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Coachella 2005: Day Two
So how would you end a weekend in which you have the number one movie in the country? Well, if you're Mos Def, you cold rock a party like it was Krush Groove. The Mighty Mos Def and Talib Kweli closed the main stage (to a much smaller crowd than Nine Inch Nails which, we think, had to do with Goldenvoice not naming Mos and Talib in the adverts or the program) with an energetic set spanning their combined efforts as Black Star and their more recognizable solo faire. Common, who loves to show up at LA hip hop shows and do his guest spots, showed in the desert as well.
While it was billed as a Black Star set, this was Mos Def's show. After spending most of the past few years acting (which he is returning to in the next few weeks as Italian Job 2 starts shooting) and performing straight up rock & roll as the front man for Black Jack Johnson, this was his opportunity to do some real hip hop and he took every opportunity. Not wanting to leave the stage at the midnight shut down time, he went over for a good 15 minutes promising to pay the fines and legal fees if he could just play one more song. "I'm cool, I play by all the rules," he said as he smiled and called for one more beat. Black Star was all set to tour for the summer but Mos's acting commitments has killed that possibility and we suspect Dante Smith's time as a recording artist and performing hip hop artist are coming to an end. For those that slept on this part of the day, you may have missed history.
We didn't go to Coachella for celebrity watching but couldn't help but notice Jason Lee stalking us every time we got up close for Canadian bands. Sloan and The Arcade Fire both count him as a fan and his hairy Lumberjack look wasn't fooling anybody. Arcade Fire would've been the best set of the day if it wasn't for M.I.A. just exploding on stage with her kinetic performance. The overflow for her 50 minutes in the Gobi Tent had us dancing outside barely able to catch her head bobbing and weaving to Diplo's beat selector.
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Day two was all about energy as The Perceptionists, The Futureheads, and New Order all got their crowds dancing and jumping while Pinback got their dedicated fanbase (who skipped NIN to see them) singing along and nodding their heads.
While hiding from Jason Lee, we did catch Chloe Sevigny, Vincent Gallo, Amanda Seyfried and Nic Harcourt slinking around midday Sunday. We didn't catch Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz on Saturday but we also weren't at the Coldplay show. While we enjoy Chris Martin's music, they knock us out like Sleepytime tea so we were elsewhere.
Check out Austinist's Day two coverage and more pictures after the jump.
You want to know about TRASHed.
Robochrist, that's a scary baby!
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Mr. Lif and Akrobatik are very perceptive.
The Arcade Fire are on fire!
"Dudes, our crotches totally love Coachella!"
More pics can be found here.
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