While Albert's still sweating it out (literally! ha!) at some polo field in the desert, my Coachella experience — my first Coachella experience — is over. But it was fun. Why? Top things about Saturday from a neophyte:
This is a good festival. Water wasn't too expensive, drunk nekkid hipsters weren't unbearably obnoxious, and it was pretty easy to see and hear most sets no matter how late you arrived. The fire-spewing dragon sculpture and the giant, car-wrecking mechanical hand were both nice touches, too.
There are some damn good bands playing this thing. It was pretty surreal to run from one set to another and witness all these acts that your reporter has had crushes on at various points in his life. Albert yawned at Blitzen Trapper; but from a fan's perspective, they killed up there, despite sound problems. Fleet Foxes were lovely at dusk. Liars rocked all creepy, even with Angus Andrews in adorable red shorts. And while Jeremy of Junior Boys seemed a little annoyed for some reason, he still delivered a tight, dancey, soulful set. Bonus points to Junior Boys for finishing early enough to allow fans to go and catch the awesome, seizure-inducing end of M.I.A.'s set: “Bird Flu,” “Boys,” “Galang” and “Paper Planes.” Good songs at the end of a set! Never been done before.
And there's a low-risk/high-payoff deal going on when you take a chance. As Albert's blogging of my Twitter mentioned, I swung by Amanda Palmer and saw her surf across the crowd to the back of the Gobi tent to perform Radiohead's “Creep” on ukulele. I'm not an Amanda Palmer fan, but that was cool. Meanwhile, I figured that the The Killers might be entertaining to see, even though my enjoyment of their music crested when the DJ played “Somebody Told Me” at my high school prom. Turns out they're even more boring live than they are on the radio. No biggie though: After two songs, I left and headed to Glass Candy for some fizzy, balloon-festooned disco.
Overall, good times! I'm still pretty tuckered out, which means I'm going to spare Heard Mentality previously planned wankery, such as a detailed analysis of why I was disappointed by TV On the Radio's set. Albert: Keep it up! The Twittering is great! Your increasing delirium is our entertainment. And, seriously, don't forget the earplugs for My Bloody Valentine. Shit got loud at the El Rey last week.
