Concertgoers enjoy the Lightweaver art installation by Alexis Rochas during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio on Sunday, April 13, 2014. (Rodrigo Pena/Freelance Photographer)
I’ve been covering the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival for eight years. The festival is unlike anything else I’ve been to before or since. It’s not just a concert, but a memory machine. I’m incredibly grateful that I get to cover this and report on it for my job. These are my 15 favorite things from the 15th edition of the festival. They’re not in any particular order, just how they came to mind as I process all of my experiences today. You can see all of our coverage from the weekend and dozens of photo galleries over at http://x.pe.com/coachellahome.
Win Butler of Arcade Fire sings at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, April 13, 2014. (Rodrigo Pena/Freelance Photographer)
1. Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire’s set was spectacular, from the moment everyone was jumping around to “Rebellion (Lies)” to the Debbie Harry guest spot on “Heart of Glass” to the unplugged “Wake Up” second line with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band through the crowd. And I finally got a really cool confetti shot. Rodrigo Pena got even better photos of the show. You can see his photo gallery of Arcade Fire at Coachella over at PE.com. I didn’t think they were going to be able to top the LED balloon drop of 2011, but they so did, and in such an organic, truly musical way.
2. The Dismemberment Plan
You know when you love a band you haven’t seen them for a really long time and then they play every single song you want to hear? And they sound amazing, even in a crazy dust storm that is shaking the glass chandeliers in the tent? Yep, that’s what The Dismemberment Plan was for me. The last show I had seen was the farewell at the 9:30 Club in D.C. back in 2003 and I haven’t been able to see them since they reformed. By the way, the new record, “Uncanney Valley,” is top-notch. I highly recommend it, but if you’re just getting into them, “Emergency & I” is the gateway album. I don’t care that Muse, Nas, Pet Shop Boys and Skrillex were also playing–for all of us in the Gobi Tent at midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning, it was a high and being from Maryland, I felt a little bit closer to home.
3. Coachella Art Studios
This year I got to do a story on the amazing things going on at the Coachella Art Studios (it’s in the campground, but you don’t have to be a camper to partake in the crafts). I also got to make my own bracelet out of a bicycle inner tube. I was kind of tripping out that I was actually creating my own art at the festival. It was also great to meet and see so many Inland artists who were helping out at the fest. It is open Friday-Sunday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. so get there early and make some art! Go support the Coachella Valley Art Scene, too.
Walking into the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, April 11, 2014 was pretty darn magical. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)
4. Walking in
When I arrived on site Friday, I booked it over to the camping area to talk to folks about the Coachella Art Studios, but when I was heading into the festival from the campground, the scene took my breath away. There were some light clouds over the mountains in the distance and the Ferris wheel was straight ahead. It’s an image that will be forever emblazoned in my mind.
Pharrell Williams performs at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Tom Bray/Staff)
5. Pharrell Williams
With a crazy amount of guest stars, how could Williams’ set not make you “Happy”? (See what I did there?) I would never have predicted that we’d see Gwen Stefani and Nelly. Maybe next week we get Daft Punk? As I mentioned in my Best and Worst of Coachella story, there were enough stars here to reboot “The Love Boat.” See photos of Pharrell at Coachella.
6. Dining at Kazu Nori
One of my assignments over the weekend was to try out the new higher-end foods at the festival (tough job, right?), but I had the chance to have sushi at the pop-up sushi bar Kazu Nori, and it really was a sushi bar where you sat and watched the chef make your rolls. The toro hand roll was amazing. We did an entire story about the food.
7. Meeting people
One of the greatest things about Coachella for me is meeting fellow music lovers. I love how Coachella brings us all together. I’m particularly grateful for the people I meet who turn out to be readers. They wouldn’t let me do this without you. Thank you.
8. The Replacements
How many years have I been wanting to see this reunion? I loved that Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson actually seemed HAPPY to be at the same place at the same time. I loved Westerberg’s magician’s roses. I loved their suits. Most of all, I loved the rock show they put on packed full of some of the most influential music at the festival. Hearing “Alex Chilton,” “Androgynous” and “Left of the Dial” was pretty rad. See photos of The Replacements at Coachella.
9. Sunset with Neutral Milk Hotel
I am a big fan of the sunset set. And sunset at the Outdoor Theatre is spectacular and possibly the all-time perfect venue for the reunion of Neutral Milk Hotel. They sounded great, and I created more art in order to capture the moment forever.
10. The Afghan Whigs
Greg Dulli’s howls and yowls made me happy. The Afghan Whigs are another band I was into, but never had a chance to see until now. Check out photos of The Afghan Whigs at Coachella.
Paul Hampton performs with Fishbone at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Charlotte Bray/Freelance Photographer)
11. Fishbone and the theremin
I really thought Angelo Moore might be right and we really were going to blast off into space. You need bright sunshine to hear “Everyday Sunshine.” It was also super rad to see The Skeletones’ Paul Hampton up there on the keytar. There need to be more keytars. Check out our photos of Fishbone.
12. Graveyard
Sweden brings some of the best music to Coachella. Case in point–Graveyard, who had that early blues groove of Black Sabbath and melted my face a bit on the main stage Saturday afternoon.
13. Pixies play “Wave of Mutilation”
Yep, I was wildly air drumming to this. I feel great about it.
14. Janelle Monae shows up with OutKast
I wrote a long post about OutKast’s Friday night set, but Monae doing “Tightrope” was pretty darn awesome. Check out some photos from the set.
15. “Escape Velocity”
The floating astronaut art installation was another home run by Poetic Kinetics. We did a story on the large-scale art in today’s paper.
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