rozza

Coachella 2006

rozza — Thu, 04 May 2006 01:45:57 GMT

Unlike last year, getting to Coachella was relatively easy. I had managed to hook up with someone from the forums, who was interested in carpooling down. Danny was going to drive down a day early, to visit with a few friends in LA, but if I was okay with that, I was more than welcome. Of course I said yes. So that's what we did. We spent Thursday in Hollywood. We stayed at his friend Erica's apartment, right off of Melrose. She works at Puppies & Babies and is seeing Fiona Apple's touring drummer. He's nice. We woke up at a decent hour on Friday, and were setting up camp by 3pm.

We camped in square J18. It didn't take long for me to become convinced we had one of the coolest squares in the campsite. The people were awesome. We had the Texans who were SO not stereotypically Texan. These kids, they seemed very West Coast to me. I don't know, I'm just rambling and now I'm editing cos HAI ALEX AND PM AND OTHER TEXANS DON'T BE OFFENDED? I mean, they admitted themselves they weren't very Texan. Anyway. Then there were the Aussies. From the Gold Coast, although one is up in Whistler, skiing and bartending. In that order, I'm sure. Strangely, these two separate groups were both planning on going to Vegas post-Coachella. Great minds think alike, they say. That night we watched the Coachella film, and what made me laugh was the amount of people who ran on the stage to molest Morrissey. Four or five, maybe. And each time he'd hug them and just keep singing as they were hauled off by security.

Let's start.

Saturday

I'm going to start by posting a few pictures of the field itself. If you're not familiar with Coachella whatsoever, there are two stages, the Coachella Stage or main stage, and the Outdoor Theatre. Then you have the three tents, which are, in order of size, Gobi, Mojave, and Sahara. Here is a closer shot of the Sahara tent. This is during Paul Oakenfold. And because I've been asked many times, no I didn't see Madonna, who played in the Sahara tent. I tried, dude, but this year it seems every single set started late, and she was no exception. She was slotted for a 50 minute set; instead, she only played 30 minutes. As for the crowd--look at the Paul Oakenfold picture again, and put about four people in every single space you see. Go back and look at the tents picture and insert people in between the Mojave and Sahara tents, as well as in front. It was uncool. I peaced out rather quickly and headed to Mogwai. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This year, us campers got a special entrance. It was technically the VIP entrance, where the press and those on the guest lists got to enter. We arrived at the festival right as it opened; the Houstoners had to pick up their tickets at will-call. Whilst we were awaiting for them, Danny and I were approached by a local CBS news affiliate lady to be interviewed. But her cameraman had walked away, so it did not happen. However, as it turns out, she interviewed one of the Texans later. He didn't enter with us, as he was waiting for his girlfriend to arrive.

The first act we walked by was Brother Ali. Didn't stay too long. We walked by the Outdoor Theatre, and caught a little of Head Automatica, but we weren't impressed. We'd been planning on seeing The Section Quartet anyway, and they did not disappoint. If you hadn't heard of them, they are a string quartet that rearranges and covers various rock and pop songs. The highlight of the set on Saturday was easily their version of Paranoid Android. Eric, the leader of the Section, perfectly replicated Jonny's guitar solo, and the entire thing was just amazing. It gave me goosebumps. They also covered Take Me Out, Time is Running Out, and Just, which we had heard them rehearsing during soundcheck as we waited outside the entrance. If you go to their MySpace you can listen to more of their music.

After that, we wandered to The Like, who were enjoyable. I wasn't really familiar with their music, and I'm not really inclined to even after seeing them, but the lead singer had a gorgeous voice. After that we wandered back to the main stage to watch The New Amsterdams and this was helpful if only because I saw the lead singer the next day, enjoying another act. We managed to catch White Rose Movement and they were excellent. But it was time to go, because Hybrid, featuring Perry Farrell, was performing.

I've never been a big Jane's Addiction fan--one of my pet peeves regarding Entourage is the theme song. I don't like it. It irritates me. But oh my god, in person, Perry Farrell is so charismatic. Just watching him move around the stage. He has a very Peter Murphy-esque air about him. He performed three of the last four songs with Hybrid and they were all hypnotic.

On the way back to the main stage, we watched The Zutons, and I don't really have an opinon about them. Back at the main stage, we saw The Duke Spirit and the lead singer was adorable. I love her voice. We went to one of the food courts, ran into more friends, and saw Danny DeVito. Once more, my first Coachella celebrity sighting was Danny DeVito. If you're wondering, he's about 5 feet tall. Apparently he introduced an act, and since I saw him last year I'm guessing he's a mainstay at Coachella.

We went to the tents to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah but we were late, and it was packed. People were spilling out of the tent. And, frankly, I'm not really into their music. It's not bad, but it doesn't draw me in. Plus it was hot and crowded, so at this point I took my leave. On my way back to the main stage, I ran into one of the Aussies and his friend, who actually had shown up very late the night before. I sat with them for a bit, but then it was time for Kanye West.

Kanye was a last minute addition; in fact, no one knew he was on the bill until the set times were released and suddenly it was like WHOA KANYE FUCKING WEST? Needless to say, he was brilliant. In fine form. He had a small portion of his set in which he played us songs he loved when growing up, which were Let's Stay Together, Rock With You, and Take On Me. The latter was the best, as he played it for a bit, danced around like they do in the video, and even sang it. Fantastic.

Next up was Sigur Ros. I was intending to leave halfway through their set to catch Ladytron, but it didn't work out. I was completely absorbed into their set and lost track of the time. Before I knew it, it was over. Fifty minutes, gone just like that. If you ever have the chance to see them, do it. You will not be sorry.

So, Franz Ferdinand. At this point I was just going to stick by the main stage and push my way forward for Depeche Mode. I've never really been a fan of the Franz. I don't really know why. But I was completely blown away by them. It was a strong set and now I can understand why couplandesque just finished up her Franzypants 2006 tour. I'm a sucker for bands that are awesome live--it's why I fell so hard for Coldplay, after all, even though they ended up turning into a wannabe U2 cover band. I don't even know the song they finished with (Kris, help?), but it ended with three of the band members playing the drums on the same kit.

And then it was time for Depeche Mode.

By this time I'd managed to move even further up, and I was about fifteen feet, maybe less than that, from the stage. They opened up the way they did on the last NA leg, with A Pain That I'm Used To, and then A Question of Time. They also performed Precious and Suffer Well from the new album, as well as Nothing's Impossible, which was a new addition. I'm not giving this in order at all. They also kept World In My Eyes, Behind the Wheel, I Feel You, Walking In My Shoes, Home, as well as the concert staples of Personal Jesus, Enjoy the Silence, and Never Let Me Down Again. However. They played Stripped, which made me cry. Seriously. I've always wanted to hear that song live, and they didn't perform it when I first saw them, back in 98. They did an encore, which threw off the less-faithful who had started to take off. Even though the orb was still on and flashing. Martin included his acoustic version of Shake the Disease, which made me all kinds of \m/ as during the brief break, we were discussing what he would sing. They also played Photographic and it was totally a random-letter kind of moment. Of course, I sang it "I take... pictures... PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURES."

After DM I was in a total daze and I was actually crying again, but sad tears. I always go through a post-DM depression. It wasn't so bad last November because I knew they were playing Coachella. But now, who knows when I will see them again. Four years, five years?

I went back to the tents and I saw a few songs by The Rakes. Then I saw Daft Punk, whom I had been so so so excited for... but I just wasn't in the mood to dance. My feet and back were killing me, as I had been standing nonstop since Kanye, so that was something like four straight hours of standing. It was also really crowded, so after a little while I headed back to the Outdoor Theatre and watched She Wants Revenge and that's how I closed out my night. And they were great. The lead singer sounds exactly the way he does on the album, and he was talking about how as a Californian and an Angeleno, he was proud to be part of Coachella.

During this time, I had reconnected with the boys (they were actually behind me during Franz but I lost them when I surged forward before DM) as I saw one of them walking towards SWR. We walked back to the camp and commenced boozing.

Sunday

On Sunday I opted to do the entire day by myself. Everyone else wanted to see bands I wasn't interested in, or the bands they really wanted to see conflicted with those I wanted to check out. Also, at this point I hadn't had any type of alone time since Wednesday and I was feeling the desire for solitude, if you can call bouncing around a festival with 50,000+ people that. It was good times--I ended up befriending new people at every set I attended.

Also, Sunday was hotter than Saturday. I did a shoddy job of keeping hydrated before the festival, so on the walk to the actual entrance, I started to feel very woozy and lightheaded. Right past the entrance, they had two giant fans blowing mist set up, so I stationed myself there for about ten minutes. Then I got water. And then I went to the KROQ air-conditioned tent, and hung out for about half an hour. I finally started to feel a little more steady on my feet, so I checked out Youth Group at the main stage. They were alright; nothing particularly interesting. I then wandered over to Giant Drag and I swear I've only heard of them because of Annie Hardy on MBP. Another boring group. I walked down a little further and hit Murs, who was awesome. I was on a role, so I went to listen to The Dears and then Gabriel and Dresden. I went back to the Sahara tent for Louie Vega and then I decided it was time to eat. Again. I probably spent the bulk of my money on food. I chowed down on a beef gyro whilst I listened to Mates of State and then headed back to the main stage. I watched a little of Los Amigos Invisibles before it was time for The Magic Numbers.

They were fantastic. There were a large number of Magic Numbers fans in the crowd, so that was fun. This is where I had my second celebrity sighting, as Mischa Barton pushed her way past me, followed by her posse. Later on I saw her during the set, singing along as she sat on someone's shoulders. At least she has good taste in music? Also, there was a group sitting on a blanket right in front of me. One of the guys stood up and promptly keeled over. A small crowd clustered around him and tried to help; we poured water on him and tried to take his shirt off. Finally two guys picked him up to take him to first aid.

After the Magic Numbers, I went down to the Mojave tent to see Metric. Metric was fucking packed. People couldn't fit into the tent. I was on the fringes, trying to get a look to see if I could slip inside, when Kate Bosworth slid in front of me, apparently with the same goal. I didn't know it was her at first, and then she turned around and smiled at her friends, who were behind me. It was kind of startling to realize she was about three inches away. She said, "I guess we're not getting in!" so yeah, it was her. Voice, smile, height, etc. No Orlando Bloom, though.

I gave up trying to see Metric, and went back to the Sahara tent to watch Kaskade. It was pretty empty--most people had been using the tent as a place to hang out since all of the shade tents were packed. And then I had my grand idea. Paul Oakenfold was going to DJ after Kaskade. So I'd just stay there until it was time, and get a good spot. So that's what I did. Because of Madonna, they had put up barriers inside the tent to create a pit. However I was only about 20 feet away from the stage. It was there that I saw Mischa Barton again. Her bodyguard looked extremely bored, but she was having a grand old time. I saw her another time, just wandering the field.

An hour later, Paul Oakenfold came out to thunderous applause and cheers, and he lived up to his reputation. I had intended to check out Sleater-Kinney and Bloc Party at the two stages but I got too caught up in dancing and by the time I realized it, it was too late. No matter. Paul Oakenfold is easily one of the best DJs in the world and my opportunities to see him are rather limited, as opposed to Sleater-Kinney and Bloc Party. Sorry, Mindy. I heard Bloc Party was awesome, though.

I left Oakenfold to check out the very end of stellastarr*. They were good. The lead singer sounds like Robert Smith, which was a bit strange. I didn't stay too long because I wanted a churro. Seriously. I told you, I was all about the food this year. I went back to Paul for a bit and then I returned to the Mojave tent for Editors. I was in the fifth row. They were fucking amazing. I was just blown away. The lead singer is very magnetic and has a magnificent stage presence. He's one of those people who can gaze into a crowd and it feels like he is making eye contact with you, like he is STARING at you, even though you know he can't possibly see you. I got goosebumps.

Like I said, I didn't see Madonna and I detailed my experience above, so I won't go into that again. I don't know a lot of people who saw her, and those I know who did see her weren't very satisfied. I wouldn't be either. Putting up with a crowd like that for six songs? Whar ever.

I went back to the Outdoor Theatre to watch Mogwai. It was relatively empty at first, but as more people gave up on Madonna, it became crowded. I'd seen Mogwai before, at the Curiosa Festival and once again they were brilliant. However, I left early to catch Massive Attack.

Depeche Mode and Massive Attack were the two bands I refused to compromise about. Like, I could deal with missing the Walkmen or Bloc Party. No big. I could even leave Editors early to try my hand at the Madonna crowd. But I refused to miss a second of DM and Massive Attack's set. They did not disappoint, not for me. They played a handful of songs from Mezzanine, which was awesome. Everyone cheered when Horace came out. When Liz Fraser first came out to sing Teardrop, people around me literally screamed and then they all seemed to whip out video cameras in unison. Debra Hill came out to sing a few songs and that elicited cheers from my section as well.

There really wasn't anything to do besides wait for Tool. I left about halfway through their set, though. The night before, it had taken a very long time just to get out of the venue. And then it took even longer to get back into the campsite. I was tired, my feet and back were killing me, and I wanted to go to sleep. So I took off and listened to Tool from my tent. Before leaving I took this picture.

And there is it. My Coachella 2006 experience, wrapped up for posterity. There's so much I am forgetting--stuff I told myself to remember, but couldn't write down because security confiscated my pen (seriously). I suppose it doesn't really matter. I love Coachella. It doesn't matter how hot it gets, or how many scenesters and Hollywood wannabes come out to play. Some people in coachella have kicked up a fuss about how mainstream it has become. I suppose it has, because I'm attending and we all know I'm anything but an early adopter. Whar ever. It's a good time and as long as you keep it about the music, you'll have a good time too. All that other stuff is trivial and it's just on the surface.

I need to buy the Bill and Ted DVDs

rozza — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 05:21:50 GMT

I don't think I've posted pictures of the little rats before.

Bela on the left, Lila on the right

Andromeda peeking her head out to say hello

Lila coming up to eat the camera (seriously)

Andromeda, right as she bolted away. See her ears? She's a dumbo rat. Their ears are on the side of the head instead of on top. My dad thinks she looks like Stuart Little.

Two peas in a pod (Lila and Bela). These two hang out a lot.

Bela is the alpha rat, but she's reticent to change and new things. Lila is the underling and yet she's the first to always investigate something new. Andromeda is very laidback and a total sweetheart. She's the definition of a gentle giant--she's a huge girl. I can always tell her squeaks apart from the others because it's not so much squeaking as it is squawking. They're definitely my little babies, despite the fact that at 6 months they aren't really babies anymore, and not so little.

Coachella ticket news!

rozza — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 00:00:23 GMT

According to the official Coachella website, tickets will go onsale on February 4th at 12pm PST.

According to the newsletter that was emailed out, the ticket presale for the concert (not movie, although there is news about that too) starts on Wednesday, January 25th at 10am through Friday, January 27th at 10pm. I don't know what time zone that is. However, the newsletter did say that the secret password will be emailed out next week.

More bands have been confirming, like Paul Oakenfold, Ladytron, Duke Spirit and so forth. This means a lineup is impending... very exciting news!

Ode to Ophelia

rozza — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:47:05 GMT

Ophelia
May 2003 - July 21, 2005

Today, I took Ophelia to the vet to be put to sleep. Last week's appointment with the vet did not go well. A preliminary diagnosis was a brain tumor, which explains every single one of her symptoms. Brain tumors are also a common cause of death in older female rats. I could have taken her to UC Davis to get an MRI, but subjecting her to even more tests and prodding was unthinkable for me. Nate and I decided that the kindest thing we could do would be to let her finally get some peace.

Some people are dog people; others enjoy cats. With Ophelia, I discovered that I am a rat person. I love Ophelia more than I can say. She was the best pet a person could hope for. Female rats are extremely active--biologically, their role is to build and maintain a nest, find food and prepare for breeding and that trait remains in the domestic breed. Ophelia was no different. My nightstand has a hollow space underneath it. I remember pulling it out and finding a bevy of food and tissues. It was quite a haul. She also nested under my bed and dresser. I used to hand her tissues and watch as she strutted away with it in her mouth. I have a picture on my phone of when she stole a Baby Ruth, three cough drops and a brownie and stored it in her cage. Little klepto-rat.

She had a variety of walks. The victory strut, when she felt she had gotten the best of you. The creeping walk she did, when she sidled quietly along a wall. That happened when she didn't want to be seen as she slipped into her troublemaker role. God, she was one hell of a troublemaker. And one daredevil. She perfected the art of leaping directly from my bed straight into her cage. That's about a foot and a half jump. From the floor, she could jump and almost land squarely on top of my bed. That's over two and a half feet. Had she been human, she would have been a rock climber. She loved heights. She was a fearless rat and remained so even to the end, when we were sitting in a private room. I was crying and she was giving me a "Oh, it'll be okay" impatient type of look. Now she's on to her next adventure.

I swear that she was a little genius. She litter-trained herself. She was excessively, almost obsessively and compulsively neat, at least until she got sick. She was a diva through and through, but hated it when I took her picture. Most of my pictures of her were taken with my phone, as it was less obtrusive. When I think of her, I don't see the sickly, skinny rat of the past three months but the hyperactive little furball who ran inside and up Nate's pants and got dangerously close to his package. The one who climbed up her cage wall and hung upside down on the ceiling. The one who didn't use her wheel, but sat on top of it and gave us a mocking look. I think of the way she would sit on my windowsill at night, content to smell everything in the air. She was truly the best pet I've ever had. But I'm glad her suffering is finished.

Part Deux

rozza — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 02:15:09 GMT

Jonathan and I had to check in with our minders between 3 and 3:30. There were three different groups: those who would be in the pit, those in the bleachers on the red carpet, and seat-fillers. We were diffrentiated through the inventive use for colored wristbands. As a seat-filler, my wristband was green. We all had to wait behind the red carpet set, and we were there for something like three hours. That part was not very cool. My brother, who is writing a story for the local newspaper, acted like a reporter and asked various people why they were there, how they got their invite, and so on.

So we were brought into the Shrine around 6 or so. We did walk on to the red carpet via a rear/VIP entrance. The red carpet was kind of like a shag carpet. They checked my purse and scanned us with metal detecting wands. We went into a hallway and were put behind this black curtain. On the other side of the black curtain were a bunch of minders and what not for various stars. We weren't there for too long. After that, we walked through the auditorium and then were taken into a small side room, where we waited for an hour. Sway from MTV walked through with a bunch of MTV tech guys. They were taking a few of us at a time to fill seats or to stick us in the seat-filler section, and after the opening movie ended my brother was picked to be seated and I got to go with him, as we were together. From there we ended up being seated five times. Unfortunately, most of the time we ended up sitting at the end of a row so we always had to move whenever someone came back for their seats.

I'm really bad at recognizing celebrities, so I'm honestly not sure how many people I was sitting near. We sat in the same row as Brian Grazer, the producing partner of Ron Howard. Anyway, this is a list of people I saw roaming around or in the audience:

Samuel L. Jackson

Lindsay Lohan

Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey

Molly Ringwald

Darryl Hannah

The Plastics from Mean Girls, sans Rachel McAdams

Ryan Gosling

Napoleon Dynamite guy

The Rock

Nicole Kidman

Amanda Bynes

Eminem

The drummer from blink-182 and his wife

Johnny Knoxville

Seann William Scott

The fire guy from the Fantastic Four

Michael Chiklis

Justin Long, the geek from Galaxy Quest and who is also in a skit with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn

ewanlover

To LA and back in 22 hours

rozza — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 22:43:12 GMT

Yes, I missed my Saturday blog. I actually wrote something up and was going to email it to Carrie so she could post it for me.

To make a long story short, my darling old lady of a rat, Ophelia, got stuck in a storage compartment in my room. It was a black wire behemoth that was nearly 4 feet tall. Back in the day, she used to climb it to the top and chill out for a bit. When she first came to live with me, she was still small enough that she could wiggle through it. Then she went through a major growth spurt and gained some weight.

Unfortunately, my rat does not recognize or acknowledge that she is now geriatric and slightly handicapped. She still tries to wriggle through the wires. This time, she got about halfway through and was stuck. Massive squeaking (by both of us) and wriggling (her) ensued. My dad came in and tried to help. In doing so, he lifted up the compartment. Ophelia finally managed to free herself and I put her back in her cage. Bad things happen in threes, right? The cage accident in April, her arthritis and now this incident. I need a break from this.

I turned around and the compartment had lost a couple of key parts, but was still standing. I reached my hand towards it, and watched as it crumbled. DVDs, books, videos, binders, shoes, paper, my mail... everywhere. I spent my Friday night cleaning it up. Logging on to a computer was not a priority, and thus my first venture into the 30 Blogs in 30 Days territory has ended.

Moving along, I had a great time at the MTV Movie Awards. I'm going to do a more thorough write-up later, but here are some observations.

I have witnessed the horror of Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes in person. The worst part? I think it's real for her. She presented an award to him and during his montage, she was writhing in agony. No joke. It was embarrassing. You probably won't see it on TV.

I missed the opening movie, which was a spoof on Batman Begins I think. I was waiting to be seated. However, the Revenge of the Sith spoof was hilarious. "I absolutely do NOT eat BBQ." "Only Siths deal in absolutes." You'll see what I mean.

The Foos Fighters were awesome. They actually began playing a song, not one of theirs and one that escapes my memory. After 30 seconds, they stopped and Dave said, "Sorry, we're not playing that one. We have to play one of ours, to promote a product or something." Very sarcastic. I'd heard that the Foos put on a very loud show and this proved to be true.

No, I didn't bring a camera or cell phone in. Metal detectors.

We got there at 3:30. The show started around 7:30. It kind of sucked, but once the show got started it wasn't so bad. During every single break, waiters went into the "talent lounge" (where the stars were sitting in couches and what not) and served alcohol.

I sat in five different locations, plus the seat-fillers had their own little section. The best spot for us was in the third row, and you'll probably catch a shot of my brother and me during Dakota Fanning's acceptance speech. Which was entirely too cute, by the by.

You could tell who was going to win by the cameraman hauling over to his or her seat during the nominees' introduction film. Rachel McAdams and the Napoleon Dynamite dude cleaned house.

Coachella 2005: by Robyn, age 24.98

rozza — Tue, 03 May 2005 23:20:31 GMT

The saga begins!

Well, if you haven't already heard, Carrie crashed her dad's car on the way to the airport. Thus she was unable to come, and I am assuming this is why she is not around, as she is probably suffering the wrath of Marv and will be doing so for some time. From her voicemail she sounded like she was physically okay, but I didn't have a signal the entire time I was in Indio (plus my battery was dying) so I couldn't talk to her.

The guys I met up with were nice, although young and sort of immature. Apparently they never made final confirmations with their friend who lives in LA, so the LA guy did not know that he was supposed to pick us up, or even if he was going for certain. He couldn't take off early from work, so he said that if we wanted, he would pick us up after he got off and let us borrow one of his cars. However, he got off work at 7pm. We eventually took him up on this offer, and it turned out he picked us up at 5. However, before this happened we tried a multitude of other options, such as renting a car (all the under-25 places were booked up, and the normal ones would not allow me to rent one even though I turn 25 next Monday) or taking the bus (the next bus to Palm Springs was leaving at 6:45pm).

We saw Dave Grohl; the guys went nuts while I sat and turned away. It's strange how I'm not very impressed or interested in celebrities anymore. Except the Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt thing intrigues me, if only cos they are two of the most attractive people ever and I hope they have babies. Then I saw Taylor Hawkins and pointed him out, but they didn't care. Which is so fucking typical, when you think about it. Fuck the rest of the band, especially the drummer. I wonder if Dave Grohl suffered from Invisible Drummer Syndrome when he was in Nirvana? I can't remember. Anyway in the excitement over Dave and the confusion over how we were going to get to the venue, I didn't realize I left my backpack behind. An hour later, I went back for it only to be told by the LAPD officer who had found it that the airport police had taken it away. But not before bringing out the dogs to sniff it for drugs and bombs. She managed to intercept the airport police before they booked my backpack. If that had happened, it would have been a lot harder to get it back. I got a lecture about how my forgetfulness wasted valuable airport resources. I had to bite back a comment about how it seemed he was disappointed my bag didn't contain explosives or the like.

So we finally got on the road and I swear it took us four hours to get there. It was dark and for some reason, the guys decided to deviate from Mapquest's directions right as we hit Indio. We wandered around until we finally found Empire Polo Field. At this point I was seriously irritated. It didn't help that when we got to the venue, it was nearly 11pm and we had to wait in a very long line in order to check into the on-site campgrounds. But the line went fairly fast, and before I knew it I was setting up my tent. I bonded with the people camping across from me, and they are hilarious. Very random, loved the same bands I do, quotes movies like crazy, and other things like that. So I was able to hang out with them the entire time I was there, thank goodness.

It wasn't burning hot, just in the 80s or so. But the heat struck early in the morning so it was impossible to stay in the tent past 8am without feeling like I was trying to sleep in a sauna. It took us nearly an hour to get inside the festival gates on the first day; on the second it took maybe 10 minutes. We showed up around 3pm both days. It got extremely windy at night, so much so that I thought my tent was going to cave in on me. It didn't, but I felt like I was on a fucking mountain or something.

On to the show! I'm going to attempt to write something about everything I saw/heard.

Saturday
Upon entering, we headed towards the blessed beer garden. From there we listened to the Raveonettes on the main stage. I'm not a big fan, but they were good.

We wandered around for a bit, finally settling down at the secondary outdoor stage as Eisley played. They had a multitude of technical problems... and they called a lot of attention to said problems. It felt sort of unprofessional, actually. I'm sure knowing what to do in those situations comes with experience, but they seemed very upset and bewildered by what was happening. Their songs were also really boring, so we moved on to Snow Patrol or SnowPatch as my friend dubbed them. Heh. A good time. Gary was very talkative to the crowd. They played a few new songs from their forthcoming album, and they sound excellent, although more in the key of Final Straw than something earlier in the SnowPatch catalogue.

During this time we did more wandering as Keane played in the background. I'm not a huge Keane fan, but the music they made was very pretty and served as good background music for our meanderings. Keane also played a few new songs. This is a theme that will run throughout Coachella. Playing new songs, that is. I think Bright Eyes played a set comprising of mostly new songs.

Randomly, somewhere around this time we saw Danny DeVito. My friend pointed him out to him with this weird sense of glee. "OMG IT'S DANNY DEVITO!" She even stopped me to point him out. He was probably the only celebrity I saw whose short height did not surprise me.

We headed over to the Sahara tent, which was the biggest of the tents, where UNKLE was DJng. Or rather, the one half UNKLE that was there, James Lavelle. He was most excellent. However we couldn't stay for long, as we had to go back to the main stage for Wilco. Running back and forth between the main outdoor stage and the Sahara tent is also a recurring theme throughout my Coachella experience.

Wilco, while putting on a nice performance, didn't seem to be very keen (Keane? Haha) to be there. The lead singer actually said that he hates festivals, and then lamely added, "But not Coachella." Thanks, fuckbucket. Hope you don't mind that we left your set to go see Swayzak at the Gobi tent, who was pretty damn cool and certainly beat the pants off fucking Wilco.

I thought I saw Katie Holmes around this time, but I'm fairly certain it was just a lookalike. Also, speaking of celebrity lookalikes, a guy in the general store looked exactly like Ewan McGregor. It really freaked me out. I didn't want to stare at him so I just gave him these brief intense gazes in which I tried to figure out if he really did look like Ewan, if he really WAS Ewan, or if I was just on crack. He sounded like him doing an American accent, too.

After Swayzak we went back to the main stage to see Weezer. Rivers seemed impossibly bored by the setting. I'd never seen Weezer before, so maybe this is just he is in concert. They were having sound problems--they sounded very muffled. They failed to draw me in, so I took everyone over to the Mojave tent to see the Secret Machines. They were a definite highlight for me. I was physically affected by their music, to the point where I was getting dizzy and felt my heartbeat accelerate. They ended and we ran back yet again to the main stage to see Bauhaus, who deserve their own paragraph.

If Chris Martin saw any part of Bauhaus, he probably kicked himself in the ass and used it as further material for his self-flagellation. And I really do think that happened, cos when he was onstage he was a little more humble and shy than in previous years. He also kept saying that he couldn't believe that his band was on last. But anyway, back to Bauhaus. We got there right as the first song was beginning, and something seemed... off. Peter Murphy was hanging upside down from a rope suspended. He sang the entire song that way. It was just impressive as fuck-all. He struck all kinds of poses. I felt like I was at a ballet, an opera, a musical. Not a mere concert. It was seriously spellbinding, and I'm not even a huge Bauhaus fan. Peter Murphy is the ultimate frontman. I can see how so many rock stars have attempted to copy him, only to fail. He's very elegant and graceful. He didn't dance, or shake his ass. It's difficult to describe unless you actually see him.

Oh, I almost got into a fight during Bauhaus. This older lady was pushing her way through the crowd and was being unnecessarily rude and rough. So I elbowed her as she pushed her way past us. She came back and thumped me in the back. I turned around, shoved her hard and called her a haggard old fucking cunt. She shouted something and then ran away. I was really tempted to go after her but I didn't want to get banned. Heh.

The Chemical Brothers started their set at Sahara, and it was incredibly crowded. At this time I saw Scott Speedman and I didn't really recognize him til I got up close. I started to laugh and then I began to look for Keri Russell. Are they still dating? Or is that soooo late 90s? I didn't see her. There was no room in the tent, so we just stood outside it with several hundred others. After 20 minutes, I had to do another loop back to the main stage to see Coldplay.

Like I said before, Chris seemed more humble and a little more down to earth than he's been when I've seen Coldplay before. Maybe it was seeing Bauhaus before him, maybe it's just the fact that he's Gwyneth Paltrow's baby's daddy. Who knows? They played six songs, three of which were new, before I left to go back to the Chems. They played Warning Sign, a song I love for its sadness, as well as Politik and Yellow. On my way back, I checked out Fantomas who were alright. After the Chemical Brothers ended their set, we walked back to the mainstage and saw Coldplay perform their last two songs--In My Place and another new one. As soon as I got back to my tent I fell asleep.

Sunday
We left the campgrounds to get booze and eat Mexican food. It was nice being in an air-conditioned building. We went back and entered the grounds around 3. This time I had to empty my purse. On Saturday, the security guy merely looked into it as he mumbled something about hating his job.

We headed straight to Mojave for Autolux, whom I'd never heard before and enjoyed quite a bit. Somewhere around this time I saw Shannyn Sossamon wandering about by the tent. She's cute. After that, we saw the Fiery Furnaces who didn't pause between songs. As a result it became difficult to know when one song ended and the next began. Good energy, but a bit tiresome after awhile. We had some downtime, so we watched Beans, who sucked, before heading to the beer garden. We killed some time there before leaving early to get good places for the Arcade Fire. They were awesome, as promised. The crowd was very large and appreciative of the band. We had a good view, and I couldn't take my eyes off of them. Of course, that didn't mean I recognize them when I saw them later as they checked out other bands.

I had to leave their set early to get to New Order. It was finally time to see the main reason I was there. I have now seen 4 of my top 5 living bands live in concert. They were incredible, suffice to say. They opened with Atmosphere, and played four songs from the new album, as well as Regret, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Transmission, Crystal, Bizarre Love Triangle and Blue Monday. Not in that order, but almost. Barney said he had torn a ligament in his foot, so he couldn't dance around. He also kept apologizing for not being able to play longer. Watching Hooky play his bass live was spellbinding. It was also great to see the way they both gave Steve props. I was totally swoony after it was over. Also, apparently I saw Olivia Wilde (Bisexual Alex from the OC). I didn't recognize her, because I suck at recognizing people. I knew she looked familiar, but someone else in coachella knew it was her.

Since Nine Inch Nails was on after New Order, I just stayed where I was and started talking to a random girl, now known as Random NIN Girl. We talked about Bauhaus (she agreed they rocked) and a few other bands we'd seen. Then it was time for NIN, who were fucking fantastic. Trent came out by himself and began playing the keyboard slowly. Then, as the rest of the band flowed on the stage, he stepped up to the mic and began to sing. The crowd was pretty polite, when I think about it. Except for a group of seven or so teenagers bludgeoning their way through the crowd. After the fifth one passed I threw my water bottle at them and received a round of applause.

Random NIN Girl and I left to get ready for the Faint. Except I misjudged the set times and left too early, so we ended up seeing the last 15 minutes of British Sea Power. They were good, but nothing special. We headed towards the fringes of the crowd to listen to NIN play Closer. It made me want to roll around on the grass, except at this point it was a fucking mess.

The Faint had great projections. At this point my back had been really hurting and I sort of wanted to sit on the bleachers, but it's impossible to listen to the Faint and not dance. So I did. Afterwards we headed over to the Sahara tent to see Prodigy. Of course, we all cheered when they played tracks from Fat of the Land. It was still a great time. We started in the back and danced our way forward. We'd target groups where no one was dancing, or if they were it was that pathetic little head bob thing. By the time we left they would always be busting full out moves. We were true dancing queens. As Jay Kay would say, nothing left for me to do but dance! Oooh, Jamiroquai in the Sahara tent would be such a fun time.

On my way back to the campground I wandered past the main stage so I could listen to Black Star, which is the duo of Mos Def and Talib Kweli. They were good, and I believe Common Sense also came out to play along, but at that point I was really sore, tired and it was windy as fuck all. I walked back to my tent, got in, and went to sleep.

Thankfully the trip back to LA didn't take four hours, and I made it to the airport with more than enough time to spare. In fact, I bought Death of an Ordinary Man by Glen Duncan and nearly finished it by the time my plane landed.

Coming back to the real world has been a bit surreal. I had a great weekend surrounded by people who were strangers, yet to whom I felt close. I finally succeeded in attending Coachella and I'm determined to make this an annual thing. It was heaven for me, having so many musical choices. I did miss a few acts I wanted to see, such as Jem, Jamie Cullum and Kasabian. However, I find it hard to regret missing them as I have no regrets about the weekend whatsoever. For those who want to attend and never have, I highly recommend doing anything and everything possible to go.

rozza — Tue, 03 May 2005 06:17:03 GMT

I have arrived home after having the best weekend of my life. While I will do a more thorough write-up/gush-athon sometime in the future, I'm still going to ramble a bit.

I met so many crazy, cool kids. It was awesome meeting people who are musically likeminded. I bonded with my camping neighbors and hung out with them. Also, during NIN I also bonded with a girl whose name I never even caught. Yet we went to the Faint and Prodigy together and danced our asses off.

In total, I caught 19 acts, plus I listened to three more whilst I was in the food court or beer garden. I also caught a little of Black Star as I was leaving, but it was cold and windy and I wanted to go back to my tent.

New Order - they opened with Atmosphere, which made my heart burst with joy. They should have closed. Sorry Trent.
Bauhaus - Objectively, this was the best set of the festival, at least in my mind. Peter sang the entire first song suspended upside down from a rope. It was very intense and theatrical. I felt like I was at a cultural event--it was more like performance art.
The Chemical Brothers - I spent this set running back and forth between the Chems and Coldplay. The Chems started 20 minutes before CP. They began their set with Hey Girl, Hey Boy and at that point I knew it would completely rock.
The Secret Machines - Incredible. Their music whipped me into a frenzy and I really thought I was going to pass out. In a good way.
Prodigy - This is how I ended my Sunday night. I danced like mad. Random NIN Girl and I started in the back and danced our way to the front.
The Faint - Fantastic!
The Arcade Fire - Unfortunately I had to leave their set 10 minutes early to get a head start on weaseling my way through the crowd for NO. I did not want to leave, as they were positively amazing. Only a band of NO's significance could have forced me to choose.

Coldplay performed a number of their new songs, none of which struck me as anything remarkable. Maybe I need the new album in order to form a connection to their music, but I was somewhat bored with the new songs which is why I went back to the Chems. However, they performed Warning Sign and it was amazing. I'd never heard it before, so now I've heard all of AROBTTH performed in its entirety. It was a bit more electric than the album version. They also did Politik, which I love very much so my CP quotient was filled. They're playing the Fillmore on Wednesday and I'm tempted to go...

Also...
Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins at LAX (they were going to Germany--the dudes I was carpooling with went fangirl, complete with screaming and jumping up and down, over Dave, much to my embarrassment)
Danny DeVito (no Rhea Perlman, though)
Scott Speedman
Shannyn Sossamon
Members of the Arcade Fire wandering around

More later. Time to sleep, as I've slept about 12 hours total since Wednesday night.