Coachella: Day Two 04/17/10
With so many bands playing, the breadth of Coachella’s line-up can be a curse as well as a blessing. It forces the fans to make a choice between potentially up to 5 acts they may all love. Unfortunately, I have been faced with decisions such as Them Crooked Vultures or Grizzly Bear, Dead Weather/MGMT or Muse, and on Sunday Phoenix/Thom Yorke or Pavement/Gorillaz. Most of these decisions have essentially been an old favorite vs. a curious desire to see a different band. So far, the old favorites are up 2-0.
On Friday, Them Crooked Vultures took up roughly the same hour as Grizzly Bear, and on opposite sides of the festival. I’ve been looking forward to seeing both, being and avid fan of QOTSA, Led Zeppelin, and Foo Fighters/Nirvana, and having recently bought and loved Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimist. I was in a sticky situation. I decided to go with the Stone Age Zeppelin Fighters over the ambient rock of Grizzly Bear. They played a fantastic set, and I got a good enough spot to watch the band in the flesh rather than on the giant oversized screen. Opener “Nobody Loves Me & Neither Do I” was one of my favorite moments of Coachella so far, with each of the members’ respective styles present enough to identify but not dominating one or the other. Dancer “Gunman,” and 10 minute jam “Scumbag Blues” were high moments of the set.
On Saturday, Faith No More, Tiesto, and Muse played the main stage while MGMT and the Dead Weather rocked the Outdoor Stage. Once again, I decided to watch the acts I knew well rather than have a vague curiosity of. MGMT hit the stage around nine, and opened with Congratulations track “Flash Delirium.” “Thank you very much,” singer Andrew VanWyngarden said in a restrained and prepared tone of voice. He repeated this after every song--a joke only a few picked up on in the crowd. They played mostly new material, of which the audience was unfamiliar with and was consequentially a little dead. The new songs were hit or miss; "Song For Dan Treacy" was a bit of a dud, but I particularly liked "I Found a Whistle." Though things picked up dramatically during “Electric Feel,” and “Time to Pretend,” MGMT was mostly a disappointment, generally lacking energy and songs with any staying power beyond their hits--in addition to leaving biggest hit “Kids” out of the set.
The Dead Weather were next, and with most of the crowd exiting (there was an hour gap between sets) I pushed to the very front, and got one of the best spots I’ve ever been at a concert, ever. The band, with black hair, pale skin, and black attire, had a bit of a ghoul-y, gothic vibe but it worked. Unlike MGMT, they were able to maintain a consistency in the style and quality of their songs, even ones off their upcoming album Sea of Cowards. New track “Hustle and Cuss” featured Jack White and Alison Mosshart sharing the lead vocals, and the crowd was exclamatory during “Will There Be Enough Water” in which White jumped on the electric guitar to play one of the most passionate solos I've seen in person. That is not to undermine main guitarist Dean Fertia--a great guitarist in his own right--who often switched between keyboards and guitar, and bassist Jack Lawrence, who handled the drums while White took over on guitar. They closed their set with "Treat Me Like Your Mother."
Despite the mild disappointment of MGMT, I’m not planning on changing my gameplan anytime soon; choosing the familiar gave me two of the best shows I’ve been to for awhile. I can most assuredly assume choosing Thom Yorke will lead to the same result. After all, with all the madness of Coachella, I have to do something that’s familiar.
Words by James Thomer for LAist
Photos by Simon Cardoza for LAist