Coachella 2009 Recap

posted Apr 25, 02:50 AM by Rick Webb

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Oh hai. I went to Coachella. For the fifth time. I love coachella. I love the desert. I love the sun. I love renting a vacation house and making breakfast burritos and swimming and then mozeying on over to the Empire Polo Grounds and rocking out.

Ironically, every year, I get lazier and lazier about it. I used to go at like 1 or 2 in the afternoon, now I’m arriving at the field at like 5 or 6, enjoying an hour or two of sun, and then cooling off in the dark, leaving at like 11 or 12. It’s still awesome, though.

This year’s lineup was good, but it was definitely no 2008. Most of the headliners I had seen recently, and though I liked them all, which was nice, there weren’t any insane surprises like Roger Waters and Prince last year. This is not to say there weren’t some amazing things booked: getting Paul McCartney is a coup, no doubt, and Throbbing Gristle? The Orb? Public Enemy? Leonard Cohen? Awesome.

Day One

Day one I got there at 6ish and caught a little of Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band who were the muddled mess they usually are. I am a die hard Conor Fan – one of the best folk shows I ever saw was that dude, sitting there by himself, at the age of like 20 or something, and he blew my mind. But Bright Eyes eventually mushroomed into like ten people, and with the Mystic Valley band it’s even worse. Much like Iron and Wine and Devandra Banhart, Conor needs to ditch the band and be himself. But, then, dude’s got ten times more talent than I do, so he probably shouldn’t listen to me.

Next up was a quick trip around the feild checking out The Bug featuring Warrior Queen which was not my thing, N.A.S.A. which was exactly the type of electronica band that such a name would entail, and then to the main stage for Franz Ferdinand, who were fun and Franz Ferdinand like, and they had one new song that sounded awesome, but really, I do like them but never LOVED THEM.

Then back on over to the second stage for Leonard Cohen. This marks the third show on Leonard’s comeback tour that I’ve caught. It was substantially shorter than the other ones, of course (about 2 hours shorter) but was every bit as awesome, and he had a HUGE crowd, and they set up a secondary, auxiliary speaker column about a hundred yards back so people could hear, and he brought it. “Who by Fire,” “Tower of Song,” “First We Take Manhattan,” and, of course, “Hallelujah,” which the crowd LOVED. I love that little guy. I always have. I am psyched that he’s doing this tour, I’m psyched how endless it’s become, and I’m psyched at how much money he’s making after his evil manager embezzled his life’s earnings.

Anyway, next up was Morrissey, and… ugh. I have obviously loved the Smiths at various points in my life, but… god, it was not my thing this time. I momentarily got slightly excited when he started “Girlfriend in a Coma,” but it was fleeting. His annoying comments (“Are you sick of this yet? I am” and “Oh, dear me, I can barely handle the stench of cooking flesh”) are sometimes funny and clever but this time I was just like “meh.” Dude wears a cape now. Game over.

Skipped Silversun pickups even though we like them in exchange for adventurism – hit Peanut Butter Wolf who is an awesome mashup DJ with videos that was super awesome (especially impressed about his integration of the Pumpkin’s “I am One,” complete with video). Seems to be a lot of good stuff going on in that ream – reminded me of the Bassnectar guy I saw opening for Jane’s in Austin. Beirut were their usual faux-old world, Neutral Milk Hotel wannabe cardigan wearing (or at least considering purchasing) selves, and it got boring pretty quick. Checked out Mike Patton’s new project – Patton & Rahzel – which seems to be beatboxing with distortion effects and it was actually kind of hypnotic and intriguing. A Place to Bury Strangers KILLED IT. I love them live I love how noisy they are and they are like the perfect band in the world.

Then over to the main stage for Paul McCartney. He was great, opened with “Jet,” played a ton of beatles songs, had 300 foot tall HD video screens so everyone could see, and was generally awesome. It was the anniversary of Linda’s death, so that was sad. He played “Blackbird” and “The Long and Winding Road” and “Got To Get You Into My Life” and a bunch of other Beatles songs, and Wings songs. Maybe a bit too many new ones, but it was awesome.

Day 2

Got to the place as Spearhead was finishing up, sadly, and then checked out Henry Rollins, who was doing spoken word but it was pretty cool. Always gotta love Henry. Then a DJ set by The Bloody Beetroots who I have no idea about but if you can get 10,000 people raving in 100 degree heat you must be doing something right. Then we went to see Glasvegas but they were cancelled, sadly, and then Calexico who were doing their Calexico thing which I like on record but have never super gotten into as much as their Giant Sand/Friends of Dean Martinez associates. Then TV On The Radio who were AWESOME. Amazing new super fast version of “Staring at the Sun,” new songs that were awesome, and confidence and great stage presence, and YES. Then Fleet Foxes who are so insanely, perfectly talented and great that you have trouble even believing it’s live. I felt this the first time I saw them last year @ Emo’s, but even moreso now with all these people there. Just perfect. Then a bit of Junior Boys who were kinda boring, then Electric Touch which were actually pretty great in their own special glam rock way. I will check them out again. Then a bit of the Chemical Brothers DJ set, which damn, how awesome would it have been if it was a live set? Then Turbonegro who are so wonderfully insane live that was a great time, then a bit of Glass Candy which was more dance but with giant beach balls and a hot singer, so I’d check that out again.

Then Band of Horses who were doing that whole thing where they open with the rockers (“Great Salt Lake” and, especially” Ghost in my House”) and then settle into mid-tempo tedium. I wish they’d move “Funeral” up their set, too.

Then Thievery Corporation who were so excessive – ten musicians and A DIFFERENT SINGER FOR EVERY SONG. God, tens of thousands of dollars on transatlantic airfares right there. Oh Perry Ferrell was one of the singers.

Then MIA who was a little better than the other times I’ve seen her, but… jesus. Thievery Corporation has ten musicians and ten singers and they can switch from one song to another in seconds, but MIA revels in the between song pause. She doesn’t banter, it’s not for setup, she just DOESN’T FUCKING GET STARTED. And she always has these samples – last year it was a gun shot, this year it was an air horn – and she plays them OVER AND OVER AND OVER until you want to murder someone. Maybe that’s the idea. Maybe it’s experimental. Fuck if I know. I keep giving her a chance and she’s always bordering on disdainful to her audience. Whatever.

Then, finally, the Killers. People harsh on them, but I think they’re a good band. My friend Ryan recently called it – they’re the modern Roxy Music. New Wave, a bit weird, a bit glam, a bit pop. I stayed through the double-pyrotechnics burst of “Mr. Brightside” and “All these things that I have done” which was AWESOME. Left before the encore, but really – how could they top that? Same set more or less as their boston show I saw a few months ago, but the desert environs and pyrotechnics really added to it. Also, their set on this tour involves palm trees, so doing this @ Coachella amongst the real palm trees was kind of genius.

Day 3

Got in around 5:45 and caught the tail end of Peter Bjorn and John as we walked in, and then walked around and caught a smidge of Clipse and then a lot of X who were awesome. Then the Yeah Yeah Yeahs which I have often referred to as the worst live band in the world, but I now must revise that to formerly the worst live band in the world, because those dudes can play now. Karen O’s still kinda useless, but the music is good. Then Paul Weller who was awesome but played not enough Jam and Style Council, but it was great when he did, then a quick peek into The Kills who were great, and Devandra Banhart (see Conor Oberst, above).

Then over to the main stage for My Bloody Valentine. Now. I have seen them. A lot. I saw several shows on the loveless tour. I have seen them since they reunited. They are good live, but every show has been the same. But, then, every show I saw of theirs was in a club. Seeing My Bloody Valentine in a club? A LOUD version of the album. Seeing them in the desert, with 50,000 people? UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE. Oh man. It sounds better. The 15 minute noise opus in the middle of “You Made Me Realize” was wonderful – I was worried they’d shorten it for the masses, but no way. That’s a serious social experiment right there. Seventeen years after they first did it, it still seems insane, progressive, radical. People were curled up, covering their ears, running away, but surprisingly most people stayed and when it was over, the world applauded wildly. I shot it all in HD.

Next up was Public Enemy, who were awesome! YES! 21 years since “It Takes a Nation of Millions” and they’re still awesome. Every song was awesome. They had the whole crew. It was wonderful. I wish I could watch it again and again.

Then The Orb, who got props for being a live electronic act and not just a DJ set, but it was a little slow going.

Then Throbbing Gristle hahahaha. Zomg. Wonderful. I am thrilled I saw them. But they were pretty bad live. I mean, no surprise there. My partner at work and I were talking about it, and how we own something like 25 Throbbing Gristle live albums, and none of them are that good, so why did we expect this show to be any good. But it was fun to see them all, and “Persuasion” was pretty solid, so that’s something.

Then, finally, The Cure, who I love, but had just seen recently. They were playing new stuff, too. No opening it up with “plainsong.” But, I mean, by and large they played the hits people wanted to hear – “Just Like Heaven,” “In Between Days,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” etc. They played a few for the fans – Primary, A Strange Day, Prayers for Rain… The main problem with a cure set is that all the SERIOUSLY AWESOME SHIT is at the end. We left around Primary, and I’m looking at an online setlist now and the end looks awesome – “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,” “The Kiss,” “One Hundred Years,” “M”, “A Forest”, “Play for Today,”... and it looks like they played 40 mins past curfew – with the plug being pulled, ironically, during “grinding halt.” Wow, I wish I stayed. But then I’d not have been home until like 4 AM. And I am old.

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