The Coachello Report

May 9, 2006 11:06 AM
by

First, to kick things off, here are the 10 things you need to do to survive Coachella:

10. Bring a lawn chair for the car. It's going to take you an hour and a half to go 50 yards in the parking lot. Just bring a lawn chair, and sit on your roof.

9. Eat your fill before leaving for the festival. Can you say $8 beer and $9 for a slice of crappy pizza?

8. Whatever the big act is, go the other way. If you weren’t there early, you already missed your spot to stand. There is always someone awesome on the other side of the field playing to nobody.

7. Bring good shoes. You're going to be on your feet and walking for hours.

6. Skip the hotel and rent a house with your friends. It's Palm Springs. Beautiful 10 room houses, for far less per person than hotels. Way more parking out front and no concierge to hassle you about your own after party.

5. It's going to be hot. So dress accordingly.

4. Check out the small tents. Usually there is far more heart and soul poured in by the smaller artists that are less jaded. You'll find the treasured moments in these heartfelt spaces.

3. Use cousins instead of grandparents. Nothing is more embarrassing than telling your boss “my grandmother died. I need Friday off.” And him replying “for the third time? Well, hopefully she’ll stay dead this time.”

2. Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate. Drink lots of water before going to the event.

1. It’s a daytime festival. Bring sunglasses and a good hat.

As for the rest of Coachella, here's the rundown from my bubble of friends.
Any party worth its salt will have that moment. It's the act that brings a rush of adrenaline to your blood. It's the moment where you look at your friends, and they are grinning like fools, and so are you. You jump up and down like kids at Christmas going "this is so cool!" And, sadly, when we looked up at the stage feeling that rush, we were not looking at Madonna. The band that took us there was Daft Punk.

If there was one act that stole the show, it was Daft Punk. This was their first U.S. performance in eight years. It was worth the wait. They have a sound to them that no one else can duplicate. Their mixing was as seamless as silk. They did the whole show, on top of a lit up pyramid, wearing robot invaders from another planet outfits. They took their own songs, shredded them apart, mixed elements back in together, and brought fresh live life into 10-year-old tunes.

As we screamed and hollered from the crowd, we wondered "how hot is that outfit?" The robot suits completely enclosed their faces. It looked incredible, but what a pain to perform in a helmet like that. The style of the robots was very much like the movie "The day the earth stood still."

After the concert, back at the house we rented in Palm Springs, we began to talk about the outfits. What if Daft Punk finally figured out how to make tons of money, drive their fame forward, and still sit at home reading the Paris Daily, without ever having to step on a plane? In fact, they may mix fresh each concert, send two lackeys on a plane, who then put in a cd, and pretend to be Daft Punk rocking it out in front of thousands of people.

The French have always been strong on postmodern philosophy and performance art. It wouldn't be a big leap to believe two cutting edge musicians from Paris would pull a postmodern stunt like creating themselves as simulcrata, and having many Daft Punk performances at the same time in different cities, all by robot clad minions.

Other noteworthy acts included the Do Labs tent- jungle themed out, burning man performance theme going on it. Lots of break beats and sounds from the underground. The tent was packed the whole weekend long. They had DJ Patricio, lots of stilt-walkers, green vines, florescent flowers, and the best general vibe of the place. The music ranged from Funky, dirty house, trance to deep breaks.

Many of the DJs did a good job keeping the energy flowing. Carl Cox and Joey Beltram played hard and banging, and even at 3 in the afternoon exploded the dance tents with wild beats. Collette dropped groovy house music, which goes great during the day. Derrick Carter picked it up after her, and kept the groove going strong.

There were several live bands worth mentioning. Massive Attack was soothing, under the moon. Mogwai was amazing and magical. They reminded me of an electronic Grateful Dead, but more in sync. Gilles Peterson performed Funky Latin World flavors with an MC. They closed out with Jazzanova jumping on and mixing in Drum and Bass into Gilles' song -- and the MC did Ragga style over that. It was brilliant. Sigor Ros went on late, they have 10 people in the band, but once on were good. they carried the sunset vibe with their contemplative melodies.

Damian Marley was phenomenal. Magical. I mean, he's a Marley - that voice, the soul.

And, of course, there was Madonna. For maybe 20 minutes. She went on late, and didn't play long. It was so packed in that tent that--get this--there was Madonna, then there was the lucky few watching Madonna, and then there were the thousands of people watching the people that were watching Madonna. For real. People stood there just to watch someone else watch her. People were waiting in there since noon to catch her set.

Thanks to my contributors for this article: DJs Zak Brown, Todd Spero, Merlin, and my friends Lori, Dan, Mary, Gayle, Ali, and Justin. Photos courtesy of Todd, Adam and Rand.

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