Yup yup, Brian said it right about the heat, tan lines and weed. I agree on the greatness of Daft Punk and Clap Your Hands, but not on a coupla others. Overall, I think the festival was fun, but there weren’t enough spectacular bands for me to salivate over. Can the Pixies come back please?

Daft Punk ruled Saturday. Two guys in robot suits poking around in their machines on stage — that’s all it took to bring down the house and create a thunderous ending for the otherwise scattershot day.

Brian liked Madonna, but I thought it was a fiasco to schedule her at the Sahara tent instead of the main outdoor stage. An enormous overflow crowd watched two giant screens outside the tent, while hundreds more walked away in disappointment. The show was slick and short. I felt used. She asked the crowd if her ass looked ok. Yes, it is still hot, and yes, you are a needy mother.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs was by far my favorite on Sunday. Karen Orgasmo put a mic down her throat. But not in this photo.


My big surprise at Coachella was re-discovering how much I liked dance music. I haven’t liked trance for like 10 years, but I was blown away by the energy of the dancers at the sixth venue called the Oasis tent, a tiny round tent that thumped continuously for two days. It was like a holding tent for the dancers while they waited for the famous DJs to perform elsewhere. Whenever we got bored, we returned to see which new freaks had arrived.

Biggest regret: Not seeing more of Animal Collective. I can’t remember why I left. I caught the first five songs or so, and loved how committed the band members were in re-creating the possessed yelps and drumming on their recordings. I saw a guy tell his friend as he walked out, “This is the worst music I’ve ever heard.” Untrue! Probably a Tool fan.

The crowd was electric for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. See the audience clap clap clapping away at this short video. The other videos are of the modified bicycle displays at the festival.

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Kanye jerked his body energetically as usual. It was fine, but I felt like I’d seen all this stuff on TV before. Ditto for Franz Ferdinand. FYI, in “Goldigger,” Kanye elected to self-censor with “broke broke” instead of “broke nigga.” FF walked onto stage to a tune by Neutral Milk Hotel — now that’s a band I would really like to see at Coachella. When is Goldenvoice going to pull Jeff Mangum out from whatever bus he’s hiding under for a reunion show?

Imogen Heap sang with an Apple laptop in front of her. I felt like I was watching a no-name musician at Borders.

I loved The Go! Team’s densely layered, Jackson Five-like party funk, though my enthusiasm faded near the end. Brian said he felt like he was in Disneyland. Still, I’ll probably go their CD this weekend.

Big praises for the sound engineers, and the people working at the festival who sold T-shirts and food with such courtesy and professionalism. Pity the people who had to barbecue chicken in 100 degree heat. If it makes them feel better, the chicken was delicious.

Big boos to the jerks who elbowed their way to the front. If fans wait 1-2 hours in front to get prime real estate for shows, they should not be pushed around by latecomers. Also, big boos to people who littered. Boos too to the people who sneaked in the trailer toilets after the cleaners told them the bathrooms were closed for cleaning. These cleaners are already sucking shit out of portables! You’re jerks for making their jobs harder.

Crowd watching was enormously fun. Favorite photos follow. More pictures at our photo gallery.

Their names, for real, are Daniel and Danielle. They’re studying to become engineers.

These guys are from San Diego and have been coming to Coachella for years. Last year they dressed in matching shorts and were a hit, so this year they decided to do the same.

These are fans, not vendors. One of them insisted I take a glow stick.

There were a lot of people who wore tiny shorts and long socks on Saturday. Not so many on Sunday. Maybe they all saw each other and realized that even though American Apparel is in Vice magazine, they’re pretty corporate.

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