Coachella @ Empire Polo Fields

Day 2 and a little bit warmer, but a little bit wiser. Drove into the parking lot and run over a witches hat to park closer to the exit to avoid the 2 hour departure fiasco of last night.

Was there early enough to see Cloud Cult, who combined music and art on the Outdoor Theatre. I liked the idea of watching the artist on stage moving and painting to the moody rock being played on stage.

Joss Stone

Next up was Joss Stone on the Coachella Stage. Wow! How does this petite Englishwoman have a singing voice like that? There was so much soul and passion coming out of that tiny body, you may have thought you were hearing Aretha Franklin. She was clearly enjoying herself and appreciative of the crowd, which was shown when she spent a song in the barrier area entertaining the crowd. I think this may be the surprisingly good performer of Coachella.

Drive by Truckers were the next band to entertain me for an hour. Over on the Outdoor Stage. DBT played a great alt country rock set. I'm looking forward to the follow up later tonight with Booker T. Highlight of the set for me was the finale "People Who Died"

 

Next on the same same stage was Superchunk. I had never seen them before but couldn't stand the heat, so went and found a shaded seat away from the stage, near one of the food stalls, and watched from there. I remember them being pretty a popular indie band in the 90's and seeing them took me back to a younger age. The only downside was I had to miss Henry Rollins and/or Spearhead (oh well! cest la vie for a festival).

TV On The Radio

Back to the main stage to see TV On The Radio sunset set. I still haven't been able to tell if I like these guys from their CDs, but having now seen them live my mind is made. This is good! Great energy and sound. Again it may have been the fact that the sun went down as TVOTR played that made them better, but am definitely glad I got to see these guys.

 

My plan was to go and see Booker T & Drive By Truckers in the Gobi Tent, but they could not hold my interest for 3 songs. So this time became a period of wandering from stage to stage. This saw me catch a bit of James Morrison, Fleet Foxes and end up at Thievery Corporation. While dance music is not my thing, you can't help but get infected by the crowd watching Thievery Corporation. EVERYONE was dancing and having a blast. And the band sounded gooood.

Stuck around to see MIA. She played Vegoose a couple of years ago and I saw the great Queens Of The Stone Age instead, but read the reviews of how great MIA's show was. If the last review was true, this show couldn't be further from it. It was terrible! An annoying DJ mixed over the top over vocals, and that fucking horn. Are you kidding me? Worst part of Coachella for me.

Decided to miss The Killers (they're from Vegas, I'll see them eventually) and go and see Turbonegro instead. Good choice in my mind. Turbonegro RAWKED!!! Crowd was into them and I ran into Moz for the first time today.

 

The final band of the day was Mastodon. Metal! Again a great show, even with all the technical difficulties they were having with their video screen behind the band, and it was great to hear something different from the rest of the festivals music. Mastodon are pretty intense, as are their fans. I had a safe spot in front of the mixing desk, as the day had taken it's toll (see I am getting to old).

 

No trouble getting out of the carpark tonight. Back tomorrow for the piece de resistance. The Cure.

The Crap Facts:
This is my 281st concert.
This is my 2nd concert at Empire Polo Fields
This is my 2nd concert in Indio.
This is my 3rd concert in California.

This is my 89th concert in the USA.

Joss Stone is the 342nd band I've seen.
Drive By Truckers are the 343rd band I've seen.
Superchunk are the 344th band I've seen.
TV On The Radio are the 345th band I've seen.
Thievery Corporation are the 346th band I've seen.
MIA is the 347th band I've seen.
Turbonegro are the 348th band I've seen.
Turbonegro are the 150th time I've seen a band in the USA.
This is my 2nd Mastodon concert.