Coachella 2011
This is a post I did for my work…
FRIDAY
I made a mad dash for the Sahara tent to see Skrillex (He had the loudest set by-far the whole weekend), then over to the main stage for Ozomatli, (they were pretty fun!)…
“Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All”, better known as “Odd Future” performed, making this their first festival. As expected, they had sound issues at the beginning, or should I say, lack of sound, issues. In case you aren’t aware, this is a group of kids from 17-20(ish) years old who have been the talk of the interwebs for the past few months. Though, I am not a HUGE fan of their sound, the fact that they did everything themselves to get where they are today is very inspiring to me. That’s one of our yello! beach balls bouncing around in the crowd! Pharrell from the Neptunes even came out and did a new track with them, which he produced. FREE EARL!!!
Not everyone was having such a great time watching the show…
Atrak was the best DJ in the world at 15 years old & he’s 28(ish) now, so you can only imagine the talent he’s comin’ with. He runs the gamut of music in his set, going from hip-hop to dubstep, to electro, to disco and back without breaking a sweat. His sets never cease to amaze!
Though they are not the most energetic band in the world, Interpol sounded damn good.
Eventually I had to get some food.
(Then I hit) Erick Morilo, Brandon Flowers, Cut Copy…
Magnetic Man is made up of “Artwork”, “Skream”, & “Benga”. The are the creators of Dubstep as we know it today. This was their first show ever in America, so I had to see what they had in store. I was not disappointed. I don’t think I have to call attention to how stunning the lights in the Sahara tent were!
(Then I hit) Crystal Castles, Sasha…
This was the highlight of the entire festival for me. Boys Noize is arguably the best DJ in the world! Ask any DJs you know and I’m sure they would agree. (If they don’t know who you are talking about, they should be ashamed of themselves.)
SATURDAY
(Started off the day lounging in the Sahara tent) Joachim Garraud, Chuckie, Laidback Luke, Mumford & Sons (not in Sahara tent), Felice Brothers (not in Sahara tent), Fedde le Grand, Empire of the Sun (not in Sahara tent), Paul van Dyk, Steve Angello…
I did not witness this, personally, but I wish I had, it looks amazing!
By the end of the night, I was BEAT! I had never seen Scissor Sisters before and was very excited to be seeing them live, despite (me) having no energy. As soon as they came on, they reinvigorated the whole crowd and everyone started dancing around me like no one was watching.
SUNDAY
As we walked in Wiz Khalifa was performing “Black & Yellow,” being a native from Pittsburgh myself, there could not have been a better start to the day!
Ellie was so sweet and sounded amazing! They passed out “Starry Eyed” shades to the whole crowd & I even spotted one of our “yello!” beach balls bouncing around!!!
(Then I hit) Death From Above 1979, those 2 guy sure to make a ton of noise! They sounded good though.
Duck Sauce is Atrak & Armand van Helden, they make and spin disco house and did not disappoint. When They played “Barbara Streisand,” I bet you could hear the crowd humming the melody from miles away. Also spotted another of our beach balls bouncing around!
(Then I hit) Ratatat…
I had seen Dave 1 DJ before in a small venue, but this was the first time I had seen Chromeo perform live. Atrak is Dave 1′s lil bro, so he jumped up on stage to play percussion on Night By Night with Dave & P-Thug.
(Then I hit) The Strokes…
The crowd got thick REAL fast for Kanye
Kanye was the closing act for the entire festival. I had already seen the Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77 in LA and the Presets in Pomona (and I saw PJ Harvey when I was in 6th grade. I don’t think she’s made any music since then, so I would assume I didn’t miss anything new.) I decided to stay and watch Yee-Zee in hopes that he had a trick up his sleeve, perhaps Daft Punk would do Stronger with him? (There’s always a rumor that Daft Punk is going to be a secret guest EVERY year.)
Overall I had a great weekend, as tired as I was/(am) I wish it would have never ended. Can’t wait for next year.
The Golden Filter & The Presets (& I can’t forget about Groamville!)
It’s been a while since my last serious post. I have been busy with work and “Buck Practice.” But here it goes…
While everyone was at Coachella, I unfortunately was. I really at home. I really wish I had gone. There were so many sets that I wanted to see. If you listen to popular radio, then you are unaware that electro music is the new rock and DJs are the new rockstars, no matter what American Idol might tell you, The line up was full of DJs & electro rock bands. I can’t even begin to list them. They threw in The Cure & Paul McCartney to get the mainstream people to come, but if you are in-tune with what’s really popular, you were there to see the DJs. & I don’t mean the fucking hipsters that spend their parents money on the clothes their parents old clothes and sunglasses at thrift shops (don’t even get me started on fucking hipsters…) I’m talking about the true music heads that know who they are watching. You have no idea how many times I have gone to see worldclass DJs spin and some 16 year old in bright clothes & frogskins has walked up to me and pointed to the stage and said, “who is that?”.
…Oh yeah right I forgot what I was supposed to be talking about. So the day after Coachella I went to see The Presets with The Golden Filter at The Glasshouse. Paparazzi opened up with a DJ set. I saw him outsid afterward and gave him one of my DJ shirts. The golden Filter was next…
I had just recently got turned on to them. I really dig their disco sound. Not to mention their lead singer is super hot. Their set was good, you could tell that no one new who they were. They liked the music, but were there for The Presets. Finally The Presets came out…
They had just performed at Coachella & I heard that they were amazing. When I saw them their set was super dope. So much sound from 2 people. It got super hot in the building while everyone was jumping around to them. It’s refreshing to see a group perform their music, rather than spin it every once in a while.
Also I went to see what I was told is the last performance of the homie Sam’s Band Groamsville. It was fuckin rockin. 3 piece, no bass, guitar, drums & vocals. Sam was shredding. He stripped down for the performance because he got so HOTT!!!