Concert goers get wet in the Do Lab during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. (2012/File Photo)
The excitement keeps growing for Coachella 2013. A number of Audio File readers have been commenting on the Coachellaology blogs and I’ve been fielding a few emails, too.
I wanted to share some of the picks that have been coming through via email and on comments, including Muse, No Doubt and Alt-J.
Gwen Stefani performs at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas. (AP Photo)
No Doubt
Jason Bowen has been attending the Coachella Valley music and Arts Festival since 2002 and sent me an email after coming across the blog. He wants to know why more people aren’t listing No Doubt as a viable headlining option:
“Surely they can draw the crowds, plus being a local/So. Cal band, it seems like a perfect fit, not to mention that they are surely going to be on tour in the new year and have just held a long-running stint at the Gibson Amphitheater which keeps them from needing to have a bunch of LA shows around the time of Coachella, which we know they wouldn’t be able to do.”
Jason has a good point–they can draw the crowds. They do have new material and the recent shows in L.A. show both the band’s popularity and solves the problem of not being able to play L.A. around the festival. The only drawback I see is that I think if Coachella would have gotten them, it would have been before that big summer reunion tour back in 2009.
What do you think? Is No Doubt a viable headliner? Would you want to see No Doubt at Coachella? Tell us in the comments below.
Alt-J is looking like a likely candidate for Coachella 2013. (Contributed Image)
Alt-J
Another one Jason mentioned is Mercury Prize winner Alt-J. I think this is a very solid pick. The British rockers have cred, the album was released in Sept. 2012 stateside and as Consequence of Sound reported, the band’s tour has the Coachella 2013 dates open, with the last U.S. tour date being April 10 in San Francisco.
Traditionally, bands playing Coachella play San Fran right before or right after the festival. In 2013, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival dates are April 12-14 and April 19-21.
This one might be a little inside baseball, but according to Alt-J’s Facebook page, the band is booked by The Windish Agency, an independent booking agency that always has a lot of acts at Coachella.
I have to hand it to Jason, he has some great suggestions for acts, including The Lumineers, Of Monsters and Men, Imagine Dragons, Django Django, Field Music, Michael Kiwanuka and the Pet Shop Boys (a group that Bowen says is a Coachella message board fave who and will tour in the UK in early 2013).
Muse lead singer Matthew Bellamy performs on the Coachella stage during the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio in 2010. (2010/File Photo)
Muse
UPDATE Jan. 15, 2013: Muse has added more tour dates and looks less likely as a Coachella candidate.
Muse has been a name that keeps popping up on the comments of various Coachellaology entries.
The band headlined in 2010 and has since gotten even bigger around the world. They’re playing three nights at the Staples Center in Los Angeles at the end of January, which might be just long enough away to still do Coachella.
Although they’re on the East Coast around Coachella, they have April 13 and 14 and April 20 and 21 free. Plus, the band has a new record.
Do you think Muse will headline again? Would you want to see them?
If you’re a first time visitor to the Audio File blog, welcome. I’ve covered the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival since 2007. The festivals are one of my favorite things about my job. Thanks for reading.
If you want previous Coachella 2013 picks that I’ve posted based on my own predictions and from readers, here you go:
Dec. 20, 2012: Aesop Rock
Dec. 19, 2012: Daft Punk, The Rolling Stones, Phoenix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Dec. 14, 2012: The Rolling Stones
Dec. 12, 2012: Airborne Toxic Event
Nov. 30, 2012: Bjork
Nov. 28, 2012: Nick Cave, Tegan and Sara, Converge
Nov. 14, 2012: Sigur Ros, Pearl Jam
Nov. 9, 2012: Paul Kalkbrenner, Kill the Noise
Nov. 9, 2012: Passion Pit, Nine Inch Nails/How to Destroy Angels, Queens of the Stone Age, Run DMC, Rocket from the Crypt
Oct. 19, 2012: Mumford & Sons, Deadmau5, Local Natives, Blur
Want more Coachella goodness? I tag all of my Coachella prediction posts Coachellaology. The iGuide also has a Coachella section that has interviews, articles, photos from previous years and more. Consequence of Sound also has an excellent running tally of Coachella possibilities and confirmations. You can email me at vfranko@pe.com.