cosmo105
05-01-2005, 02:29 PM
so yeah, i only went Saturday, and we got there a little late, but hey, if anyone else here went, share your experience too. :)
It was awesome. of course. we had an amazing time. the only thing about Coachella is that there's so much to do, that you can't possibly catch it all, so you have to choose which bands to watch and which to miss. difficult when you love most of the acts there. we got there at about 2 but didn't get in until at least 3. the lines (bathroom and entrance) were nuts. i don't know why they don't just expand, because, you know, 40,000 FUCKING PEOPLE GO EACH DAY. anyway. we got in and caught a few minutes of the Raveonettes. i've never been too excited about them. any band that does a Target commercial is pretty "eh" in my book, no matter what the critics say about them. they were cute, i guess.
after checking out the area for a while, we got in close to the main stage to watch Snow Patrol, one of Steger's favorite bands. i'm assuming they took the Doves' spot, because they bowed out a few days ago due to throat problems for the lead singer. this bummed a lot of people out, apparently. the coachella messageboards were covered with threads of people having hissyfits about it. steger was quite bummed too. he loves them and was really looking forward to seeing them. :( but they'll make up for it with a west coast tour, so yay.
anway, Snow Patrol was really great. they aren't THAT well known here yet, but i saw quite a few people singing along to them. a lot of people looked confused - who are these skinny irish guys? but i think the crowd enjoyed them. the lead singer seemed really genuinely grateful to be there. their set was high-energy and the sound was great.
after getting some overpriced food (16 bucks for a hamburger, a veggie burger, and a bottle of coke), we caught a little bit of Rilo Kiley's set. i'm a huge fan of them (my blades are 3 feet long), and i've seen them at least 7 times before (i've kind of lost count). their new album leaves a lot to be desired. it's not that they "sold out" or anything - it's not really poppy - it's just not up to par with their older material. i feel like such a snob saying that, but it's true. anyway, it's good to see them getting the success they deserve. you've never seen so many scene kids in one place. some of the crowd obviously only knew their single and maybe a couple songs from the new album. the crowd was definitely feeling it, though. the response after every song was very positive. i fucking love Jenny Lewis. only she can be so cute and petite and scream an obscenity and retain that cuteness. i want to take her home in a cage and put her in a little dress and throw things at her to make her sing for me.
we cut out of Rilo Kiley for Wilco. they were nothing short of incredible. i was wondering how the songs would stand up outside of the studio, and they were every bit as beautiful, intricate, and epic live as recorded. apparently they were supposed to play last year but Jeff Tweedy's drug problems forced them to cancel (and were the driving creative force behind A Ghost Is Born). he's been clean for a while now, woo. a little bit of the crowd looked confused as to why a band was playing songs for so long - more than 5 minutes! GASP! but the performance was so good, you had to watch. they are really talented musicians, and the songwriting is genius. Steger and i were so happy that they played Spiders (Kidsmoke) toward the end. it lasted at least 10, probably 12 minutes. and it wasn't any ridiculous note-stretching or drawn-out feedback, either. it was solid ROCKING OUT. loved it.
watched a little bit of Weezer's set, but they haven't impressed me too much lately, so we didn't stay long. Rivers' rock vision kind of scares me. he should stay off the cocaina or whatever he was doing...anyway, we're seeing them for free in vegas in two months. we were much more interested in catching...
The Secret Machines. If you haven't checked this band out by now, you are missing out. Seriously. Knuckles will back me up on this one. They are BITCHIN'. I missed them at the Troubador a few months back, so i was really excited to see them here. They came out a good 15 minutes late. finally they arrived onstage and pretty much decimated everyone's eardrums. i've been to a lot of concerts - a lot - and have stood in front of a lot of speakers. but i have never, ever experienced a show that loud. i was seriously deafened the rest of the night. (y) and it was in an outdoor tent! anyway. i think a lot of the people there hadn't heard any of their material yet, and were blown away by it. they're such good musicians. the drummer is insane. every picture i have of him is like this (http://img146.echo.cx/img146/8466/im0006106vg.jpg). i've never heard a drummer keep such good time. really, this was one of the best performances i've ever seen. they hit every single note perfectly, each song unfolded like a novel, climaxing, then leading right in to the next operatic track. beautiful. they'll change your life.
wanted to catch Bloc Party, but the crowd surged forward after the Secret Machines, so we decided to cut out while we could. Ate some more overpriced food ($8 for a vegan "chicken" wrap - but damn it was good. they didn't even HAVE vegan food 2 years ago. they said they'd have veggie burgers, but they didn't. they only had some extremely bland excuse for mediterranean food. this stuff was awesome. all kinds of vegan and organic choices. they even had vegan brownies and carrot cake. squee!), we made fun of Bauhaus. Oh, goths. silly, silly goths.
we got as close as we could for the next act - Coldplay. i'm not that into them, but Steger is obsessed. They came out pretty much on time. Chris Martin is quite the frontman. he really knows how to work the crowd. he's not pompous by any means - in fact, downright self-depricating at times - which is endearing. He realizes that Coldplay is huge, but he's very grateful for their success. at least that's the impression that i get. anyway, their new material was received pretty well. it has a lot more depth than what i've heard from them previously. you could say their single, "Speed of Sound" is kind of a "Clocks" Junior, and it does sound very similar. but it's good. they have a sound, and i guess they're sticking to it. They put on a really great show, a good closing act. you couldn't help but enjoy it.
all in all, we had an amazing time, and can't wait to go next year. we are EXHAUSTED, though. and we really need to shower. :(
highlights:
the actor that portrayed Pedro in Napolean Dynamite introduced Rilo Kiley, wearing a VOTE FOR PEDRO shirt. everyone cheered. i proceeded to kill 10 people with my bare hands.*
The aging hippie chicks behind us freaking out to Wilco's extended jams were pretty entertaining. rolling their eyes and flailing their arms and smiling at everyone. (y)
the guy next to Steger during the Secret Machines was VERY friendly. he told us about how they were at the Troubador show that i missed, down to every last detail of their entrance; offered Steger a hit; closed his eyes and bopped back and forth through every track; and, my personal favorite - screamed like a woman at one point. nice guy. chain smoker, though
meeting Skye. what a sweetheart. needs to shower, though.*
Bauhaus. hahahaha. oh those goths. worth mentioning again. hahaha. whew.
Steger trying to hit the high notes during Coldplay. for those that don't know, he has a very deep voice. so when he's singing "youuuu...are..." right next to your ear, it's quite an experience. it was great to see him so happy though. aww *mush*
Chris Martin replacing the word "yellow" with "Coachella." SILLY CHRIS MARTIN!
the hour it took us to get out of the parking lot. YEAH!
*may not have happened
It was awesome. of course. we had an amazing time. the only thing about Coachella is that there's so much to do, that you can't possibly catch it all, so you have to choose which bands to watch and which to miss. difficult when you love most of the acts there. we got there at about 2 but didn't get in until at least 3. the lines (bathroom and entrance) were nuts. i don't know why they don't just expand, because, you know, 40,000 FUCKING PEOPLE GO EACH DAY. anyway. we got in and caught a few minutes of the Raveonettes. i've never been too excited about them. any band that does a Target commercial is pretty "eh" in my book, no matter what the critics say about them. they were cute, i guess.
after checking out the area for a while, we got in close to the main stage to watch Snow Patrol, one of Steger's favorite bands. i'm assuming they took the Doves' spot, because they bowed out a few days ago due to throat problems for the lead singer. this bummed a lot of people out, apparently. the coachella messageboards were covered with threads of people having hissyfits about it. steger was quite bummed too. he loves them and was really looking forward to seeing them. :( but they'll make up for it with a west coast tour, so yay.
anway, Snow Patrol was really great. they aren't THAT well known here yet, but i saw quite a few people singing along to them. a lot of people looked confused - who are these skinny irish guys? but i think the crowd enjoyed them. the lead singer seemed really genuinely grateful to be there. their set was high-energy and the sound was great.
after getting some overpriced food (16 bucks for a hamburger, a veggie burger, and a bottle of coke), we caught a little bit of Rilo Kiley's set. i'm a huge fan of them (my blades are 3 feet long), and i've seen them at least 7 times before (i've kind of lost count). their new album leaves a lot to be desired. it's not that they "sold out" or anything - it's not really poppy - it's just not up to par with their older material. i feel like such a snob saying that, but it's true. anyway, it's good to see them getting the success they deserve. you've never seen so many scene kids in one place. some of the crowd obviously only knew their single and maybe a couple songs from the new album. the crowd was definitely feeling it, though. the response after every song was very positive. i fucking love Jenny Lewis. only she can be so cute and petite and scream an obscenity and retain that cuteness. i want to take her home in a cage and put her in a little dress and throw things at her to make her sing for me.
we cut out of Rilo Kiley for Wilco. they were nothing short of incredible. i was wondering how the songs would stand up outside of the studio, and they were every bit as beautiful, intricate, and epic live as recorded. apparently they were supposed to play last year but Jeff Tweedy's drug problems forced them to cancel (and were the driving creative force behind A Ghost Is Born). he's been clean for a while now, woo. a little bit of the crowd looked confused as to why a band was playing songs for so long - more than 5 minutes! GASP! but the performance was so good, you had to watch. they are really talented musicians, and the songwriting is genius. Steger and i were so happy that they played Spiders (Kidsmoke) toward the end. it lasted at least 10, probably 12 minutes. and it wasn't any ridiculous note-stretching or drawn-out feedback, either. it was solid ROCKING OUT. loved it.
watched a little bit of Weezer's set, but they haven't impressed me too much lately, so we didn't stay long. Rivers' rock vision kind of scares me. he should stay off the cocaina or whatever he was doing...anyway, we're seeing them for free in vegas in two months. we were much more interested in catching...
The Secret Machines. If you haven't checked this band out by now, you are missing out. Seriously. Knuckles will back me up on this one. They are BITCHIN'. I missed them at the Troubador a few months back, so i was really excited to see them here. They came out a good 15 minutes late. finally they arrived onstage and pretty much decimated everyone's eardrums. i've been to a lot of concerts - a lot - and have stood in front of a lot of speakers. but i have never, ever experienced a show that loud. i was seriously deafened the rest of the night. (y) and it was in an outdoor tent! anyway. i think a lot of the people there hadn't heard any of their material yet, and were blown away by it. they're such good musicians. the drummer is insane. every picture i have of him is like this (http://img146.echo.cx/img146/8466/im0006106vg.jpg). i've never heard a drummer keep such good time. really, this was one of the best performances i've ever seen. they hit every single note perfectly, each song unfolded like a novel, climaxing, then leading right in to the next operatic track. beautiful. they'll change your life.
wanted to catch Bloc Party, but the crowd surged forward after the Secret Machines, so we decided to cut out while we could. Ate some more overpriced food ($8 for a vegan "chicken" wrap - but damn it was good. they didn't even HAVE vegan food 2 years ago. they said they'd have veggie burgers, but they didn't. they only had some extremely bland excuse for mediterranean food. this stuff was awesome. all kinds of vegan and organic choices. they even had vegan brownies and carrot cake. squee!), we made fun of Bauhaus. Oh, goths. silly, silly goths.
we got as close as we could for the next act - Coldplay. i'm not that into them, but Steger is obsessed. They came out pretty much on time. Chris Martin is quite the frontman. he really knows how to work the crowd. he's not pompous by any means - in fact, downright self-depricating at times - which is endearing. He realizes that Coldplay is huge, but he's very grateful for their success. at least that's the impression that i get. anyway, their new material was received pretty well. it has a lot more depth than what i've heard from them previously. you could say their single, "Speed of Sound" is kind of a "Clocks" Junior, and it does sound very similar. but it's good. they have a sound, and i guess they're sticking to it. They put on a really great show, a good closing act. you couldn't help but enjoy it.
all in all, we had an amazing time, and can't wait to go next year. we are EXHAUSTED, though. and we really need to shower. :(
highlights:
the actor that portrayed Pedro in Napolean Dynamite introduced Rilo Kiley, wearing a VOTE FOR PEDRO shirt. everyone cheered. i proceeded to kill 10 people with my bare hands.*
The aging hippie chicks behind us freaking out to Wilco's extended jams were pretty entertaining. rolling their eyes and flailing their arms and smiling at everyone. (y)
the guy next to Steger during the Secret Machines was VERY friendly. he told us about how they were at the Troubador show that i missed, down to every last detail of their entrance; offered Steger a hit; closed his eyes and bopped back and forth through every track; and, my personal favorite - screamed like a woman at one point. nice guy. chain smoker, though
meeting Skye. what a sweetheart. needs to shower, though.*
Bauhaus. hahahaha. oh those goths. worth mentioning again. hahaha. whew.
Steger trying to hit the high notes during Coldplay. for those that don't know, he has a very deep voice. so when he's singing "youuuu...are..." right next to your ear, it's quite an experience. it was great to see him so happy though. aww *mush*
Chris Martin replacing the word "yellow" with "Coachella." SILLY CHRIS MARTIN!
the hour it took us to get out of the parking lot. YEAH!
*may not have happened