coachella 2010: the recap

Last year, I only got a taste. This year, I wanted much more—and really had no choice after the promoter did away with single-day Coachella tickets. I bought my 3-day pass in January and anxiously awaited April 16. After missing out on a sold-out car camping ticket, we reserved a spot in an offsite place (Lake Cahuilla) and hit the road to Indio on Thursday night.

After hanging out with some of our neighbors, we got into our tents and got a few hours of sleep before heading to breakfast and getting some tailgating supplies. After a few beers, the sun was already boiling and we made the walk into the polo grounds. On Friday, we saw Sleigh Bells, Yeasayer, She & Him, Passion Pit, Them Crooked Vultures, LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, and Jay-Z. I wanted to get over to the Sahara to see Benny Benassi and deadmau5 but it just couldn’t happen. Sleigh Bells was pretty fun, although disturbingly loud. She & Him was really relaxing at the outdoor stage, and Zooey Deschanel was amazing. Passion Pit was one of my favorites as well. We moved in pretty close to the main stage for LCD Soundsystem, and they were ridiculous – although closing on “New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down” was a bit of a downer. Dancing to Vampire Weekend was tons of fun, but nothing compared to the energy of Jay-Z and surprise guest Beyonce. They closed out the first night with an impressive display and with almost every single he’s ever released. Beyonce killed the chorus on Jay’s “Forever Young” cover!

Day 2 was supposed to start out with RX Bandits, but we missed it while tailgating. I also missed Gossip because we went back to the car to tailgate some more! Saturday was the hottest day and also the day that I had to make the most lineup sacrifice – again, had to miss two Sahara tent acts (David Guetta and Kaskade), but it is what it is. We saw Girls who were pretty cool, but my day was chill until Coheed & Cambria. “Welcome Home” was definitely amazing, but they were a bit lacking live. Next up was Faith No More – Mike Patton’s band was reuniting for the festival after years of not playing together. Little did I know that this is the same guy in Lovage AND Handsome Boy Modeling School – who knew. Anyways they were great, but the crowd wasn’t into it. This wasn’t the case for Muse, who completely blew everybody away. They played more and talked less than a lot of bands, and their light show was out of control. We waited for Tiesto to come on next, and a load of ravers moved in around us. Tiesto stood alone amongst a giant screen display, smiling and spinning, and the energy was insane. The confetti and streamer bursts looked incredible against the lights in the sky, and the constant trance beats were how Saturday night came to an end.

Sunday I was bummed I missed Kevin Devine, but there you go. We chilled out to Owen Pallet and Deerhunter, hitting up the mist tent in between. Sunday’s sun felt the worst of all, and my legs were shot. Some of us found shade and just people watched for a little while. The $5 ice cream was the best I ever had. De La Soul put on an incredible show at the main stage, and the crowd was into it. Sunny Day Real Estate was kind of blah. Jonsi from Sigur Ros put on an amazing show, and the crowd got larger as people waited for Thom Yorke. For Phoenix, we didn’t see much because we went on a journey to the Sahara tent, but Thom Yorke really impressed me. The crowd was out of hand. His live take on his solo album The Eraser sounded much better than listening to the actual album. The sound was way more full, and his voice was dead on. We left Thom early to go get a good spot at the Gorillaz set. There were so many people. About halfway through we had to leave the crowd, but the rest of the night, we were ecstatic!

Coachella didn’t disappoint. As usual, there were mostly awesome people there, with only a few jerks or extremely strung out people. Our camping place was perfect. Jay-Z, She & Him, LCD Soundsystem, Muse, Tiesto, Jonsi, Thom Yorke, and Gorillaz were my favorites. Now, I guess I will return to reality and bask in the afterglow. Sigh. I already miss the constant sound of bass in my ears.

Here’s to COACHELLA 2011 and beyond.