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May 03, 2006
Sans teleporter, Merry Swankster's actual Coachella Setlist | Day 1 recap
I'm back from the desert, unfortunately. No bitching about the heat, it really isn't that bad. I'll take Indio's weather over a muggy, disgusting New York City heat wave in July every single time. You know that stifling feeling of gross oppressive heat you get when you walk behind a bus? Indio's weather is way better!
Last week I posted a tentative plan on tackling the weekend lineup. As predicted, conflict between the hierarchies of needs caused my movements to veer laughingly far from the carefully designed track. I don’t care and will not dwell on what I “missed.” Thus the beauty of such a decentralized music festival, 60,000 people had 60,000 different experiences.
Merry Swankster’s comings and goings and passing out ins at Coachella 2006:
Saturday April 29:
Walkmen (Urgent vocal delivery from preppy, clean-cut, Hamilton Leithauser. He was wearing a nice suit. >
Lady Sovereign (Ghosts of MIA's '05 show haunted the tent, got bored, left. Flat, silly, and dull. A cute little British girl is rapping and Jay-signed her. This story should end there because the most unforgettable Lady Sovereign moment was when she asked “how many MySpace people are in the crowd?” Stellar Coachella debut, or 15 minutes counting down? The ticking is overpowering…) >
Wolfmother (High energy, straightforward Rock n’ Roll is never out of style.) > Animal Collective (Caught most of the twitchy art rockers’ set. Anything but straightforward, the difficult performance was strange and asylum ready. They looked like a pack of wild performance artists bouncing on their very own tweaker wavelength. The drummer was standing!) >
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (These guys continue to impress me live. A tent overflowing with demanding-to-be-impressed hipster-deedodahs left satisfied. CYHSY fulfilled expectations in spite of the hype and had the biggest show of a career whose infancy is now inexplicably overlooked.) >
My Morning Jacket (The new Allman Brothers.) *Walked away during "Wordless Chorus" and bounced over to..* > Kanye West (Just in time to check out the PG "broke-broke" version (why?) of “Gold-digger”) *Chill time with…* >
Sigur Ros (..Afforded me rare moments off my feet during the twilight hour. Great timeslot for Iceland’s atmospheric rockers.)
>
Franz Ferdinand (The LA Times wrote that Franz was a band in danger of being eclipsed by others riding the Britpop, dance/punk wave they wrode in on. Hmm, maybe not judging from the reception and showmanship on display Saturday night. The huge main stage crowd was treated to a tight set, though I could have done without some of the slow jams for more pogo friendly tunes.) >
Daft Punk ( Wow! This was a surprising highlight for me. I'm familiar with the enigmatic Parisians’ music, but I was not prepared for the onslaught of awesomeness that hit me during their late set in the dance tent. High powered guitar chords looped and screeching in the cool desert night controlled by two robots perched on a pyramid of pulsating energy. A Rapturous crowd beneath them ecstatic in delight while having the time of their lives. The tent was my house and Daft Punk was playing at it. Pretty damn great.)
[*All pictures by Merry Swankster & Kelli Douglas]
[*Daft Punk picture cred]
Previously: Barring distance and exhaustion - Merry Swankster's Coachella Plans
Tags: Coachella, Lady Sovereign, Wolfmother, Animal Collective, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, My Morning Jacket, Kanye West, Sigor Ros, Franz Ferdinand, Daft Punk
Posted by Merry Swankster at May 3, 2006 11:00 AM
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