Coachella Day 2

Bright and early at 7am we were all awake. Nothing like 40 degree heat to wake you up. After doing the normal morning duties we were resigned to hide under our makeshift shade blocker. We had strung up a tarp and a tent cover between our two tents. It was maybe 4 feet of the ground, so we all had to crouch to sit under it. Saturday saw the start of what would be endless games of Rummy. Or was we called it, Joe Rummy. Was a great way to pass the time.

Lester took off around Noon as there were some bands he wanted to see. Myself however, I just wanted to escape the heat a little while longer. I soon learned that by the showers someone was hosing people down. So Joe and Me made our ways over there to get a cool down. We also discovered that the hour and a half lineups to use the showers had now subsided so we each were able to cleanup slightly before the show. I will say this, nothing feels so good as a cold shower in 40 degree heat!

Anyway around 2:30pm we finally headed back to the venue. Here was my lineup for Day 2:

The Fratellis
The New Pornographers
Andrew Bird
The Arcade Fire
RHCP
Mike Realm
The Rapture

We started the day in the Mojave tent again, this time to the Fratellis. It appears like every day we would start the day with a new up and coming Indie band in this tent (with Tapes ‘n Tapes closing out Sunday). I really had no idea who the Fratellis were, until I heard them play, and was caught asking, “Hey aren’t these the guys from that ipod commercial?” Well moments later they played that song, after which they joked around, “So go out and buy some ipods, do it, for the ipod song!” Regardless of selling their song to Apple I really enjoyed their set, and was quite happy I was able to see them.

After their set we ran in Brian (aka poker Brian from the Pearl Jam Van days) and his friend Amy and Craig.

Next up we made our way to the New Pornographers who were playing the outdoor theater. We got pretty close in, partly due to the fantastic advice of Sandeep and Nico. The key was to go in from the side on the far right, which lets you slide right in at the front of the stage.

The New Pornographers put on a fantastic show. Carl Newman was in great form, cracking jokes all over the place. To start the show they had this backdrop which was their new album art. He starts the show by saying, “This is the cover of our new album, and today we are not going to play any songs from it!” Later at one point inbetween songs Carl recognizes a song from the mainstage (Travis was playing) and shouts out, “OHHH hey that’s Travis! Lets all sing along, it goes like this, ‘Why does it always rain on me? something something something seventeen!’”

At this point Carl gets the crowd to start singing these lyrics, including the something something something seventeen part. Too funny! Anyway Carl continued his antics, on stage, and Catherine got into it as well. At one point she had some frozen yogurt delivered to her, which Carl proceeded to make fun of. Then at another point as Carl is talking away he says, “… and I mean we are just trying to play a show here, just trying to play some music…” when Catherine chimes in, “but are we really?” which got the whole crowd laughing and clapping. Anyway the New Pornographers were a definite highlight for me on Saturday.

After The New Pornographers I headed out to one of the tents to checkout Andrew Bird. I had seen Andrew Bird play last fall in Vancouver, and it was one of the best shows I had seen last year, so I couldn’t miss this performance. Andrew Bird didn’t disappoint, however I was a little sad that there were so few people at his show. However it was to be expected as he was up against !!!, The Decemberists, and Kings of Leon. At least Brian checked out Andrew Bird, and really enjoyed the show.

After Andrew Birds set we hung out in the shade and listened to the end of the !!! set, then made our way to the main stage to catch The Arcade Fire. As expected there were loads of people at this show. They had a really cool stage setup with this oldschool looking TV screens setup behind them that display images of the band, and a neon bible at times. Their set was strong, and very intense. At one point Richard Parry was running all over the stage in somewhat of a destructive rampage drumming everything he could see. It was pretty fantastic.

So After The Arcade Fire I stuck around to watch a bit of the Chilli Peppers. I caught probably their first 6 or 7 songs before I decided I would head out to catch some LCD Soundsystem. However on my way over I saw the big screen in the Gobi tent, which had a clip from Office Space being remixed. I had to check this out, so I went into the tent to find Mike Realm destroying on the turn tables. It was so entertaining that I completely forgot about LCD Soundsystem and watched the rest of Relm’s set. If you ever get a chance to see this guy, do it, he is fantastic.

After Mike Relm I made my way to the Sahara tent, to finish the day with The Rapture. I had heard they put on a great live show, which they completely lived up to. They had a DJ spinning trance/house music while they setup their stage. As The Rapture were about ready to start the DJ left his last record playing. The band then mixed their song with the track that was playing, almost as if they were spinning in a new record, except they were doing it with instruments. It was wild. They then proceeded to rock my world, and even had me kicking out some dance moves. How can you not move to the Rapture? Anyway it was a fantastic end to a really great day 2 at Coachella. As I walked back to my tent Tiesto was playing on the main stage and I didn’t even stop to take a look. My day was full and fantastic, no need to see some DJ on a big stage.