John Newman performs Sunday, April 20, 2014 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)
After six days of absorbing the music of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, here’s what happened on day three, weekend two.
Arcade Fire: After last weekend’s spectacular Arcade Fire performance, which also included a barb from Win Butler about the classism of Coachella and a jab at electronic artists when he gave a shout out to musicians who still play instruments, the band pulled the ultimate Coachella prank. Arcade Fire brought out two robots designed to look like the much revered and oft-rumored Coachella performers Daft Punk. However, Butler introduced them as “Paft Dunk.”
The band put on another spot-on set. Butler paused before “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” to talk about the band’s Coachella debut, when they played the song and how it was the first festival Arcade Fire ever played.
“We’re so happy and our hearts are so full,” he said.
It also got a little political–Butler voiced support for gay marriage and same sex equality before going into the song “We Exist.”
The band also brought a surprise Easter guest wearing the Pope Francis Papier Mâché head–fellow Sunday night performer Beck.
They performed a cover of Prince’s Controversy. It didn’t quite have the punch that Debbie Harry’s guest spot on “Heart of Glass” did last week, but was still fun.
Just like last week, there was confetti everywhere as Coachella became Rio for a few minutes during “Here Comes the Night Time” and the band ended with “Wake Up” and a crowd sing-along. This time, the band went into the actual crowd on the field for the second line with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead sings during the band’s performance at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, April 20, 2014. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Writer)
Motorhead: The Mojave Tent had a good crowd to show respect for the great Lemmy Kilmister. It might have been the loudest set I’ve heard since My Bloody Valentine a few years ago. The best part was that Lemmy just kept saying variations of “We’re Motorhead and we play rock ‘n’ roll.”
Slash came back again this week and also Lemmy’s son joined him on stage for a song.
Here’s what else I caught during the day, in chronological order.
Trombone Shorty: I was moving too slow to be able to see all of Trombone Shorty’s set, but the last half was fantastic. If you’re local, Trombone Shorty will be at Thornton Winery in Temecula this summer and he is quite a performer and has a fantastic band backing him up.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band: I needed more New Orleans flavor, so after Trombone Shorty, I went to a top-notch set by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, where it was an Easter brunch dance party.
These are some of the best musicians to ever play in Coachella’s history. When 81-year-old Charlie Gabriel sang “I Think I Love You,” off the band’s first album of originals, “That’s It!” he had a huge smile and clearly appreciated the crowd of young and old in the Mojave Tent.
Bombino: Talk about musicianship–the Tuareg guitarist played an amazing early afternoon set in the Gobi Tent. He’s got some psychedelic flair.
Courtney Barnett: She could very well be the second coming of Liz Phair–“Exile in Guyville” Liz Phair, not pop Liz Phair.
Superchunk: Fuzzed out punky power pop by North Carolina’s finest never disappoints. Jon Wurster is a beast on the drums. However, like The Dismemberment Plan and weekend one of The Replacements, I have to add them to the list of acts that should have had more attendance. They truly rocked.
Blood Orange: I left Superchunk to brave the sun again (Sunday was the brightest and hottest of the three weekend two days) to catch Blood Orange on the recommendation of some Twitter followers and I’m so glad I did. I got there just in time for some sweet, sweet saxophone. If The Roots ever need to take time off, perhaps Blood Orange could slow jam the news with Jimmy Fallon.
Neutral Milk Hotel: The band still sounded great, Jeff Mangum still asked people to refrain from taking pictures, more people were there to bask in the Neutral Milk Hotel sunset set than last week.
Punk band The Toy Dolls jump in the air during a performance on Sunday, April 20, 2014 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)
The Toy Dolls: I saw the band during weekend one and they were so much fun I came back just to take photos and I still had a blast.
Big Gigantic: What a fun set! Even “Escape Velocity,” the Coachella moon man, came to check out the beats mixed with saxophone player and producer Dominic Lalli and drummer Jeremy Salken. It was chock full of goodness from new album “The Night is Young.” The set included a guest spot from Flosstradamus, who threw a T-shirt into the crowd, and Indio’s Shadow Hills High School marching band.
John Newman: Holy moly this kid is incredible. He’s got the pipes; he’s got the dance moves; he had a sweet white suit. Some of the most powerful vocals and emotion of the weekend came from Newman. He also made a guest appearance with Rudimental earlier on Sunday. I think he has the potential to be the next kind of Amy Winehouse Coachella breakout singer.