Best acts I saw:
PiL - Probably the best show I saw all weekend. The setlist is stellar and sounded perfect, and Lydon was filled with raw emotion that the band played off of perfectly. I wasn't even that big of a fan, but was captivated and wouldn't leave for Fever Ray only two songs in. Despite Jah Wobble not being there, he really has put together a tight group to this with. I will definitely be getting a ticket to the 9:30 show, and you should too.
Orbital - Another great set and my most anticipated. They were awesome, played the classics, and filled the sahara with their samples and groovy mixes. Seeing all the raver kids leave after Infected Mushroom made for a really chill atmosphere for Orbital's set.
Plastikman live - Holy shit. Richie is a genius when it comes to dropping the darkest yet danciest minimal techno out there. Insane visuals, heavy basslines, and simple yet creative beats had me dancing harder than anything else I've seen in a while. It was so good it was scary. Ask me on some days, and I'll say that it was better than Orbital - and that's coming from someone who's most anticipated act was Orbital.
Those are the 3 best I saw this weekend. Other great sets I saw included Devo, Echo & the Bunnymen, Flying Lotus, Jason Bently, The Specials, The Ravonettes, Deerhunter, Jonsi, and Faith No More.
I'll recap Sly Stone's trainwreck in another post - it's worth reading.
Also, ran into someone wearing a 9:30 club t-shirt and working at the merch table. Whippy, was that you? or someone else? I did say "hey" and commented that I was from the east coast too and it was nice to see some club representation at the fest. I recognized the guy, too. Works at the club.
And now, festival downsides for this year:
1) Way too crowded. GV needs to go back to selling 50-60k tickets and not 75k. It made for an atmosphere and vibe that took away from the charm that normally makes Coachella so unique, and replaced it with 15,000 electro teens and hipsters. The tents for certain acts were way too crowded and overflowing with people.
2) Parking sucked on Friday and Sunday. This city has had 10 years to get this right, so it does deserve some bitching. I've heard stories of people that got off the freeway in the afternoon and didnt get to the festival until 9pm, or people being blatantly turned away from parking altogether.
3) Poor festival staff coordination. Hardly any of the volunteers knew what was going on. People were sneaking in left and right. They at one point ran out of wristbands to give out to festival attendees - WTF?
There's alot more to these complaints too that have really hit home with some of the veterans, and its shit that GV really needs to address this time around.
All in all, a fun weekend indeed. As a whole, I'm not sure how it compares with the other years I've been, but I did see alot of fine music this past weekend.
