Coachella
Indio Polo Fields
April 30 and May 1 2005

This is one of the premier music festivals in the US of A. I have wanted to go for a few years and for various reasons have not made it out to lovely, sunny Indio for the event. I was particularly bummed last year when Radiohead was playing and yet again I wasn't able to go. This year I was going to get off my lazy ass and finally get there. I talked my friend Tina into going (though, to be honest, it never takes much to convince her to go on a road trip.)

We left Friday night and flew from our hometown airport (Oakland) and arrived in Ontario, Ca at around 8pm. We picked up our rental car and drove to Palm Desert were we had reserved a condo in a gated community. After getting lost a few times we got to our place and settled in. It was a two bed; two bath condo that was rented out to people like us and it was really nice. I am long past the years of roughing it and to be honest why would I want to if I can afford not to. You know?

The next morning we set off about noon and made our way to the venue in Indio.

Here's the thing about these festivals; When you get the lineup of all the bands you joyously highlight all the bands you are going to see. Then you get there and realize that there is five tents all going at the same time and you have to seriously cut down on the number of bands you can actually see. Also there is the heat and standing for hours and hours that make it impossible to see everything you want to see. From a line up of about 50 bands we ended up seeing about a dozen. But that is still a shit load of music over two days.

DAY 1


After parking, we walked what felt like a mile in the heat to get to the entrance of the polo field. Of course, I forgot to bring water so I thought I was going to die of heat stroke. Did I mention it was hot? Once we got to the entrance we had to stand in a seriously unorganized line and nearly sweated to death before we final made it inside to get into the polo fields. I was impressed with the lay out and the laid back vibe of the festival. All the tents were spread around the field and there was art, food and shopping as well. What more could you want?

Jaime Cullem

We had missed half his set from standing in line so long but he put on a good jazz/rock/pop show and had the crowd grooving right along with him. I was really impressed by this young guy's mature music.


Stereophonics

We heard rather than saw this band for about half of their set. The tent they were in was so packed we were relegated to the grassy area outside. We took this as a sign that we should sit down and relax for a bit, which we did.

Cafe Tacuba

During the 90's I was really into Rock en Espanol and though I don't listen to it as often as I used to I still have my favorite bands that I always try to go see live. This is one of those bands. They have so much energy and some of the best hooks out there in any language. Even Tina, who doesn't speak Spanish, likes them and has seen them twice with me. I had a great time singing along to all their old hits and rocking out to the new stuff.

Snow Patrol

This band is from Ireland by way of Scotland. They are a good, solid rock band that is more on the softer side of rock, sort of a slightly harder Coldplay. Good music that is fun to listen to.

Keane

This is one of my favorite bands right now. The music is smooth, the lyrics are personal and Tom Chaplin's voice is beautiful. This was the third time I had seem them live and they have become more confident and dynamic every time I have seen them.

Bauhaus

Goths rejoice, Bauhaus is on! I loved this band in the eighties and was happy to hear they were playing. You cannot get more entertaining that Peter Murphy with his wild white hair and fabulous stage presence. The highlight of the show was Murphy hanging upside down, swaddled in midnight blue satin material, singing the opening to "Bela Lugosi's Dead." Sweet!

Coldplay

We have seen this group way too many times to mention so decided to let others take up the front and headed to the back of the concert area to find a nice comfy spot on the grass. As always they put on a great show with all the hits and some of the new stuff coming out on their new album. We were exhausted and our feet hurt like hell, but this was the perfect ending to a great day.

DAY 2

We decided to take it a little easer this day to make up for the long haul the day before and since the first band we really wanted to see was not on until after five we didn't get to the polo fields until a little after four pm.

The Bravery

We had been listening to this band's CD a lot since it came out so we were pretty excited to hear them live at last. We were not disappointed. They played great eighties inspired rock with the perfect pop sensibility. They were fun to watch too with their post-punk look and a perfectly practiced "we couldn't care less/ our life sucks" attitude. Fun stuff.

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon shopping and just hanging out. We had a great time people watching. Actually it was more tattoo/t-shirt watching. I think our favorite t-shirt of the day was a guy with a brown t-shirt with yellow lettering that just said "Your Retarded" We were saying that to each other for weeks after that. (a typical exchange would be: Person A says something stupid. Person B says "Your retarded, y-o-u-r"


In the Evening we headed over to the main stage to see the headliners.

Gang of Four

To be honest I didn't listen to these guys very much originally, so I didn't know too many of their songs. But we still enjoyed the music and sang along with the few songs we did know.

New Order

Another eighties band that I was a big fan of. They played all the classics (as well as some Joy Division songs) as well as new songs off of "Siren Song." The performance was only slightly dampened by the fact that lead singer Bernard Sumner was hobbling around on a soar foot and as a result was a little cranky.

Nine Inch Nails

30 thousand people straining to get closer to the stage. 30 thousand people singing every lyric. 30 thousand people screaming, jostling, and jumping to the best industrial rock band ever. I was smashed, hot, my feet hurt and I could barely see the stage...but who cares it was the best show of the whole weekend and one of the best sounding shows I had ever seen. I have officially been converted to the church of Trent Reznor. Hallelujah!!!

After Nine Inch Nails most of the crowd left and so did we, tired and deliriously happy. This weekend was a rousing success for us and we will definitely try to came again next year. You can't get better than great music, a relaxed vibe and a weekend with your best friend.