Coachella 2008 Wrap Up

It had its moments but to be honest, Coachella 2008 was a major let down. The bands booked seem to come to New York or LA every couple of weeks so it was nothing I hadn't seen before. Even so, I managed to make the most of it and there were some great highlights.

The show of the weekend of course was none other than The Verve. Opening with "This Is Music" and moving on to play a set filled with new tracks and fan favorites; Ashcroft and co. were the only thing that make the entire festival really worthwhile. It was so good that I couldn't feel my legs. Yep...it was THAT good.

Kraftwerk were absolutely brilliant as well. I have never seen a group be able to stand there in black and be so entertaining. Kudos to their visual guy...the graphics on the screen were the most fabulous thing I have seen in quite some time.

Portishead were amazing but not for everyone. They aren't performers...its just the sound and if you don't like the sound then you are royally fucked. Beth Gibbons sounded perfect...her voice is as haunting live as on CD and in a huge field it was absolutely brilliant. The new stuff isn't as good as the old stuff but it could just end up growing on you...

Justice was wicked but the one problem was people squeezing up to the front to "see" the show. They are fucking DJs...just enjoy.

Black Mountain was one of the last bands to play the festival but it was well worth the wait. The tent was empty as everyone wanted to finish watching Roger Waters or get a good spot for Justice. It was perfect; no crowd and good music...what more can you ask for?

The surprise of the weekend was Roger Waters. I missed the whole "Dark Side of the Moon" bit that he played during the second half of his set, but from what I did see, I realized why Pink Floyd has such a lasting presence on pop culture. The visuals and the work that was put into this show were amazing. Complete with a flying pig that had "Obama" written under it, it was a killer show to catch and an unexpected enjoyment.

Other honorable mentions were Love and Rockets who KILLED it on Sunday, Hot Chip who somehow managed to perfectly tie in all of their hits into one 60 minute set and got the crowd incredibly hyped and Mark Ronson who made my night bringing Candie Payne on stage.

I could write about Coachella for hours and hours but these were the highlights. I couldn't see a damn thing during Prince but he played "Controversy" which made my night.

Also, does anyone think they should move Coachella back to 2 days? My feet hurt, I felt gross and after day 2 I was ready for the thing to be over.

Prince



The Verve



Portishead