So many bands, so much art, so much sun, so many people with hilarious t-shirts. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is nothing if not a veritable feast for the senses, and Day One kicked off the desert party in grand fashion. The newfangled, RFID chip-embedded wristbands seemed to work perfectly fine, and we encountered no Draconian police presence demanding to see our credentials at the dreaded “one mile perimeter.” It was, as they say, all delicious, but man was it hot.
Moving Units had the distinction of being the first Main Stage artist to play on Friday, their crowd braving 95-degree temps to catch of glimpse of the longtime LA heroes. (Make sure to check out our interview with them.) The Gobi Tent was next, where we caught an earful of Omar Rodríguez-López , who has played Coachella with both his previous bands, At The Drive In and the Mars Volta. His self-titled project is nothing short of amazing; visceral, psychedelic rock and roll with guitars drenched in watery reverb and songs that unfold slowly, angrily and beautifully. At one point, his singer prowled the stage with his microphone clenched between his teeth, sweat pouring down his face to the point where electric shock was sure to be imminent. We must have stood there for at least 15 minutes taking in what felt like one epic jam, with Rodríguez-López manhandling his guitar like he was having an out-of-body experience.
After stopping to admire some of the incredible art installations spread across the polo field, we hit up the Sahara Tent, long known as the bastion of electronic music during the Coachella weekend. Easily the largest of the three main tents, it’s packed with party people at any given hour of the day, even in the sweltering heat. Sonny Moore (a.k.a. Skrillex) was lowering the boom with one dubstep tune after another, occasionally drifting into fidget house, breakbeat, and the occasional drum ‘n’ bass rhythm. About halfway through his set, Skrillex was joined by Korn singer Jonathan Davis and guitarist James “Munky” Schaffer to perform “Get Up,” a new Korn track produced by Skrillex himself. If that wasn’t enough, they went straight into “Blind”—the first track of Korn’s debut album—which would have blown the doors off the tent if there were any doors there to begin with. Definitely a face-melting Sahara Tent highlight. It was also our first opportunity to check out the tent’s much-hyped lighting installation. Created by Muti Randolph, the hanging, multidimensional LED grid installation reacts in real-time to sound, and is just one of the many audio/visual collaborations curated as part of The Creators Project at this year’s Coachella (Read more here).
Next up was Odd Future, whose set was delayed due to an engineering issue that obviously stemmed from all the complex wiring coming in and out of what looked like the most basic gear setup in the history of the Sahara Tent. Mellow hype? Well, maybe they’re half right. On the other end of the field, Lauryn Hill was rocking the Main Stage, doing her best to dispel any rumors that she can’t hold it down like she used to in her heyday. The lowering sun may have cooled off the crowd, but a selection of Fugee classics—“Ready Or Not” and “Fu-Gee-La”—as well as L-Boogie’s own “That Thing” was just what the stage needed to keep the momentum going from Ozomatli and Cee Lo Green.
After Lauryn’s set, a quick circle back around to the other stages for a few two-song peek-ins provided some great highlights: Sleigh Bells (with Alexix Krauss sporting a fresh, custom-made Chicago Bulls jersey), Brandon Flowers of the Killers doing a cover of “Bette Davis Eyes,” the Lucent Dossier Experience turning the Do Lab into a burlesque fire show, and Sasha programming a proper DJ journey, with amazing visuals to match. Then it was back to the comforts of the press tent to rest our feet, recharge our phone batteries, and put a little food in the gullet to get us through the remaining five hours.
Since the press tent happens to be inside the VIP area, we were treated to a smorgasbord of celebrity sightings. The Hilton sisters—certified Coachella regulars—were there with their entourage, as was Robert Kardashian. Leonardo DiCaprio decided a photographer was being a bit too intrusive with his lens and was seen palming and throwing down a camera as he walked through the crowd. We caught Joe Jonas and Aziz Ansari chatting it up while Paul Harris from Dirty Vegas was hanging out behind them with some friends. But the biggest sighting of the night was Sir Paul McCartney, who singlehandedly blew up the Twitterverse with his presence. Oh yeah, and the Kings of Leon put on a pretty damn good show on the Main Stage while this was all going down.
Call me an old electronica softie, but I was very curious to see how the Chemical Brothers were going to handle their post-Kings of Leon, 11:40pm timeslot. Coachella heads will remember that their headlining slot in 1999 earned them the undisputed titled of Kings of Coachella, but could they pack the same punch 12 years later at a festival where dance music has been, for the most part, relegated to its own special tent? The answer, in a word, is hell yes. (Fine, two words.)
Sparse but intoxicating visuals, block rockin’ beats, and more projectile glowsticks than you could possibly imagine. It was everything I could have expected and more, right from the first notes of “Galvanize”. The Chems programmed hit after hit, blasting through “Do It Again,” Horse Power,” “Hey Boy, Hey Girl,” “Don’t Think,” “Out Of Control,” and the classic “Chemical Beats”. Big ups to Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett and his crew for programming one of the best Main Stage days ever. Soul, flavor and hip-hop in the afternoon, the big rock show at night—thank you, Black Keys!—and an interstellar blast of electronica late-night style. Saturday and Sunday will be hard to top, but hey, there’s no harm in trying, right?
Words by Rich Thomas. Photos by Dustin Downing.
