what the hell?

Thanks to my friend Anu, I was able to go to the Coachella Festival on Saturday. She was planning to go but couldn't find a ticket back here to California so she offered the tickets to me. So in what had to be last minute planning, I called up my sister and we met up at our house the next day and began our long journey to Indio, California. For the most part I slept the whole trip there because I had partied up right after Semi-Formal Committee on Friday but I was awake for the last hour of the trip.

Once we eventually got onto the Coachella grounds the first thing we did was... goto the bathroom. And these weren't portapotties mind you, these were working flushable toilets. But even with all the toilets available there was still a long line of people waiting. Some of the girls even went into the guys line and just used a full stall. I guess this is normal if you've frequented a unisex bathroom but for me it was awkward having girls pass me by while I took a piss. Hrm.

The first band we went to see was Snow Patrol who are mostly known for their single, "Run" If you don't recognize the name, you probably would recognize it once you hear it. The chorus goes...

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

They played a pretty good set but I'm still not convinced they'll be a long lasting band. They just don't sound distinctive enough although I hope they prove me wrong. I still don't get the name Snow Patrol.

Afterwards, my sister and I just wondered around the camp grounds. There were at least 5 stages packed with tons of people at any given time. There were also displays of "art" placed around all over the place. One thing I saw on my way in was this insect thing shaped like a helicopter. I don't know if it could actually fly but it was pretty cool. We also saw this one weird act where a guy was riding this bicycle and there were women with red blankets acted like matadors and the guy on the bike pretended he was a bull and charged at them. Too bad they didn't end it by stabbing him with a sword because it was pretty lame. Haha.

There was also a "drum orb" that these hippies were playing on. It basically consisted of a sphere that had several drum pads on it that these three people would play. That too was kinda dumb.

My sister and I headed back to the main stage to watch Keane play 3 or so songs including, "Somewhere Only We Know." What was interesting was how the guy has an accent but you could never tell from just listening to the songs. It's kind of like Shirley Manson from Garbage. She has this Scottish accent when she talks but you can't hear it when she's singing. Keane were pretty good as well even though we just caught the end of their set. My sister has their CD and most of the songs are really slow and melodic so they might put you to sleep if you're not in the mood for that type of music.

Then it was on to Rilo Kiley. Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite came on the stage before they played to say something which no one could hear because they didn't turn on the mic but who cares. Rilo Kiley was on next! They played such an awesome set, with Jenny Lewis switching between guitar, bass and keyboards. They played a lot of stuff off the new album and some stuff off "The Execution Of All Things" I was very happy with their set. Also Jenny Lewis has a very dirty mouth

After they were done we ran back to the main stage and saw the tail end of Wilco because we were waiting around for Weezer. Their performance was a little bit disappointing. They almost never move around for their shows and I think that was the slowest version of Undone they've ever done. I don't know it just seemed like everything for them was off. My sister was upset about their performance. They played a lot of their new songs in combination with their hits from the Blue and Green album but absolutely nothing at all from Pinkerton. It's always great to see Weezer, I just wished they were more lively for their sets.

Their setlist:
Say It Ain't So ( I actually taped this on my digital camera)
Photograph
Undone
Peace
This Is Such A Pity
Garage
Hold Me
Island
We Are All On Drugs
Beverly Hills
Hash Pipe
Buddy Holly


After Bauhaus played for an hour, Coldplay came on. Chris Martin is one lively man. He was jumping up and down and totally rocking out during the whole set. For Yellow he sang, "It was all Coachella" and then "We were at Coachella" for the verse where it goes, "And it was all yellow" Haha pretty corny and neat at the same time. I can't wait for the new Coldplay album!

Bands I saw: Snow Patrol, Keane, Rilo Kiley, Weezer, Coldplay