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.
