Tag Archives: Coachella Festival

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

With the glitz and glam of backup dancers and a roster of super special guests, Pharrell Williams put on essentially what was a headlining set on Saturday night at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

The Afghan Whigs perform at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Tom Bray/Staff)

I know I’m in the minority, but the artists I’ve been the most excited about at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival have been those who came to fame with their rock music in the ’90s.

Two of those sets stuck out for me yesterday–Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, a power trio whose charged, psychedelic blues garage rock set likely rocked harder than tonight’s headliner, Muse–and The Afghan Whigs.

The band has a new album coming out, “Do the Beast,” and included some of that new material in the set. Singer Greg Dulli was as acerbic as ever, yowling “You’re gonna make me break down and cry” in the new opener and then “Your kiss is poison” in the second song from the set.

Singer/songwriter Van Hunt joined the band for some of the new songs.

However, the band shined the most on its classics, with “Something Hot,” “Algiers” and set closer “Miles Iz Dead.”

Want more Afghan Whigs? Check out our photo gallery.

Paul Westerberg of The Replacements arrives onstage with a bouquet of flowers before their performance at the 2014 Coachella Music and Arts Festival on Friday, April 11, 2014, in Indio, Calif. (AP)

The Replacements, one of the big reunion acts at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, put on a stellar set at the Outdoor Theatre on the opening night of the festival. The problem was, nobody was there to see it.

Singer and guitarist Paul Westerberg walked out in a suit, bow tie and all, and kneeled and presented a bouquet of what looked like magician flowers to a passionate crowd.

For a band that had such an acrimonious breakup (literally on stage), Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson joked and smiled through the set, which ended a few minutes before the allotted time, allowing a number of crowd members, including yours truly, to book it over to the end of Bryan Ferry’s stellar set in the Mojave Tent. (I got there

The band opened with “Takin a Ride” and played a fun set for the Coachella alt rock faithful, including “Favourite Thing,” “Androdgynous,” “I’ll Be You” and “Psychopharmacology.”

The ‘Mats only played a handful of shows since reuniting last year, but for the highly engaged smaller crowd watching them at Coachella, it was a delight.

Westerberg was funny in between songs, too. Here are my three favorites.

-He noted that the band had an album called “Stink” and that they have matured.
“We have a new one called feculent.”
-“I dedicate this song to anyone who became an American citizen in the last day or so,” before launching into “Nowhere Is My Home.”
-“Please, please sing. The words are a challenge,” he said.

The band actually did the encore thing after finishing their main set with “Left of the Dial” and “Alex Chilton.” The encore included “Can’t Hardly Wait” and “Bastards of Young.”

If you are one of the (seemingly fewer) rock fans at the fest headed to weekend two, I highly recommend it.

Andre 3000, left, and Big Boi of hip hop group Outkast perform behind a screen during their headlining set on the first day of the 2014 Coachella Music and Arts Festival on Friday, April 11, 2014, in Indio, Calif. (AP Photo)

Andre 3000 and Big Boi reunited as OutKast for the first time in a long time Friday night at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

It’s the first of dozens of dates the Atlanta hip-hop duo has booked.

Now, the world was watching OutKast at Coachella on YouTube and the world of Coachella was watching it in person. There are wildly different reviews out there about the set.

Here’s what I can tell you about how it went down. (I curated what other folks were saying about the show further down).

-Everyone with the Coachella app got an alert early in the day that OutKast was going to go on earlier than scheduled. The new start time was 11:05 p.m., 25 minutes ahead of the announced 11:30 p.m. time.

-Colleague Luke Ramseth and I met up and staked out a spot about 20 minutes before the new start time. The field was filling up and we were about 2/3 of the way back. More and more people kept coming in. It was a very full field.

-The new start time passes and no OutKast. We were far back so I couldn’t see what was going on. They ended up on stage just after the original 11:30 p.m. start time and gave a blistering performance of “Bombs Over Baghdad” that brought energy and liveliness to the set. People were excited, they were into it.

-The set goes on and that excitement starts to fizzle. At one point Big Boi addresses why they’re walking around a table in a circle–it’s how they used to write rhymes at his aunt’s house, walking around a kitchen table.

-The horn section is the most lively addition to the set and brightens the songs throughout. People around us in the back were dancing hard and singing along for the next three songs or so, but then the set list starts to fizzle a little bit. Some people start leaving, not unusual for a headliner set and anyone who has sat in the parking lots of Coachella for 2.5 hours after a day of music. (2008, Prince, I think it was 5 a.m. when I finally got back to the hotel), but it seems like it’s a steadier stream than usual.

-Enter special guest Janelle Monae and her hit “Tightrope.” She was like James Brown up there. Monae performed at Coachella in 2013. The horn section is still awesome. This gives the set an adrenaline shot. She tells the crowd they are witnessing history. At some point we find out Prince is in the audience.

-The set starts to fizzle again. It feels like there’s a disconnect with the audience. More people start leaving. It reminded me a little bit of The Cure back in 2009. After Paul McCartney played a record-breaking 3 hour set on Friday night, The Killers shot off fireworks on Saturday night and then The Cure wrapped the show. I was in for about 10 songs and they weren’t playing anything I was dying to hear and it was more of a mellow-paced set. I think the same thing happened tonight. It wasn’t that the music was lousy–it wasn’t. It was just an odd set list.

Here’s what Setlist.FM has listed as the playlist.

It’s just like when you created that perfect mixtape for someone special. You want to kick it off high, but also have a build. I think the set started out at that high level, but then dipped low. Monae brought it up slightly, but instead of building to a crescendo, it just dipped and flattened out again. “Ghetto Musick” should have been a high point below Monae, but it seemed a little flat, like Big Boi wasn’t into it. We left out during “Behold a Lady,” a few songs after Monae.

I also think part of it is that there wasn’t the flash of Paul McCartney’s pyrotechnics or a Kanye West crane and dozens of ballet dancers. When there’s a hyped performance, much like OutKast’s reunion was, I think there’s a higher expectation for that pizzazz and being trapped in a box like mimes probably wasn’t it (It didn’t come across on the video screens well for those in the back.)

That being said, I am interested in seeing what Outkast does next week, because I think a simple set list restructure could give more boost to this set.

Title Fight performs at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, April 11. (Tom Bray/Staff)

As we go through the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, we’ll be sharing photos, videos and insights not just from our staff on the ground, but also our readers. If you want to be included, use the hashtag #PECoachella on Instagram or Twitter. Here’s your recap of Friday.

When Vanessa Franko, the Press-Enterprise’s veteran entertainment gal, asked if I’d like to help cover Coachella this year, I was embarrassingly a little unsure.

Vanessa, you sure you want me? A guy who’s never been to Coachella, or any festival so big — who’s admittedly far from any semblance of a music buff?

It only seemed to excite her more, that I would be such a rookie. Fresh set of eyes, she said. Pretend you’re a cultural historian.

I liked the sound of that, and so here I am. Hopefully I can highlight a few of the cool and random things that accompany the festival outside the music — some of the art installations (massive astronaut, anyone?) and the higher-end food that’s a first here this year — in addition to the people that travel from all over the country for this weekend-long party at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

It’s day one, the crowds are growing, and the weather is hot.

Here are a few first impressions and an initial walk-around of the festival grounds, in pictures:

The weather isn’t too bad — low 90s, with a few clouds. I’ve been told to expect heat, though. It’s quite a hike from the parking lot to the venue, and you’ve got to go through three checkpoints.

The merch tent was jam packed already, and it’s just after noon on day one. Get you swag on.

British singer-songwriter Tom Odell was rocking the Mojave tent, which had one of the larger crowds so early on in the day.

Whoa! Big astronaut was a hit with the iPhone photography crowd. We’ll have more on the many are pieces on display in a larger story later.

On the Outdoor Theater stage, it was Brooklyn hip hop group Flatbush Zombies getting the crowd rolling — and smoking — with lyrics like “Murder! Murder! What you gonna do when them zombies come for you?”

A likely refuge for me later on in this festival weekend will be the foliage-covered snail structure. Plants sit on the outside, you sit on the inside.

Check back for some food taste-tests later tonight. And follow me on Twitter, @lramseth, or shoot me an email if you’d like me to check something out, lramseth@pe.com. Help a rookie out.