Category Archives: Music

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)

If I count up all of the hours I spent at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club, I think I spent 76 solid hours wandering the fields and seeing the music and more.

This is what we’ll remember about Coachella 2014.

1. “Escape Velocity,” a.k.a. the Coachella astronaut
While our old friend Helix Poeticus the Coachella Snail wasn’t around, artists Poetic Kinetics made a giant roaming moon man that moved around the field, posing for pictures with tens of thousands of adoring fans. He did get to check out some music, too, including Big Gigantic’s big Sunday night set on April 20. The art was really stunning this year.

2. Arcade Fire
Whether it was how Arcade Fire ended its sets with a New Orleans second line musical parade into the crowd with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, covering Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” with Debbie Harry during the first weekend or punking everyone weekend two with fake Daft Punk, Arcade Fire put on two memorable performances.

Pharrell Williams performs at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Tom Bray/Staff)

3. Pharrell Williams’ parade of stars
Pharrell Williams’ two sets at Coachella could have been used to cast a remake of “The Love Boat” and “The Love Boat Returns.” Joining you on this desert cruise are Gwen Stefani, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, T.I., Usher, Jabbawockeez and a guy named Jay-Z. See photos of Pharrell. 

4. The Replacements
Um, guys, The Replacements played together twice within a week. And they got along. And week two, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day became a replacement Replacement. See photos of The Replacements.

5. OutKast’s reunion
While OutKast’s highly anticipated set weekend one had Janelle Monae twirling and singing “Tightrope,” Andre 3000 and Big Boi turned up the energy and changed up the order of the set list to keep people to dancing to songs such as “Ms. Jackson” and “The Way You Move” without rushing through them at the end on the second weekend.

6. Beyonce’s dancing
During weekend one, Beyonce joined sister Solange on stage for a dance break and everyone there freaked out.

7. Real bathrooms
Seriously, real bathrooms might be the greatest Coachella gift of all. Thank you, Goldenvoice.

8. High-end food
Forget pizza and garlic fries–Coachella got high end with some really amazing restaurants creating pop-ups for the festival weekends. My favorite was sitting at the sushi bar at Kazu Nori.

9. Craft Beer Barn
So many different beers and only $1 more than a large Heineken–the Craft Beer Barn might be the second greatest Coachella gift, after the real bathrooms. Also, some Inland breweries were represented, including Wiens in Temecula and Hangar 24 in Redlands.

10. The Do Lab’s new home
This year there was no threat of the Do Lab drowning out some more intimate acts, like Rodriguez in 2013, because it was moved to the Terrace area. It also made traveling across the field much easier.

Neutral Milk Hotel didn’t allow photos at their set, so I improvised. (Vanessa Franko/Terrible Staff Artist)

11. Neutral Milk Hotel
You have to remember this one, because Jeff Mangum wouldn’t let you pictures during this sunset set. This was another hotly anticipated reunion show.

12. Girl Talk’s dance party
So much confetti. So many balloons. So many mashups.

13. Este Haim’s bass face
Haim not only played two solid sets at Coachella, but Este Haim’s face while she’s playing the bass is the best.

14. Saxophones
Whether it was Fishbone, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Arcade Fire, Blood Orange or Big Gigantic, saxophones are the best.

15. Unlocking the Truth
The three junior high students who make up metal trio Unlocking the Truth were one of the best things about the festival this year. They are the youngest band to ever play the festival.

16. Dust storm redux
If you were at Coachella weekend 1 in 2013, you remember the brutal dust storm that ripped through Sunday night and you were less than pleased when another one came through Saturday of weekend one.

17. Future Islands
The squatting dance moves of singer Samuel T. Herring combined with his somber, melodic voice that sometimes turns into a metalcore growl will not be forgotten by anyone in the Gobi Tent for the set.

18. Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Real music played by real musicians–the 5-plus decade long tradition of Preservation Hall traveled from New Orleans to the desert.

19. The Dismemberment Plan
Anyone who caught either of the two Dismemberment Plan sets will agree that it was the best set they saw that day. Even if we couldn’t rush the stage for “The Ice of Boston,” it was still a blast.

People check out large art installation called “Reflection Field” created by Phillip K. Smith III during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, April 11, 2014 (Stan Lim/Staff Photographer)

20. “Reflection Field”
Next to the Coachella Astronaut, Phillip K. Smith III’s stunning “Reflection Field” installation was the most memorable, and photogenic, of the fest. During the day it was a mirror and at night, colorful blocks of light.

21. GOAT
It was sensory overload with the Swedish band wearing masks, costumes and tribal rhythms. Plus, there were feathers, fringe, finger symbols, a rhythm ribbon, woah.

Lorde performs at the 2014 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Saturday, April 12 in Indio. (Tom Bray/Staff)

22. Lorde
The 17-year-old was one of the Coachella favorites out of the two weekends. She could very well headline (or close to it) on her next trip to the fest.

23. Coachella Art Studios
The Coachella Art Studios might be the coolest activity at the event. You can make your own souvenirs and get creative and be part of the arts in the name of the festival.

24. Big Gigantic
Big Gigantic brought out a band for its Sunday night Sahara Tent–the Shadow Hills High School marching band straight from Indio. That has to be a first for the Sahara, right?

25. Beck
Beck’s Sunday night set was jam-packed with his hits and random stories. Weekend one, he talked about the first time he played Coachella. Weekend two, he mentioned waiting in the rain to see a little band called the Arcade Fire play a show in Los Angeles more than a decade ago.

What are you going to remember about Coachella 2014?

“Escape Velocity,” a.k.a. the Coachella astronaut, travels into the path of the lasers at the Sahara Tent during Big Gigantic’s set on Sunday, April 20, 2014. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)

Even the giant roaming astronaut had a big smile on his face at the end of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s 15th year.

On Sunday, art installation “Escape Velocity,” Coachella’s very own moon man, had a yellow happy face smile painted on his visor during the day.

The interactive art installations have been getting bigger each year and have been bigger hits.

If you know someone who attended the festival, then there’s a 97.6 percent chance that they took a photo of the large art at Coachella.

But if you didn’t make it to Coachella, you likely won’t have a chance to see some of the work.

A few of previous years’ installations ended up at the Do Lab’s Lightning in a Bottle Festival at Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester last year, but since that is moving up north for 2014, that’s not going to be an option for local art lovers.

If you can participate in the music part of Coachella by tuning in via YouTube and AXS and celebrating “Couchella” world, why not get more folks engaged in the art?

“Anybody who’s making art is making art for people to see,” said Scott Froschauer, who was the construction lead on James Peterson’s interactive piece, “Cryochrome.”

The installations for the festival almost always make their debut for Coachella before going anywhere else.

“A lot of what we’re doing is talking to people out here,” Froschauer said, in hopes of taking the piece to other places, but nothing was set just yet.

What about opening the art to visitors for viewing, not unlike the Rose Parade floats?

Global Inheritance, the environmental nonprofit that has been having activities at the festival for years, often displayed the colorfully and creatively decorated recycling bins that make up its TRASHed initiative before the festival in Los Angeles.

Since the Stagecoach Country Music Festival takes over the Empire Polo Club next weekend and requires a reconfiguration of the stages and field (in previous years the main stage is moved to a corner to allow maximum audience space for the popular country acts), any showing would have to be between the twin Coachellas. You wouldn’t want to open the field to people before Coachella’s first weekend in order to keep it a surprise.

Some groups of schoolchildren did come in to tour the art on Thursday morning between Coachellas.

Goldenvoice has donated money every year to local charities in the Coachella Valley.

But an art walk-through could have a minimal charge and the proceeds could benefit community groups, maybe to help the big health fair it has sponsored the past couple of years.

It would be a way to get the local art lovers involved and continue to support the Coachella Valley.

For more coverage of Coachella, go to http://x.pe.com/coachellahome

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.

Malcolm Brickhouse of Unlocking the Truth crowd surfs after opening the Coachella Stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Saturday, April 19, 2014. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival always has a few hard rock acts in the mix, but this year, the festival changed things up by having the youngest group in its history–Unlocking the Truth, a metal trio of power players who are only 12 and 13 years old, perform on the main stage.

(Check out photos of Unlocking the Truth performing during weekend one at the Coachella Festival).

They dominated an opening set on Saturday and ended it by crowd surfing.

“When I say ‘Rise,’ everybody bounce,” guitarist and singer Malcolm Brickhouse commanded from the stage.

In an interview after the show, he said Corey Taylor of Slipknot was his inspiration for his stage banter.

Brickhouse said the weekend two crowd was better, but that weekend one had an edge when it came to crowd surfing.

“Last week I went all the way in the back,” he said in the post-set interview.

Drummer Jarad Dawkins, who formed the band with Brickhouse after meeting at a birthday party, said he hadn’t heard of Coachella when the band booked the date. He had to look up information about it and was impressed by the list of performers.

“This is the real deal,” he said.

Dawkins said the festival will likely be the show that helps the band ascend to being recognized on the street.

The band sounds like the thrash of Anthrax with the guitar work of Iron Maiden, and they’re only a trio.
Unlocking the Truth just signed a record deal, have a few dates coming up on the Warped Tour and a documentary in the works.

Brickhouse and bassist Alec Atkins didn’t get to enjoy a lot of the festival last weekend, but did catch Skrillex. Dawkins was hoping to see Skrillex this weekend, as well as Pharrell Williams.

Check out a photo gallery of Unlocking the Truth from weekend one.