Vampire Weekend -"Blake's Got a New Face" - Live @ Coachella 4.25.08

With a new camera in hand forays into live video documentation may be more frequent on ms.com. I learned still photography is doable while recording video, though not without adding an 80s style effect into the finished product. Still, decent enough.

Prior to this performance Ezra Koenig encouraged the crowd to make up the words in the chorus. For example: Blake's out of toothpaste, etc. I can't make out any of the much funnier ad-libs, but trust me, they were there.

Vampire Weekend's entire set sounded crisp and punchy. Perfect for an afternoon in the bright sun. Enjoy.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The message of Pink Floyd's dirigible pig, one of greed, corruption, and other not beautiful things, would spoil any name written on it considering the symbolic nature of such a tainted canvas. On the other hand, big, bold army stencil lettering spelling O-B-A-M-A, with strategic underbelly placement for clear viewing seems like an act of campaigning with exact target specificity considering 50,000 (?) people could see it. Don't ever say Mr. Roger Waters has issues with communicating or he'll go The Wall on your ass.

Begs the question, was it a pro or anti Obama statement? Finally, if it was pro, how is this supposed to be helpful?

I'm just now hearing the pig floated away. Hmmm.

Pig, floating away (via)

Posted by Merry Swankster at 06:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

[Pssst]

Checking in from the late hours from a dark and sleepy California night. There was no live music to see today. Just the task of gathering ourselves and heading back into the real world. Which is maybe why the weekend is catching up to me as hard as it is, forcing a slow down.

Here are some really quick highlights to add some protein to the sprinkling of notes sent from Coachella via our Twitter outpost.

Friday:

The National was amazing. The Raconteurs not only sound more put together as a band than ever before, they are looking and sounding terrifyingly great together. Datarock came out of nowhere (for me anyway) and beat you into acceptance. Their rousing numbers were super sized dosages of pep. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings gave by far the most energetic performance by any artist and one of the best overall of the weekend. I'll say it again, this woman is the female James Brown. Spank Rock didn't show due to "being sick" and his replacements sounded like sissy white rappers. That's because there were a couple of white female rappers substituting. Not sure everyone who missed the announcement realized this in the tent. Now you know. Black Lips were pretty good, but it's hard to get past the caricatures on stage.

Saturday

To me Bonde do Role were more noisy kids screwing around with records and microphones than brilliant innovators of emerging mashed up styles. St. Vincent was cute and awkward in her stage banter. Stephan Malkmus looked like grandpa beekeeper, was vocally proud fronting the Jicks, and the noodling music was extraordinarily loud. Hot Chip brought the house down. Not three notes were played before the dance tent turned into insta-rave. The desert should cease rattling from the sensational performance of "Over & Over" any day now. Islands got started late, seemed to have a problem setting something up, dealing with it in a "temporary, but not quite pleased with solution" type of way only to have whatever it was arise as an issue during the set. It was weird and ate into their momentum, but no plagues of locust to report. I literally sprinted around the fields to see some Kraftwerk before sneaking in to a over capacity dance tent for M.I.A. Disappointing, but not terribly. M.I.A. fell into the pitfalls of every bad hip hop show I've ever been to. Too much MCing, too much crowd baiting, not enough actual performances to back up the build up. Somehow managed to catch a whiff of Animal Collective, but it was just too short to have an opinion. Portishead sounded crisp, clean and pretty great. I'll defer to my Portishead obsessed friends for direct quotes, forthcoming. Prince played forever and left no doubt in anyone's mind on his abilities and talents as a performer.

Sunday

It seemed like we had nothing going on for a good part of this day. The Field didn't show for their scheduled midday set due to allegedly being denied access into the country by the US government. Looking back though, we saw Duffy, Gogol Bordello, My Morning Jacket, a babbling Sean Penn saying nothing noteworthy (though I'll report on it later anyway), Sons & Daughters, Roger Waters, and Justice.

-- -- --
Coming soon...details, tons and tons of photos, and furthering of mostly everything mentioned above.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mssr. Swankster has his hands full at Coachella right now, but you can follow his happenings in brief by occasionally checking our Twitter site here.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Has it really already been a year since the last pilgrimage to the desert? I feel like Coachella snuck up on me this year. For the first time since I've been going (this will be year four), the '08 edition has yet to sell out, even since the news of Prince joining the lineup. If I were to care about such things I'd no doubt have a witty joke prepared about Jack Johnson or the state of the music industry, but I don't and the Jack Johnson bashing is beyond tired.

For the most part I agree with critics pointing to the weak headliners, but as I've said many times headliners at these types of festivals should never be the main reason to attend. Especially when the lower and middle tier level acts are so great. Does it suck that M.I.A. and Animal Collective are playing at the same time? Of course. Sucks even more when the two artists overlap with Kraftwerk. A clear example of being spoiled by choice. Still, nothing more than it being an amazing problem to have. With that said, I present the Merry Swankster's plans for the weekend. We'll see how things actually turn out.

On with it...after the jump.

Continue reading "Coachella 2008: On our way" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the web's biggest names in New York-based indie rock coverage, and coterminous devotee of animal compassion stole my headline with his earlier post: Coachella is not all Arcade Fire & Bjork. Its true.

Coachella in photos

Goth camouflage

Coachella 2007 coverage:

Coachella: Day 1 (Part 1, 2)
Coachella: Day 2 (Part 1, 2)
Coachella: Day 3 (Part 1, 2)
Of Montreal @ Coachella
Björk @ Coachella
LCD Soundsystem @ Coachella
Spank Rock @ Coachella

Coachella's sights continue after the jump.

Continue reading "Coachella: Photos of it all" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Björk - "Declare Independence"

Björk (short) Interview (Denver Post)
Björk Live @ Coachella

Tourdates after the jump.

Continue reading "Video: Björk "Declare Independence" Live @ Coachella" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Crass dance party shenanigans in the tent while Rage cut it up to the masses. "Coochie lips!" Potential racist penises!

Continue reading "Coachella Photos: Spank Rock Live @ Gobi tent - 4.29.07" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coachella 2007 Day 3 continued: (04.29)

[Day 3 coverage starts here.]

Coachella: Day 1 (Part 1, 2)
Coachella: Day 2 (Part 1, 2)

Willie Nelson - Coachella stage

[Photo cred]

Odd to see Willie on the main stage at Coachella. In old age he's attained such widespread awareness from the public to become an icon bigger than his musical legend. The perfect combination to allow pretty much anything to go down, like a gig at Coachella for example. Low key country tunes made for excellent chill-out music.

Klaxons - Mojave tent

From afar the scene at Klaxons resembled the raves they so badly sentimentalize. Nothing wrong with that.

This is when we broke to catch Air...who never showed so we hiked back to Mojave for...

Lily Allen - Mojave tent

[Photo cred]

More reinforcements to my case for being down on the Brits colonizing Coachella. Lily Allen acted like a spoiled amateur with her boorish bragging about forgetting the words to her songs because of a "few spliffs I had earlier." Class A juvenile behavior. Her set was not unlike the excruciating experience I imagine a conversation with Paris Hilton to be like.

Continue reading "Coachella: Day 3 (con't) - Willie Nelson, Klaxons, Lily Allen, Air, Ratatat, Rage, Spank Rock" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coverage of the 2007 Coachella festival continues.

Coachella: Day 1 (Part 1, 2)
Coachella: Day 2 (Part 1, 2)

Grizzly Bear - Gobi tent

[Photo cred]

I got to Grizzly Bear in time to see only the last song but it was enough to confirm I need to check them out next time.

Explosions in the Sky - Coachella stage

Aural assault of Explosions so early in the day turned out more awesome than I ever would have imagined.

Continue reading "Coachella: Day 3 - Grizzly Bear, Explosions in the Sky, Junior Boys, Rodrigo y Gabriella, CSS, Kaiser Chiefs" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Take me back to the states maaaaan"

Continue reading "Coachella Photos: LCD Soundsystem Live @ Sahara tent - 4.28.07" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Coachella 2007 Day 2 continued: (04.28)

[Day 2 coverage starts here.]

Kings of Leon - Coachella stage

There are two ways to get up close to see your favorite bands at big festival shows. 1- A photog pass flash or, 2- Suffering through otherwise skippable bands performing immediately before the can’t miss ones. MS.com may be the only light in your dark dead heart, but outside this little shantytown alley truck stop on the Internet we are no different from other punters when it comes to wiggling for a better spot. Preferably up close and without interference from the tall dudes. Arcade Fire was the goal, standing through KOL was the price of admission.

Between their good looks, accessibility of blues-cum-Southern rock sounds, and unique backstory of learning to sing while traveling the country with evangelicals, the anti-meteoric rise of Kings of Leon in America continues to baffle some. Count me out of that group.

The loose and empty sounding Kings went through the motions and performed 50 minutes of uninspired rock. In other words they played a Kings of Leon set. Caleb wore a vest sans shirt for added effect. Write your own 80s hair metal band joke now.

[Photo cred]

Continue reading "Coachella: Day 2 (con't) - Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Girl Talk, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, the Rapture" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coverage of the 2007 Coachella festival continues.

Coachella: Day 1 (Part 1, 2)

Fratellis - Mojave tent

Combining standard 60s pop fare, nauseating 70s prog-cheese and rockabilly flourishes (?!) with yet another obvious cog from the 'Britain loves the Libertines' music machine and you get a recipe for boredom; Or the Fratellis. When the drummer contributes his part of the three part harmonies I could only think of indulgences and levels of suck not seen since the Eagles. More like Crapellis.

Regina Spektor - Coachella stage

[Photo cred]

Exceptionally smiley, proudly voluptuous, and lovely all around (save for a tendency to curse like a sailor). Spektor’s crimson hair and sharp, literary vocals deliver the Tori Amos references in multiple doses. Her peppiness and affability does quick work in extinguishing it.

Continue reading "Coachella: Day 2 - Fratellis, Regina Spektor, Hot Chip, Peter Bjorn & John" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bjork's Coachella set provided the coming out party for one of coolest looking devices you'll ever see - a synth that will surely be on every techie's Christmas list. Presenting the reactable:

Reactable demo

Is it correct to call this an instrument? (via)

Reactable live in Berlin

Acoustic demo can be seen here.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Coachella 2007 Day 1 continued: (04.27)

[Day 1 coverage starts here.]

Jesus & Mary Chain - Coachella stage

Jim Reid’s snarl indicated neither joy to be back onstage nor anything even remotely positive during a scorching set in which he asked the audience, “Are you having fun? Well we’ll see what we can do about that.” Proof positive the brothers’ mean edge has not dulled over the years.

If you haven’t heard by now a little known purportedly attractive actress sang backup during the last verse of “Just Like Honey.” You could barely hear it and she probably sang for a maximum of 10 seconds, but the soft harmony sounded right on. The entire set sounded good. Almost too good. I expected way more hissing. Maybe the J&MC are a pop band after all.

Two lovers join forces to repel everything J&MC can throw at them.

Continue reading "Coachella: Day 1 (con't) - Jesus & Mary Chain, Interpol, Sonic Youth & Björk" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Photo cred]
Bjork - Coachella stage

From an eye candy perspective Björk gave far and away the most visually appealing performance of the weekend. Backed by a full orchestra and an exposition of bizarre electronics that looked more like alien control rooms than music making devices. Imagine a giant sampler about the size of a blackjack table crossed with an otherworldly electro orb manipulated by toy blocks being spun by a DJ and you come close to conceptualizing the look of this mesmerizing gear. You tend to think everything has already been invented by now. Seeing these dudes mess around with stuff resembling baby toys atop electronic touch screens didn't compute.

On the topic of screens I have a bone to pick with the jumbo-tron direction during Björk's headlining slot. Dear sirs, too much footage of these devices and not enough of the main event. She was just as colorful and much more dynamic to look at. From far away the imagery provided a cool visual addition to the on-goings of the stage but the main event was Björk and not a couple of geeks playing with cool toys. It was a disservice for everyone watching outside of the immediate stage area.

[Photo: Paul Familetti

Turntablist DJ Shadow, who took the stage opposite Björk across the venue grounds at the outdoor stage, could at times be heard during lulls in Björk's set. Towards the end of the night when a ferocious “Hyperballad” turned into a drum ‘n bass injected industrial freak-out I honestly thought Shadow might have made his way over to the main stage to show off his skills for some sort of collaborative mash-up of headliners. Björks band rivaled Shadow’s cut mastery is the point.

Her performance will likely go down as the best of the festival. My own casual fan status and personal ignorance of large chunks of her back catalog (as well as grogginess from my short slumber) puts me at a disadvantage for complete breakdowns of song nuances so you'll need to look elsewhere for that type of formal review. That being said I think the performance, artistry, visual elements, and showmanship of Björk's tremendous show was unrivaled all weekend. Nobody came close

[Photo cred]

Boing Boing has a write up on everything you wanted to know (and more) on the newfangled reactable devices used in Björk's performance.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Four full days removed from Coachella and Merry Swankster coverage begins in earnest. Stick around and take a gander at the highs and lows of Coachella 2007 through the eyes of Senior Swankster.

Like most bloggerati our spot on the 'keep it positive' gauge is typically parked in the bright sunshine beyond the red line marker of hyper-enthusiasm. Upon conclusion of the Coachella coverage you’ll see that no artist was spared if they performed a festival show heavy on the awful. This is my duty to you, fair Internets.

Having already poked fun at the nit-pickers I'll address some common grumblings so as to get them out of the way, real quick like:

-Driving - "Traffic sucks!" - Toss out the general directions and look at a damn map. EVERYONE takes the recommended route. Pick a different one.

-Heat - "It's so hot!" - East coast transplants living out West know the maxim pretty well, but it’s worth repeating: "This is dry heat!" Remember it and use it for perspective next year. I understand my point might is lost on Angelinos born and bred into a perpetuity of enviable 70 degree existence, but since when do we dumb down explanations for the sake of LA? I joke!

-Prices - "Food is expensive!" - So are the fancy drugs in your pocket and all they do is make you hungry, thirsty or twisted. The cycle is vicious it is.

-Hype - "Bloggers getting carried away equating Coachella to an idyllic bucolic paradise of excellently chosen artists in a menagerie of awesome" - Natch and zing.

-- -- --
Coachella 2007 Day 1: (04.27)

Comedians of Comedy - Gobi tent

The first impression of Coachella '07 comes from a comic. A little odd but true. Walking into the grounds on a mission to see Of Montreal’s set at the Outdoor stage I overheard a joke that sounded roughly like this:

"Pretty much everyone hates Bush now. Even his early fans have come around in disgust. Kind of like your buddy who used to be into Creed - no matter how often you told them they sucked, you know? Later they were all like, "whoa dude,…what the fuck was I thinking."

Of Montreal - Outdoor stage - Recap here.

Kevin Barnes in a dress, on a ladder.

Amy Winehouse - Gobi tent

Amy Winehouse - [Photo cred]

Tiny Gobi tent was super packed for the raunchy faux-Motown sounds of UK tabloid fodder Amy Winehouse. A good view for late arrivals was almost as impossible as her wild beehive ‘do, but I could hear fine. She and her band sounded great. Here is a great shot of her with backup singers dressed in appropriate desert clothing.

Continue reading "Coachella: Day 1 - Of Montreal, Amy Winehouse, and Arctic Monkeys" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rage Against the Machine @ Coachella

You've read the headlines by now. We report. You decide.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday kicked off with one of the more anticipated sets of the weekend. Of Montreal on the Outdoor stage. We scooped a terrific spot against the front barrier during the end of Nickel Creek's folksy bluegrass and got ready for the Georgie Fruit goodness of 2007's much loved "Hissing Fauna. Are You the Destroyer?" Sound issues plagued throughout the set to the annoyance of an obviously bothered Kevin Barnes. Taking the stage to a thunderous feedback loop and pleading for decibel amplification, he gave up before launching into "Suffer for Fashion." Frustrated with the volume on vocals and guitar Barnes' displeasure was distracting. People further back may not have noticed, but the pouting really took away from the show. Disrupting flow and the ability for them to settle in for take off. The chronic eye-rolling was relentless as tension between Barnes and the sound men continued to rise. Mix problems provided a great outlet for his fabulous eye shadow to punctuate disgust though. Very rawking.

Two costume changes and the pervasive androgyny - MJ styled crotch grab revealed fishnet thigh-highs below blue hot pants - cranked more campy instead of glam. Attributed somewhat to the blue canvas of sky framed between palm trees serving as background rather than the usual baths of flashing strobes and disco balls.

Save for one song, they played exclusively from Hissing Fauna.. That is 10 out of a possible 12 for those counting. Requisite shout out to the most famous rehabbing single mom in the world during "Cato as a Pun" happened too:

"I guess you just want to shave your head, have a drink and be left alone?
Is that too much for Britney Spears to ask?"

Highlighting the midday set was a killer version of "She's a Rejector" firing on all available cylinders. The CCAA booty patrol approved dance-punk juggernaut pounded the dynamic scale with every change and allowed the band to blow off some steam as Barnes screamed " I CAN'T I CAN'T I CAN'T!!" Pure bliss wiped the disconcerting feelings of the washy sound for at least a few minutes.

More pics and setlist after the jump.

Continue reading "Coachella: Of Montreal Live @ Outdoor stage - 4.27.07" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The calendar turns to May and another Coachella has wrapped. Remaining forever locked into the memories of tens of thousands of festival goers. The usual suspects posted by now. Our temporary home during Coachella, a hidden haven among the golf courses of Palm Desert, withheld access to the Internet so liveblogging a la Stereogum was out of the question. Rest assured, plenty of incredible photographs, concert reviews, and ruminations of the desert music experience are coming as soon as possible. The Swankster sweatshop is currently back online, hooked to an IV spiked with sweet broadband juices and everyone expects a full recovery.

While the nourishing nectar brings things back to 100% you can take a gander on the 'nets to see posts from those complaining about the typical and unoriginal issues surrounding an all day, outdoor music festival. Bloggers, or more appropriately the "we're piss-poor planners and now you get to read all about it" set cover the bases on generic Coachella gripes with commentary on SoCal traffic patterns that are about as insightful as a Midwestern transplant describing his first experience on the 405 freeway. "Omigod there was afternoon traffic from LA to Palm Springs!?" "Food wasn't reasonable or delicious at a large ticketed event!" All about expectations baby. Next breaking news item: "Why we can never find a good deli in Los Angeles!" Can we please curtail the feigned outrage now?

Merry Swankster Coachella recap is coming. I promise an off-stage celebrity quotient of zero because I've had all I can take of Paris Hilton appearing on these otherwise fine music blogs.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In just a few hours I will be landing in beautiful Southern California to spend a weekend with 60,000 new friends and about half a dozen old ones. Different this year is Coachella's addition of a third day. An expansion that seems to have alleviated some of the torturous decision making that defined past editions. As festie veterans know - you never leave Coachella seeing all the bands you thought you would. It's part of the charm really. I'll still share with you my plans as they stand today.

Indio's weekend forecast calls for high temperatures of 98 - 101 degrees. Sunburn in a tight crowd with an oppressive, menacing sun is a one way ticket to awful-town so be careful out there ye of fair skin.

I plan on returning to MS headquarters with a handsome booty of stories, reviews and diverse images to share . Top goal - goth-kids in patent leather pants and assorted accessories dying a slow death passed out on the grass wishing they took the hippie route on the identity trail. Bonus points if I get them on video proclaiming such desires. Crunchy wookies are much more adept at these festival gigs.

After the jump: Merry Swankster's plans for the weekend.

Continue reading "Coachella beckons the Merry Swankster" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The obvious headline is that Rage is reuniting for what appears to be a one-off show, but the real meat and potatoes of the festival announcement takes a few days to digest and unravel. Before Woodstock '99 jokes swarm in from the hater vulture nests (see inclusion of the Chili Peppers as headliners on the loaded second day), remember that Coachella is rarely about the headliners.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For the MS.com year end recap we didn't do a Best Shows of 2006. The ranking of albums was painful enough and the thought of comparing snapshots of bands in the live setting that one of us happened to check out doesn't seem fair, or all that helpful. My cynical nature overwhelms any informative tidbits those kinds of lists may have by filling me with thoughts of blowhardness towards the author. They sorta reek of show offy-ness. Way too many variables outside the control of the musicians exist to provide fairness to such a ludicrous list, at least that’s my thought on the subject.

However, I fully understand the drawing power that nicely put together lists have on the reading public so I won't dwell on this further. If you disagree with me that is fine. I suggest immediately subscribing to SPIN as they are fond of lists. They suck pretty bad but for $10 a year you get what you pay for. We're still not going to publish one, but if I was asked, say on the street by a stranger, or a friend at a party who just found out I write for a music blog what my favorite show of 2006 was I would not hesitate in answering: Daft Punk's performance at Coachella.

You could read all about why I thought so in my review here. Then head to Urb's website to see the entire video of the performance culled from expertly edited clips of concertgoers video footage. Pretty excellent way to get my morning started (via BV).

Previously:

Sans teleporter, Merry Swankster's actual Coachella Setlist | Day 1 recap
Coachella 2007 Dates Set | Expanding to 3 days

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Merry Swankster @ Coachella, Day 2:

My plans for the second day in Indio were a bit less structured than the first. I say about 23% less so. Not to say I haphazardly floated through the day without an agenda, but I didn’t pass out in the beer tent after unnecessary drinking in extreme heat either. Amount of beers or cocktails the esteemed staff at MS.com recommends for drinking at Coachella if consciousness is desired: 0[*MS Coachella rule #1].

Merry Swankster's adventure near the Mojave desert in California, Part 2.

Sunday at Coachella - May 29, 2006:

Funk en Espanol

Los Amigos Invisibles (Literally pulled towards the rock en espanol rhythms of the main stage while en route to Mates of State to find this Venezuelan outfit. A tight alternaish Latin rock band, who despite having an emo sounding band name that translates to “The Invisible Friends,” where smiley, upbeat and fun to watch. Dancing on the grass under the sun is an obligation at these outdoor things right? Something about that hippie relapse... >

Magic Numbers (Pogoing this early in the day? Good times at the main stage. 60s retro sounds and pretty duets of soaring vocals with abundant hand claps. Enormous talent on display here, very enjoyable set.) >

Anthems for a twentysomething year-old girl

Metric (Funny thing happened on the way to the Wolf Parade show... I discovered Metric and fell in love with the blonde pixie Emily Haines. Caught the end of the set upon early arrival at the Sahara tent to secure positioning for Spencer Krug’s of Sunset Rubdown side project. The tent was rocking and I half wished I arrived earlier. Such are the tribulations of Coachella. Sweetest super indie moment, Haines walking off the stage saying, “Thanks for rooting for the underdog.”) >

Wolf Parade - Strumming virgin blood

Wolf Parade (If a bipolar diagnosis exists in my future, surely this Coachella performance will be a suspect cause. Starting 30 minutes late into a strict 50 minute timeslot is not recommended [*MS Coachella rule #2]. An exceedingly restive crowd simmered during the delay. The mellow uniqueness of the West Coast crowd’s tenuous groan was best distilled with a comment overheard in the wait. "More positive reinforcement!” Excuses ranged from “Our shit breaks all the time” and “$10,000 virgin blood guitar – unplayable” (what..yeah?!!), to unspoken one way conversations with a Jägermeister bottle. Dan Boeckner didn’t sip, he chugged. Impressive. Observationally funny moment immediately after Jäger I overheard 3 different people mention how cold and delicious it must have been. Illusions of rockstar badassness don’t abate. Antics like this only reinforce it. As for the music, it was blistering and fantastic. Unfortunately short, but really fucking good.) >

Crazy jammed for Gnarls

Gnarls Barkley (Five minutes of straining my neck to see what looked like witches onstage was enough. Too brief and far away to pass judgement. ) >

Artstars

Yeah Yeah Yeahs (”This is the most people we’ve ever fucking played for!” The YYYs are all growns up. I enjoyed scoping reactions to Karen O’s microphone fellatio among audience members familiar with only the least representative Yeah Yeah Yeahs song. MTV recognition from “Maps” hit always cracks me up. ) >

Confessions in the Dance Tent and surroundings.

Madonna or Power Napping ( Packed, overflowing and ridiculous doesn’t come close to describing the Madonna scene. With a curious gleam in their eyes, the largest crowd of the weekend was on their tip toes jockeying for a sightline. Taking a page from the Wolf Parade school of showbiz professionalism, the Queen of Pop took the stage 20 minutes late. No boozy excuses from Momma Madge though. I spent 90% of the set sprawled on a towel staring at grass and feet in between naps that I fought feebly. Yawn, a suiting metaphor.) >

Massive Attack > Scissor Sisters > Exhaustion

So damn done by Sunday night. Looking around the grounds it was clear that the earlier flows of people moving in every direction slowed considerably. After two full days of music, this musical village was worn out. An ocean of humanity still saturated the grounds, with jelly legs and crippled of energy.

Maybe it was just me. I did miss Art Brut after all, but I was completely drained. Walking towards the car after a few Scissor Sisters songs I thought, “Art Brut is playing just across this field, not two hundred yards away. Oh well such things happen at Coachella. (Remedied a week later where coincidentally Art Brut’s guitarist and I discussed the greatness of the Daft Punk show).

Previously: Day 1 recap, Coachella fans - Bohemian Rhapsody, Coachella Spotlight Review: Daft Punk, Daft Punk Coachella Video

Tags: Coachella, Los Amigos Invisibles, Magic Numbers, metric, Wolf Parade, Gnarls Barkley, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Madonna, Scissor Sisters, Art Brut

Posted by Merry Swankster at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Daft Punk - Rules the Nation > Around the World - 5.29.06

//More Daft Punk @ Coachella videos [MustseeBlog]

Previously: Coachella Spotlight Review: Daft Punk - 4.29.2006

Tags: Daft Punk, Coachella Video

Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I started this blog for a simple reason. I desperately love music. A copious percentage of my income gets budgeted towards shows, CDs, and various music subscriptions. A tithe to the gods of rock.

My involvement with music dates back to a toddler version of the Swankster thumbing through my father’s Beatles LPs and culminated with being voted “Most likely to be found in a mosh pit” by senior year. Crowning achievements aside, and the dead give away on spending the mid 90s in high school, it also qualifies for longest relationship I've ever had. While very loving, the paucity of music created by yours truly has made the coupling a one way affair. I like to think this site is my way of giving something back.

After the weekend's overwhelming experience at Coachella, highlighted by Daft Punk’s relentless attack on the senses, the least I can do is jock them with some kind words. These are the moments that perpetuate my passion.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind:

Daft Punk @ Sahara Tent - Coachella 4.29.2006

[Photo Cred]

I don’t claim to be an expert on electronic music, just cuddling (ladies I can be reached by email). Other than the Madonna debacle I did not place foot in the dance tent all weekend. The Saturday night menu consisted of Depeche Mode, Joy Division, err Interpol, err.. She Wants Revenge, and Daft Punk. Looking to change gears from rock's domination of the day, my darling Coachella companion and I headed to the massive Sahara tent for much needed break before the last act of what was a very long day of walking to and fro excellent music (Lady Sovereign excluded).

The robot duo from France was the easy choice but by no means a "can't miss" show for either of us. Surveying the frenzied crowd and feeling the buzz of anticipation all around us, we were clearly in the minority. Still, we nuzzled into a comfortable spot with minimal expectations. This all changed upon seeing two darkly dressed men ascend a pyramid shaped platform with notes from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" playing. The rush of energy and plethora of shit-eating grins far and wide quickly dissipated our apathetic attitudes. The Daft Punk messieurs were sporting their trademark robot helmets, but unlike fearsome, evil robots, they waved and gave thumbs up to the exuberant crowd beneath them.

It was like nothing else that day, or the next for that matter. People were pumped. I'm smiling just thinking about it. Nothing makes me happier than a genuinely psyched crowd ready to go off. No hipster smugness to report. Credit the comfortable desert night for soothing the kids’ insecurities and allowing bliss without fear, or good rolls kicking in, whatever.

Pics and more after the jump.

Continue reading "Coachella Spotlight Review: Daft Punk - 4.29.2006" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)