Coachella

A return to Indio, CA for Coachella round two. This time, we went Weekend One. I really enjoyed this trip, compared to the previous one, because I actually had an idea of what music I liked going in. I did procrastinate a bit in doing my homework; I ended up blitzing through a song per artist in the days leading up to the festival, but that gave me a good enough feeling for each artist. Then, I wasn’t afraid to branch off from my group and go see bands I was interested in alone.

Friday

Mavis Staples

Black soul-y singer.

Louis the Child

Cool, but also not my thing, I didn’t find it especially interesting.

Years & Years

Don’t really remember this, to be honest.

Lord Huron

Only saw a bit of them before Foals, but what I expected. Solid chill folk rock.

Foals

Hell yea. Foals was the performance I was most excited about going into Coachella, and they did not disappoint. They played a mix of hits and songs I didn’t know. I love how they played some darker, grungier songs. They sounded technically amazing, they all looked really into it, the lead singer came up to the crowd and he later crowd surfed. Apparently, they even tried to play over their time (they were in the middle of killing it). They got the plug pulled on them though, but I appreciate them going for it. Awesome live act.

The Kills

Aight.

Borns

Also aight.

Lido

EDM artist that plays some instruments and stuff. His performance was a story of sorts, which I thought was cool. Much more artful than other acts I saw. I wasn’t super into it, but I appreciated his originality.

Sufjan Stevens

Chill guitar.

Jack U

Lit. So much energy and excitement. Don’t think I’ve ever gone so ape shit haha.

LCD Soundsystem

Was not planning on seeing him at all going in, but stumbled to his stage with some friends. His live set was really dancey; I was running all over the place trying to dance with strangers. Awesome.

Saturday

GoGo Penguin

Sweet jazzy trio of piano, bass, keyboard. Digged it, was grooving.

Vanic

Whatever, just EDM to me.

Moon Taxi

I liked them! Small crowd and poppy songs, good fun for the early sunny afternoon.

Strangers You Know

I think these guys were weird as hell. I only liked one of their songs going in (I guess that was a warning). They were dressed oddly and seemed like they just spent all their time running around stage trying to hype.

Gary Clark Jr.

Solid, I wish I saw more of him. It was good blues-y jamming, plenty of guitar riffs.

James Bay

Overcrowded, but was pretty good live. A little too emotional-mainstream-poppy for me though?

Run The Jewels

I MISSED BERNIE SANDERS. Anyway, while rap isn’t my thing, I appreciated these guys. Good rhythm and passion.

Chvrches

Solid as usual, though I don’t get why they never have enough songs to play. Lead singer’s voice is good, other two guys seem a little bored/boring.

The Arcs

Solid, white rock band. Brought some other white people out, did a good amount of jamming.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Pleasantly surprised, these guys were awesome! Friends stayed in the back but I went up into the crowd. African American funk band, got super groovy.

Ice Cube

Not my thing, but the crowd vibe was fun I guess.

Zedd

Typical mainstream EDM.

Guns N Roses

I was exhausted by this time, but it was really cool to see this guys. Slash killed it as usual, even if I was a little disappointed with Axel.

Sunday

Epik High

Lol, nope. Too Korean poppy, definitely not my scene at all. Left early.

Herbal Something….

Pretty chill at DoLab actually. Good beat, simple.

The Heavy

Rock.

Joywave

Dancey, a little eccentric, with a full band actually.

Wolf Alice

Hard-er rock.

Hudson Mohawke

Caught a bit, I think I liked him decently?

Baauer

I did not like Baauer at all. Unconventional beats and transitions left me unable to keep rhythm.

Major Lazer

Fun turn-up music.

The Chainsmokers

I think they played a pretty standard set, but I wasn’t super into them. They’re in the “play a bunch of karaoke-able songs with some kind of interested EDM portions in between” category.

Flume

Didn’t really hear too much, as we were far in the back, but a lot of it sounded too future-y for me.

Calvin Harris

Solid stuff, he has tons of hits to play.