- Biggest surprise: Gil-Scott Heron. Speaking of cliches, how about a grizzled 60-something black man playing bluesy riffs on an organ, accompanied by another grizzled 60-something black man on the conga. It took all my will power not to do that snappy-finger jazz applause thing. That said, there was simply no cooler moment the entire weekend. Repeating the word "tomorrow" for the last two minutes of a 14 minute song, there wasn't a trace of repetitiveness: it was hopeful, empassioned, and Obama-pre-January-20th-2009-esque.
- Smallest surprise: Spoon. They were great! Runner up: White Rabbits. Got to watch this nearly-abandoned afternoon set on the main stage from pretty much the first row. Their new album is highly, highly underrated and it sounds fantastic live. The crowd was mostly people camping out for Muse (we call those people "losers"), interspersed with people like me, singing along to every word.
- Best moment: MGMT playing Electric Feel and Time to Pretend. Don't get me wrong: their new album is shite, and they're a couple of dolts from Weslyan. But those two songs are absolutely bomb. They sounded great live, the crowd went nuts, and it was a perfect Coachella moment.
- Other noteworthy moments:
- First band I saw was She & Him. They sounded just awful, like a band who'd only been playing together for a year or so. Second band I saw was The Specials. They sounded amazing, like a band who'd been playing together for 30 years. Zooey Deschanel remains cute as a bug.
- Gorillaz: as entertaining as it was bizarre. Yeah, they don't acknowledge the crowd or anything because they're a "virtual" band, but they really do have a lot of fun songs, the animation is badass, and Bobby Womack was on stage half the time doing his thing. Can't go wrong with that.
- Jay-Z: I love the idea of Hovah playing in front of 74,998 white people and thinking to himself, "Hm... how can I make these honkies dance?" And then having his band play "Wonderwall."
- Tiesto: Just as douchy as the last time I was at Coachella.
- XX: Some idiot put these guys on the Outdoor stage, which everyone knows has the worst acoustics, and has to overcome the worst bleed from the main stage next to it. They sounded great for the first 20 minutes of the set, then (effing) Coheed and Cambria came on next to them and you couldn't hear a goddamn thing.
- Camera Obscura: Unlike the XX, Camera Obscura were placed on the correct stage: the Mojave tent, where their pasty-white Scottish skin wouldn't be torched by the hot desert sun.
- Pavement: People really don't like Pavement! Sure their first couple of albums are a bit less than approachable, and Malkmus's voice can be a little grating, but come on! "Stereo," "Fight this Generation"?!?! I was alone for this one but had a blast.
- Atoms For Peace: Thom Yorke's new band, with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich and Flea from RHCP of all people. Sounded pretty fun and funky, but then the rest of the band cleared out and Thom played solo piano versions of "Airbag" and "Everything in its Right Place." It was appropriately spooky, strange, and amazing.
All in all it was the best of my three
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