Orange County Blog

We were so busy seeing sets at Coachella this past weekend that we apparently missed out on some of the real stories--like this naked wizard getting chased around and tased by on-site cops. Everyone wants to have fun at there, but apparently this naked wizard was having a little too much fun. Here's the video that's been making the rounds online, and keep in mind that it is decidedly not safe for work, unless your work is particularly amenable towards copious amount of naked wizard dong. If so, hold on to that job as if it were gold, friend.


 
Naked Wizard Tased By Reality from Tracy Anderson on Vimeo.

Coachella may be a distant, sweaty, sticky memory at this point, but that doesn't mean that I'm willing or able to shut up about it quite yet.

Beth Stirnaman had some car troubles, causing her arduous trek from Indio to be delayed (and nothing's better than being stuck in Indio when there isn't a huge music festival going on), but did that stop her from delivering these great day three images? Heck no! Check them out here. She got Peter Bjorn & John, Perry Farrell, K'naan, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (yeah, pictured), Paul Weller, My Bloody Valentine, the Kills, the Cure and even more! Wowzers.

Oh, and to be extra helpful, I also catalogued all of our blogs from over the weekend right here. Click on the j-j-j-jump to check it out.

Here's something interesting from the OC Register's Soundcheck blog via Palm Springs local news station KESQ: Apparently, Coachella promoters Goldenvoice are liable to be fined $1,000 PER MINUTE for every minute sets went past midnight this past weekend. Yipes.

Sure, there's a reason why shows, especially giant, outdoor ones like this, have a certain curfew. Call me naive, but I would ever guess that said curfews could be enforced with such stiff penalties. I decried that the Cure getting cut off while starting "Boys Don't Cry" Sunday night was pretty lame, and from a music fan's standpoint, it absolutely was, but it does make a lot more sense from a rational (and fiscal) perspective now. Seeing as how McCartney, by KESQ's numbers, went to 12:54, Saturday went 30 over and the Cure got yanked 33 past, that's $117,000 of fines, which is an ouch and a half.

Questions linger: why did the Cure get cut off and not anyone else? Why can't a giant festival like this plan better so this doesn't happen? Is Indio going to be totally lame and actually enforce these fines?

Well, here we are again. Monday....ew. But for those of you who came along for the ride at Coachella 2009, the memories are probably still cycling around in your brain somewhere. Otherwise, you'd probably be getting some work done instead of trolling the internet looking for the next Albert Ching blog post. Sorry, but can we give this man a raise, honestly? Not only did he give you 3 days-worth of blurry iPhone pictures and up-to the-second coverage of the whole sha-bang, but he also Twittered you to death. I mean, it was like you were there, but not really. I was there on Saturday. Honestly, I didn't think that would happen. After weeks of vasciliating over whether  I would be going as a journo on someone else's dime or pay full price as a die hard music lover, the latter ended up being the case.

So there I was, wondering around Satan's asshole (with jeans on...wtf was I thinking?!) on my fourth trip to this sweat-drenched festival of the sun. I saw plenty of cool stuff which I had pretty much counted on, given the fact that most of the bands on Saturday were things that I had either heard or seen before. In fact, I had just reviewed one of the top bands on my list (TV on the Radio) days earlier at the Glass House. And it was a trip to see acts like The Killers, M.I.A., Theivery Corporation and Atmosphere on stage again. It seems like yesterday I was wading in clouds of blunt smoke watching some of these 2009-show stealers perform in the tent section. Of course there were a few bands that I had heard but not seen (i.e. Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Dr. Dog, Jenny Lewis, Zane Lowe).

But with all the strobelight stages, car-smashing machine art and hippie love swirling around me, Coachella 2009 seemed void of any jaw dropping new-comers. In years past, the prospect of stumbling onto an opening band that I would ultimately spend months obsessing over has always been always been the icing on the cake of the festival. Last year it was Akron/Family. Before that, it was a toss up between Pop Levi and The Good, The Bad and the Queen. Anyway, you get the idea.
 

Well, that was weird.

As the Cure inched towards the three hour mark of their setlist and launched into their iconic "Boys Don't Cry" as part of their third encore, THE PLUG GOT PULLED. First sound, then stage lights/video screen. Weird move in general, especially with a legendary band headlining a major festival. In a pretty badass move, Robert Smith and co. continued with "Jumping Someone Else's Train," before finally relenting. Odd note to end things on. But now it's time to drive home.

Final thoughts/recaps/pics/odds and ends later tonight or Monday (smart money's on Monday!).

Thank goodness for Beth Stirnaman. If not for her, our Coachella coverage would consist of my blah blahing and iPhone pictures of stages from the crowd, many yards away. Thankfully, she's got a bundle of great images from day two here, so you can put a face to my inspid ramblings. Remember me raving about  TV on the Radio doing songs like "Wolf Like Me"? Well, there's a bunch of TV on the Radio pictures, including this one here of fetching frontman Tunde Adebimpe.

She also got Calexico, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, M.I.A., Jenny Lewis, Mastodon, Gang Gang Dance and Atmosphere. How does she do it? Look forward to day three pics tomoz, as we wrap up this beeyotch.

I just excavated myself from what seemed like miles of Cure fans. That was a close one.

Check out our Twitter for real-time Cure setlist updates for as long as I can maintain such a pace; so far we've had classics like "Lovesong" and "Pictures of You" mixed in with some lesser-known tracks. Most likely they're just getting started--they got going about a half hour late, too. That picture is of the set from just before they got started, while I was still packed in with said Cure devotees.

I keep seeing the same guy with a mohawk and weird beard every time I come to the press tent. He doesn't work in the press tent. I don't think he goes to show. I bet he just likes the free (warm) water.

Certainly, I can't try and pass myself off as a My Bloody Valentine super-fan: Loveless, their second (of two) studio albums and clearly the most influential, came out when I was barely eight years old. I didn't grow up around their music (Pixies, Sonic Youth, Smiths, yes, sure; MBV, no), and I never really heard them until college and doing the whole "yeah! I'm really into music now" thing. But I was still psyched to see them today, and they delivered--delivered something, for sure. All the talk about them being SUPER, SUPER LOUD was not just hype; I was laying in the grass quite a ways away and could still hear them reverberate with every sensory perceptor of my being. I know songs like "Only Shallow" and "Soon," and perked up for them, not that it made too much of a difference. It was all noise. Powerful, powerful, awesome noise.

So powerful, in fact, that overlapping bands like the Kills (playing the Mojave tent) and Public Enemy (playing the "outside theatre") didn't have a chance against MBV's pummeling sonic waves. Things were originally scheduled so no act had to play against MBV, other than Christopher Lawrence all the way over at the Sahara tent, but the main stage, unsurprisingly, ran late--causing the noisy conflict.

Not that Public Enemy seemed too deterred, doing "Bring the Noise" and "Don't Believe the Hype" (both from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back), and remind the fans that Flavor Flav was, at least once, more than a wacky reality TV star. That was about all I got to hear, though, since I had to brush up against some Cure fans. And that just about catches you up.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs. So great. Right now they're doing "Maps." You know, from that video game Rock Band! That picture is from them doing "Cheated Hearts." They were just on Saturday Night Live eight days ago (with host Zac Efron! OMG!) and here they are at Coachella. Pretty cool. I raved about their new album just a few weeks ago in the Weekly, and they did plenty of tracks from that: "Dull Life." "Zero." "Skeletons." And of course, Karen O is wearing a fetching glittery gold outfit. At least it looked gold from my vantage point--hard to get too close at this point. "They don't love you like I love you." You tell 'em, O!

Totally got all Sweded up earlier: Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn & John. Lykke Li even got on stage with PB&J, filling in for what's her name from the Concretes on "Young Folks." PB&J graduated from one of the tents two years ago to the main stage (kind of a motif this year, see: Black Keys, M.I.A., etc.) and brought it as much as a rather mellow Swedish pop band can bring it (which, don't get me wrong, is kind of a lot!). They did "Lay It Down" from the new album, some stuff from Writer's Block like "Amsterdam" (and "Young Folks," as you know by now). Good set.

YYYs doing "Heads Will Roll" right now, now. Probably should go rock out to that. Mmhmm.

Spencer Kornhaber

The "Hand of Man" crushes autos.

While Albert's still sweating it out (literally! ha!) at some polo field in the desert, my Coachella experience -- my first Coachella experience -- is over. But it was fun. Why? Top things about Saturday from a neophyte:

This is a good festival. Water wasn't too expensive, drunk nekkid hipsters weren't unbearably obnoxious, and it was pretty easy to see and hear most sets no matter how late you arrived. The fire-spewing dragon sculpture and the giant, car-wrecking mechanical hand were both nice touches, too.

There are some damn good bands playing this thing. It was pretty surreal to run from one set to another and witness all these acts that your reporter has had crushes on at various points in his life. Albert yawned at Blitzen Trapper; but from a fan's perspective, they killed up there, despite sound problems. Fleet Foxes were lovely at dusk. Liars rocked all creepy, even with Angus Andrews in adorable red shorts. And while Jeremy of Junior Boys seemed a little annoyed for some reason, he still delivered a tight, dancey, soulful set. Bonus points to Junior Boys for finishing early enough to allow fans to go and catch the awesome, seizure-inducing end of M.I.A.'s set: "Bird Flu," "Boys," "Galang" and "Paper Planes." Good songs at the end of a set! Never been done before.

And there's a low-risk/high-payoff deal going on when you take a chance. As Albert's blogging of my Twitter mentioned, I swung by Amanda Palmer and saw her surf across the crowd to the back of the Gobi tent to perform Radiohead's "Creep" on ukulele. I'm not an Amanda Palmer fan, but that was cool. Meanwhile, I figured that the The Killers might be entertaining to see, even though my enjoyment of their music crested when the DJ played "Somebody Told Me" at my high school prom. Turns out they're even more boring live than they are on the radio. No biggie though: After two songs, I left and headed to Glass Candy for some fizzy, balloon-festooned disco.

Overall, good times! I'm still pretty tuckered out, which means I'm going to spare Heard Mentality previously planned wankery, such as a detailed analysis of why I was disappointed by TV On the Radio's set. Albert: Keep it up! The Twittering is great! Your increasing delirium is our entertainment. And, seriously, don't forget the earplugs for My Bloody Valentine. Shit got loud at the El Rey last week.

Hey, did you know it's hot here today? 98 degrees at last word. But it "feels" like, I dunno, a billion? Yep. Pretty awesome. Trying to summon my (in?)famous reserves of ENDLESS ENERGY, but not necessarily succeeding. The Cure are probably going to play like three hours today. That's pretty cool. Is it cool enough to keep us all alive until then? Only time will tell. I'm more sweat than man at this point. Like Hydro-Man, from Spider-Man. But made out of sweat, instead of just regular water. There are flies buzzing around people as if they were dead.

But, music! Pretty great! Lupe Fiasco is on the main stage right now, doing tunes like "Hip Hop Saved My Life" and "Go Gadget Flow." He's come a long way from his guest spot on Kanye West's "Touch the Sky," first in his slot on 'Ye's Glow in the Dark tour last year, and now hitting the "Coachella stage." Lots of neat hip-hop today; the Knux earlier, Lupe now, and Public Enemy later.

Okkervil River (pictured) played on the main stage before Lupe (yeah, indie folk sandwiched between two hip-hop acts--gotta love the wacky randomness). Will Sheff is a witty dude, telling the crowd to give them all their energy and not share it with any of the other acts (a tongue-in-cheek contrast to the constant "there are so many great acts today! I'm so glad you chose to see us!" you hear from bands all day long here). They ended with "Lost Coastlines," and "Life Is Not A Movie or Maybe" gradually getting the crowd (still fairly sparsed so early in the day) more and more into it until they metaphorically ejaculated with "Unless It's Kicks, Man." Good stuff.

Also saw a bit of Friendly Fires, Fucked Up (thrash punk! pretty different than most stuff at Coachella) and Sebastien Tellier. Lupe's doing "Superstar" now, and Lykke Li is ongoing at the side stage, with her countrymen PB&J on the main stage nearly immediately after. Gotta gizzo!

Oh yeah FOLLOW US ON TWITTER LIVE COACHELLA TWEETS YAY: http://twitter.com/heardmentality