Coachella…ella…ella…the 2010 festival review – Day One

So my first year of Coachella has come and gone, leaving me in a state of musical-withdrawal.  There were definitely some organizational issues, and some moments of serious frustration, but in the end, the negative energy falls away and I take with me the memories of amazing music, amazing friends, and an experience that I will never forget. Here’s a rundown of Day 1…

The first thing I learned was…getting there a day early is perfect.  The calm before the storm is absolutely necessary.  Just make sure you don’t party too hard before the festival. Luckily, the thought of music is an instant hangover cure for me and I rallied to the cause nice and early.  The weather outside was perfect..not too hot, and the view is absolutely amazing for a music festival…or just a nice weekend getaway in general.  The mountains…the palm trees…the sunsets…now we just need the music…

So then we all pile into the car and find a back way into the festival.  Parking was easy, we’ve got 30 minutes before the first band we want to see, so we should be set right?  Wrong.  The second (and most important thing I learned)…Get there early the first day… or you might be stuck in line for 2 hours and miss the first 3 bands you planned to see, including Hockey…only to walk in and hear your friends say “Wow, we just randomly walked by this band Hockey and had to stop because they were SOOOOO AWESOME!  We’ve never heard of them, but what a great show”.  Thanks…please add some salt to my wounds. At this point I was thinking “I am never coming back here.  I want to cry…”  But I don’t give up.

So after a throwing a few back (as my previous shots of Jameson were rendered useless after the line incident),  my musical experience started with Passion Pit, who I’m not an insanely huge fan of, but at that point, hearing any music was pretty awesome.  They did put on a good show and I have to give the singer props for reaching such high notes.  I’m thinking they may have been better in a tent instead of on the Outdoor Theatre stage, but I was already starting to feel the music curing my bitterness.

After Passion Pit, it was back to the beer garden. This time we went to the one between the two big outdoor stages (Coachella & Outdoor) and wandered over–margaritas in hand– to see Them Crooked Vultures from inside the garden.  This supergroup is definitely deserving of the title as they pretty much killed it.  Yes! Finally rocking out!  Although at this point the group was split up and no one’s phone was working but mine (yay Sprint) so meeting up with anyone was nearly impossible.

Next it was back for more margaritas and then back to Coachella stage to watch LCD Soundsystem…of which I know maybe 1 song?  By this time, it didn’t matter.  The lights were crazy, the crowd was dancing, and their energy was so amazing, I was oblivious to anything else.  I could feel magic of the festival setting in and the more I danced, the less I cared about anything other than the music.  We had some fun people dancing around us and I remembered why I love live music so much.

Yes…more margaritas, and now heading over to Vampire Weekend at the Outdoor stage, where we made some friends and chilled out for a moment.  I noticed immediately that the sound from the beer garden was terrible for this stage.  VW was pretty good, but Jay-Z was almost on and by this time, we were ready for some Jigga…

After 2 steps we lost our new friends, but somehow found our other ones in the Sailor Jerry Beer Garden, plus even more new ones (Coachella is a great place to meet people, then lose them 30 minutes after).  The crowd was ridiculous by this time and if you weren’t literally holding on to your friends, they disappeared.  By this time I was tired of the beer gardens and wanted to be in the crowd so I made my way out with a new friend into the massive crowd and didn’t think twice about leaving my ride home…ooops.  What can I say?  I heard Jay-Z come out and memories of the last 10 years of my life pulled me out to the sea of people.

Now Jay-Z is pretty badass…he’s definitely been around for awhile, but he’s a hip-hop artist and, well, I honestly didn’t expect that much, as I don’t think most people did.  He didn’t have to get through 2 songs for me to realize that this was going to be one of the best performances of the weekend.  He didn’t need a huge posse on the stage to show us that he really is a musical legend of our generation.  He did what he does best, which is to simply be badass, and everyone loved him for it.  Everyone was dancing, everyone was singing, and no one wanted it to end…which is probably why he just kept on going.  And I really don’t think anyone minded.

Beyonce Singing "Forever Young" with Jay-Z

Just when we thought he was done, a very familiar voice walked on stage in jeans and a hat singing “Forever Young”.  Who is that anyways?  Oh, shit, it’s Beyonce!  Love her or hate her, it was a pretty awesome surprise and just the icing on the cake to an already amazing performance.  What better way to end the night than to a crowd singing “Forever Young” with Beyonce and Jay-Z?  After being thoroughly danced out, I decided it was probably a good idea to walk back over and try to find my friends.  Amazingly, they appeared in front of me as we walked away…sweet!

So now that we had all long forgotten about the hassle of getting in and ended up having a pretty awesome first day at Coachella, it was time to head back to the house.  It’s too bad that our friend who had the keys already took off home in a cab.  25 calls to her phone didn’t wake her up.  FML.  We honestly had no idea where we were going. Plan of action…walk towards the house until we can find a cab.

Important lesson #3-cabs only pick up from selected areas of the festival, and none that were en route to our house.  FML…again.

3 miles later, after walking back around the entire festival and then towards our house, the bitterness had returned.  Thank God some random local picked us up and drove us the last 2 miles.  At this point, my calves were going to fall off and I had grown extra skin to shield me from the chilly wind.  Beer in hand as soon as we walked into the house…check.  Finally making it to bed at 4:30 AM…guess we are going to have to learn to live without sleep for the next 2 days…

Best Albums of 2008…the insanity begins

So here we go again…2008 is not over yet, but the “Best of” lists have already started popping up everywhere, including in the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine.  Again, I’m still confused as to why I even bother reading this magazine, but my subscription hasn’t run out yet, so until then, I will continue to read, and continue to rant, because this magazine is proving to have the music taste of a 14 year old girl.

First of all, how can you make a “Best of 2008” list when the year isn’t over?  I’m guessing they got the advance copy, but Fall Out Boy’s new album hasn’t even come out yet…seems like a pretty big omission.  Not that I expect Fall Out Boy to top my list this year, but I don’t think it’s arguable to say that their album will probably be better than the Jonas Brothers, who come in at #40…I mean, seriously?  I don’t listen to their music, but did anyone watch their halftime show during the Thanksgiving football game?  It was the most awkward, uncomfortable and talentless performance I’ve ever seen…that alone was enough for me to not need to listen to the album…ever.

But back to the list…I am happy to see Santogold at #6, but to see Guns n’ Roses at #12– ahead of Kings of Leon who is only #20–confuses the hell out of me.  Anyone who doesn’t put “Only by the Night” in their top 10 this year does not have music taste that I think is worthy of any sort of publication, and if you are my friend, and don’t agree, I may have to re-evaluate our friendship.

Here’s the rest of Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 20 list:
1.  TV on the Radio “Dear Science”
2.  Bob Dylan “Tell Tale Signs – The Bootleg Series”
3.  Lil Wayne “The Carter II”
4.  My Morning Jacket “Evil Urges”
5.  John Mellencamp “Life, Death, Love and Freedom”
6.  Santogold “Santogold”
7.  Coldplay “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends”
8.  Beck “Modern Guilt”
9.  Metallica “Death Magnetic”
10.  Vampire Weekend “Vampire Weekend”
11. Fleet Foxes “Fleet Foxes”
12.  Guns n’ Roses “Chinese Democracy
13.  Blitzen Trapper “Furr”
14.  Ryan Adams and the Cardinals “Cardinology”
15.  The Black Keys “Attack and Release”
16.  Randy Newman “Harps and Angels”
17.  B.B. King “One Kind Favor”
18.  Lucinda Williams “Little Honey”
19.  Erykah Badu “New Amerykah: Part 1 (4th World War)”
20.  Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”

I’m not gonna lie, I haven’t even heard all those albums, nor have I heard nearly close to all the albums that were released, but I’ve heard some darn good ones, that I guarantee are better than Lil Wayne.  I’ll say it again, seriously?! Number 3?  The chorus of his hit song is “She she  licked me like a lollipop (yeah)”, repeated 4 times.  That’s deserving of #3??  That song is everything that’s wrong with hip hop.  I understand they want to cover all the genres, but they didn’t think T.I.’s “Paper Trails” might be more deserving of a spot?

As always, they still gave their number one spot to weird experimental music, in this case–TV on the Radio. It’s not a bad choice for number one…”Dear Science” is a good album…I’m not sure it’s deserving of #1 though…but it’s a much more respectable option than their #1 spot for top singles, which went to Beyonce for “Single Ladies”…

Don’t get me wrong, I love Beyonce and admire her for her talent, ambition and class, but this is the song of the year?  If any of her songs should have made the list, it should have been the more thoughtful song “If I Were a Boy”.  The rest of their top 10 is actually respectable…except of course, #5 which is none other than “Lollipop”…

The rest of Rolling Stone’s top 10 best singles of the year:
1.  Beyonce “Single Ladies”
2.  Santogold “LES Artistes”
3.  MGMT “Time to Pretend”
4.  Blitzen Trapper “Furr”
5.  Lil Wayne “Lollipop”
6.  Beck “Gamma Ray”
7.  Estelle Ft. Kanye West “American Boy”
8.  My Morning Jacket “I’m Amazed”
9.  Coldplay “Viva la Vida”
10.  T.I. “No Matter What”

Another year has almost gone by, and another bad list has been made by Rolling Stone.  Their bad judgment of hip hop music and token experimental music overtaking good rock and roll has yet again produced two “Best of 2008” lists that breaks any true rockers heart.

My best of 2008 list is in the works and will be out soon…but not before the last New Music Tuesday of the year.  And you better bet that there won’t be any Lil Wayne or Beyonce, but there will be plenty of Indie gems that might have slipped under your radar.

…keep rockin…