying for position while waiting for Jenny Lewis to come on. That’s why I don’t have any of my own pictures for them – things were getting REALLY crowded by this point, and getting my camera out was a bit too much of a hassle. I wish I’d taken a shot or two, though, just so I’d have them.

Is There a Ghost (from Cease to Begin) Is There a Ghost

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

Jenny Lewis

Jenny Lewis is my girl. I’ve seen her three times now, and Rilo Kiley twice, and I still cannot get enough. Therefore, despite the hassle of taking pictures, there are a TON of Jenny Lewis pictures if you click through to my Flickr account (link below). I’m sure her set was the same length as everyone else’s, but it felt really short. Probably also a factor of knowing all the songs. She’s got such presence that even though she’s a tiny little thing, she can just step on stage, and your attention is just drawn to her. Even though her wardrobe on the Acid Tongue tour has been uniformly horrible. Don’t ask me what she’s wearing…I don’t defend her fashion sense, only her music. (It’s obviously something she’s doing on purpose, though, because she had some dang cute looks with Rilo Kiley.) Anyway. Awesome. And totally worth the wait, and the crowd. Incidentally, choosing one song of hers for this? Torture. I was changing it back and forth all the way up until I hit “post.”

See Fernando (from Acid Tongue) See Fernando

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

See all my photos from Saturday

BANDS I’M SORRY I MISSED

Noah and the Whale

promo photo

I don’t know much about Noah and the Whale, but they pop up on my last.fm recommendations all the time, and I really enjoyed them and their twee-ness in my pre-Coachella research. Also, judging from this promo shot I just found, they’re REALLY young. Wow. Unfortunately, it took much longer than expected to get into the parking lot, from the parking lot to the gate, through the gate, and into the park on Friday, and they played one of the first sets. Ah, well.

5 Years Time (from Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down) 5 Years Time

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

The Ting Tings

promo photo

I really did want to see The Ting Tings, the latest and hottest UK import. But by the time Los Campesinos! finished, the Ting Tings’ stage was already packed out (which didn’t surprise me – they got really popular really quickly). Plus, Silversun Pickups and Los Campesinos! were signing during the Ting Tings’ set, so I would’ve had to have left in the middle anyway. So I stayed on the sidelines and just listened to the first song or two. They’re still high on my list to see sometime, though. They’re a little more dance music-y than I usually like, but there’s something infectious about their tunes.

We Walk (from We Started Nothing) We Walk

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

Beirut

promo photo

My initial schedule included seeing Beirut, but because I hadn’t heard their music for a while (and my friend hadn’t heard any), they got pushed to the side in favor of dinner and getting a good spot for Silversun Pickups. Now I regret that decision a bit, because EVERYBODY I’ve talked to said that Beirut was pretty much their favorite set. *sigh* You can’t get to all the winners, I guess.

Scenic World (from Gulag Orkestar) Scenic World

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

promo photo

Yeah Yeah Yeahs were pretty much the only band I wanted to see on Sunday, and my friend doesn’t like them, so it wasn’t really worth the extra $150 or so it would’ve cost to stay, between tickets and hotel. But I’m really loving their new album, which mellows down a bunch from the earlier ones, yet keeps their signature style. Hopefully I’ll get another shot at seeing them sometime.

Hysteric (from It’s Blitz!) Hysteric

Links
Official Site
MySpace
Amazon.com MP3

All photos by me unless otherwise stated; my photos are Creative Commons licensed – feel free to use for any non-commercial use, but please link back to my Flickr account. Thanks!

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