| Every year, tens of thousands of people gather in the desert in California to experience blistering heat, overpriced food and over 100 musical acts, from under-exposed indie acts to reunited dinosaurs. For those who didn’t attend this year’s Coachella music festival, Fast Forward offers our condolences, as well as this brief rundown of 2007’s highs and lows.
MOST OVER-HYPED REUNION
This one looked like a shoe-in for Rage Against the Machine, given Zach De La Rocha’s long absence from the scene and the rest of the band’s reincarnation as radio-friendly white noise behind grunge holdover Chris Cornell. But when the band let loose with "Testify," it was like time had stopped at the turn of the millennium.
No, the real disappointment came from the Jesus and Mary Chain, as vocalist Jim Reid seemingly spent the set daydreaming about how he’d spend the reunion paycheque. So much for the rich man’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
BEST USE OF VIDEO
Kudos must be given to the Teddybears, who crudely spliced bear heads into such cinematic classics as The Shining and Spinal Tap. Like the band, it was clever, cute and entertaining for two or three songs.
Cornelius, on the other hand, melted minds with a "Sensuous Synchronized Show" of razor-sharp future pop and abstract film. In a day full of scheduling conflicts, Cornelius was supposed to be filler prior to The Good, The Bad and The Queen taking the stage. Instead, it was pure, hypnotic wonder.
BEST DRESSED
Festivals aren’t generally known for elaborate stage shows, so it was impressive enough when Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes managed a full costume change without hurting the group’s momentum. When he climbed into the oversized, stepladder-mounted robe that would be his fourth costume of the set, it was clear that Barnes takes his role as the new Ziggy damned seriously. Plus, guitarist Bryan Poole looked like a dayglo angel, and bassist Matt Dawson dressed as a dashing Cossack despite the triple-digit heat.
RENAISSANCE WOMAN AWARD
After CSS finished its set in the sweltering Sahara tent, front woman Lovefoxxx dashed off to pull double duty as the lighting technician for London’s Klaxons. The set that followed was almost impossibly intense, thanks in no small part to Lovefoxxx’s flair for dramatic visuals. Hands down the best light show of the weekend.
WORST USE OF TIME
It seems that being French means never having to show up on time. Dream-pop duo Air took nearly half an hour to start up their set, leaving the crowd to wonder why they weren’t watching Lily Allen instead. When they did show up, no explanation was offered for the tardiness. Fortunately, they managed to squeeze in "Sexy Boy" and "Kelly Watch the Stars" before the timekeepers cut the power to the stage, which very nearly made up for the gaff.
MOST DEDICATED FESTIVAL-GOER
With five stages and staggered start times, frantic between-set dashes are common enough at Coachella. Still, observant fans were surprised when they sprinted from the Arcade Fire’s crowd-pleasing main stage set to Blonde Redhead’s shoegazing second stage show, only to find that the Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Perry was already peering out from side-stage. It’s always nice to see that musicians can still be fan-boys.
BIGGEST JOKE THAT DIDN’T COME FROM THE COMEDIANS OF COMEDY
You can’t spend three days in the desert with thousands of Rage fans and not expect shenanigans. So it’s easy to forgive security for keeping its guard up and being a touch standoffish. But there’s overreacting, and then there’s overreacting.
On Saturday night, a few hundred Coachella-goers apparently didn’t feel like going to sleep and their cheers and boisterousness were deemed inappropriate by Coachella staff. Naturally, the riot police were called in. The sirens started at around 3 a.m., and were replaced by helicopters with megaphones by 4 a.m. Rumours flew about people being tasered and the cops were definitely armed with bean bag guns. They eventually realized the scene was more drum circle than riot and slunk away anti-climactically. |
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