[A full review and video dump will be forming over the next couple of days]

In summary, Coachella kicked ass. The weather of beautiful, beyond the occasional mixing gaffes, the sound was surprisingly good, the crowds and lines were bearable, and the music… the music was awesome.

Set reviews (I took some video, but the clips are mostly too short and not metered properly, still learning to handle the T7…):

• Boom Bip – even though we got to Indio early, we ended up not getting to the festival grounds until the show was almost over, which is too bad because what we did catch was very good. From what I had read/seen, I was expecting something very electronic, but it turns out that the set had a surprisingly guitary (live-band) post-rock sound going for it. Boom Bip is kicking off a NA tour. He’ll be in LA @ the Echo w/ Fog on the 26th
  • 16s of Boom Bip [5.6MB]
• Nic Armstrong and the Thieves – Nic Armstrong’s fuzzy retro sound seems like it was made for sunny afternoon festival gigs, and sure enough, it came off great on the outdoor stage. There was lots of room and the grass was still in good shape, so Dan and I broke out the hackeysack for a couple songs
  • 7s of Nic Armstrong [2.7MB]
• Buck 65 – Buck 65 is a Nova Scotian folk-hop w/ some real underground credibility and some critically acclaimed albums. Unfortunately, his stuff on stage just wasn’t working for me, and was pretty underwhelming on the main stage.
  • 14s of Buck 65 [5MB]
• k-os – an interesting contrast is k-os, another Canadian rapper, who absolutely rocked the Gobi tent. If he ever makes his way down to LA, I will definitely be showing up
  • k-os Hit the Road Jack call/response (w/ Crabbuckit) [10.4MB]
• M83 – I love the albums, and this was one of the few sets that I camped and moved up on (it was early in the day, in the same tent after k-os). I was sort of surprised that this as a live-band act, which for the most part worked, although sometimes when the sequencing took over duties, it seemed to deflate some of the energy… I can’t really explain it, just that, while I wasn’t disappointed, despite digging the music, I’m not sure I got all that much out of the live version.
  • M83 laptop rockin’ [5.7MB]
  • M83 guitar rockin’ [3.5MB]
• Snow Patrol – for a couple weeks last year I was completely obsessed with these guys. So, hmm, they played a lot of the songs I liked on their old albums, and they debuted some new songs (nothing grabbed me though). Maybe it’s just that chewed-bubblegum thing, but their live set definitely didn’t grab me at all, and seemed to get worse as it went on. Anyway…
• Tiga
• Jean Grae
• Wilco
• Weezer
• Sage Francis
• Secret Machines
• Bloc Party
• Chemical Brothers
• Spoon

• Diplo
• Autolux
• Jem
• M.I.A.
• The Futureheads
• The Arcade Fire
• New Order
• Aesop Rock
• Pinback
• NIN
• The Faint
• The Prodigy
• Bright Eyes
• Black Star

Bands that I missed that I heard were good:

• Keane
• Cafe Tacuba
• Gram Rabbit
• Gang of Four
• Dresden Dolls
• British Sea Power

I also took a few photos, but I’ll be the first to admit that they aren’t very good or interesting. Mediaeater’s photoset is much better (some great crowd-shots too). I’m still looking for someone who bothered to shoot interesting pictures of the festival itself (it’s easy to get caught up in snaps of the bands).

Coachella fun tips:

• Park from the south and thumb your noses at the lemmings waiting in line. Suckers! (Go down Jefferson or Jackson until 52nd Ave and head into Madison, Monroe, or if you don’t mind walking a little extra for getting out extra quick, park off of 52nd)
• If you get there early (before 1-2PM), you should get through the lines in 10-15min, you’ll probably also catch some suprisingly good bands you’ve never heard of
• Bringing a bag is worth it
• Sound is surprisingly good far back, so if you’re not going to ‘camp’ for a fav band, it’s just as good to hang back, wander, and take it all in
• If you can carry it (w/ the aforementioned bag) buy water in volume. It’ll save you line-hassle and towards the end of the day the water they sell isn’t cold anyway)
• For crowded tents, be sure to try the far side of the tent for better luck.
• For the main and outdoor stages, you’ll be surprised how much room is on the sides
• Sprint has awesome reception at Coachella, is much less likely to drop, and has solid SMSing (some friends on other services intermittent problems sending)
• When leaving at the end of the night, use the exit before the entrance (there’s major rubbernecking leaving via the entrance)