Coachella 2010 and Santa Monica visit

It’s been two weeks since Coachella 2010 but I only now got the chance to blog about the experience. Work and the focus on finishing “REST in Practice” have kept me really busy.

The Coachella festival is definitely not Glastonbury, not even close! It occupies a very small space and the few stages are very close to each other. However, its location (in the desert 🙂 means that the weather is in most likelihood warm/hot. It was a great experience music-ways. The bands were great.

Here’s the list of bands I saw.

• Friday
  • Sleigh Bells
  • Yeasayer
  • She & Him. Cute… see photo.
  • The Specials. Yes, they are still around and they are still fun
  • Gil Scott-Heron. Only briefly.
  • Them Crooked Vultures. Only briefly because my guest didn’t like them… they were great, as when I saw them during their visit in Seattle
  • Echo & the Bunnymen. Fun!
  • Vampire Weekend. First time I saw them was in December… still very good.
  • Benny Benassi
  • Ceu. Great Brazilian Jazz music.
  • deadmau5. Rave in a tend, at the end of a long day 🙂
• Saturday
  • Porcupine Tree. Pleasantly surprised.
  • Camera Obscura
  • The Temper Trap
  • Gossip. I had seen them in Glastonbury as well. Still amazing and sooooo much energy!!! A LOT of fun.
  • The xx. Only briefly and not very impressed. I know my friend Michele Myers likes them so I want to give them another chance at their own concert.
  • Faith No More. Well… perhaps “legends” is too strong but they were definitely awesome and fun… I was right in front, almost touching them.
  • Muse. No doubt the world’s best band at the moment for me. Mary and I saw them live in Seattle and I had also seen them in Dec. They followed Faith No More so my guest and I were again right there, in the very front. Unfortunately, I didn’t follow my usual pattern of avoiding the hotheads so we were squeezed. The effort took some of the enjoyment but Muse were still awesome.
  • Tiesto. Great to see 10s of thousands of youngsters raving in front of the main stage at the end of the night.
• Sunday. Weird day because I didn’t enjoy it as much. Long story, related to my guest. I stayed away from the front of the stages 🙁 Oh well. Good lesson though.
  • Florence & the Machine. As always, great! Second time I see the band, after Glastonbury.
  • Jonsi. I had really enjoyed Sigur R s when they visited Seattle (saw them together with my friends Tini and Nuno). He was good on his own too.
  • Phoenix. I enjoyed them the last two times I saw them but I thought they were particularly good on this occasion. Their lights guy didn’t make it from France due to the volcanic ashes, so their stage performance was unique, focusing on just the music. I really enjoyed that.
  • Gorillaz. Well… I was really really looking forward to seeing them. Too bad I was far away. Nevertheless, I enjoyed them very much so. They are great!

I think I am going to be there next year as well 🙂

During the festival, Mary joined us as well. We all headed towards the Pacific ocean and spent two relaxing days at Santa Monica, cycling and running on the beach, dinning, and just chilling out 🙂 I hear that David Heckerman has his lab there. Something to think about 🙂

The photos

Here are some representative photos from the weekend and the trip to Santa Monica.

  
(Isn’t it crazy that you have to be behind a fence in order to drink alcohol?)

  
  
  
  
(yes, there was a fire on the roof of the main stage for a while)