2011 Coachella – The Review

Three breathtaking days of fun in the sun, superb music performed across six unique stages – all amounted to one hell of ride. Every April, music lovers around the world flock to Indio, California to enjoy friendship, perfect weather and what is arguably America’s best music festival. No doubt – it is folks. And with so many awesome bands performing it was difficult to decide on who to see, especially when you feel like you may miss out on some. We did. Even though we didn’t catch them all this year – we came, we saw and we conquered what will turn out to be one of the best Coachellas of all time – twas historic.

Day one began with a little Brandt Brauer Frick. Dressed to impress, the trio laid down a tight classical pop set that energized the crowd. Our Coachella foundation had been set. Rumblings of a party going on over at the Sahara tent (pimped out with fresh new L.E.D digs) had us venturing to see dubstep DJ Excision. Now before we get into Excision, let it be known that the Sahara tent may have been the most star studded stage of the festival – with USHER and Paul McCartney appearing for Afrojack’s set (which apparently was off the hook) – people now had expectations that cool occurrences happen here. Excision’s performance was solid, but Skrillex is the one man dubstep and breakbeat DJ who’s set jumped off the first buzz worthy moments. Good looking out. Although his transitions seemed a little abrupt at times, his tracks were pure energy. Building up the music and dropping dubstep beat bombs with violent efficiency – the crowd knew they had just received the official invite to the party that was Coachella 2011. Don’t believe us? Just to prove that he was serious about this invitation thing, he brought out KORN’s James “Munky” Shaffer, played “Let me clear my throat,” and followed that up with Michael Jackson’s “I want you back.” We never left you man and we never will.

While that was going on over in Sahara land, the Coachella Stage (main stage) was moving at a slightly slower clip. Literally. Cee Lo Green showed up late for his set, and played “Crazy” and “Fuck You” before getting escorted off the stage at 5:30 when he was due to finish. Before leaving though, he made sure to bitch about how his status garnered him a better time slot, complained about the heat and dropped a non-lyrical F-Bomb of his own. OK man. After that, Ms. Lauryn Hill graced us with her presence and pleasantly surprised us all by displaying the soul sound that made her such an awesome force when she first burst onto the scene. We see a comeback…

Now in need of musical action, we hustled on over to the Mojave tent to see what the Sleigh Bells were all about. Alexis Krauss provided screaming shrills, stage dives and ran rampant during “Infinity Guitars.” As advertised, they’re about head banging rocked out thrill sessions. We were satisfied. Que up the Black Keys to the Coachella stage please. As it was a special night for boys from Akron, Ohio; we all celebrated drummer Patrick Carney’s birthday in style. Despite fighting through technical difficulties with the sound and big screens, the Brothers jammed out hits like “Howlin for you,” “Next Girl” and “I got mine.” All that was missing was a little “Sinister Kid.” Meanwhile, Crystal Castles was kicking into motion a production perfectly geared for the Outdoor theater, playing “Alice Practice” and “Courtship dating” before we started craving some more Sahara in our lives (this would become a theme, just ask the Party Robot). Dreams came true at the Sahara tent.

Sasha welcomed us with open arms, but Boys Noise crushed up something straight fucking nasty for us on the ones and twos. Attacking us with relentless persistence, he assured our legs no rest while he was spinning. But alas, after about half an hour, Gayngs was calling our names. Justin Vernon’s crew was a bit wild, with one singer addressing us like so before singing some soulful tune: “Fuck it, it’s late, you’re on drugs – let’s do this thing.” Then he belted out George Michael’s “One more try.” The end of our day one journey brought us to the legendary high energy Chemical Brothers; whose bass could be heard in Mexico. At that point, it was time to call it an evening. Legs were spent, experiences had and curiosity began to set in on what tomorrow might bring. The end of day one was like a great make out session – it always leaves you wanting more.

It’s Alf Alpha not Alfalfa, get it right bro. And with that Indio let us back into her loving arms for day two. Historically speaking, Saturday tends to be the most fun, amazinballs night of the weekend. With the likes of Mumford & Sons, Animal Collective and Arcade Fire all slated to perform – we were looking for more than a goodnight kiss.

Back to DJ Alf Alpha, who gave The Soul Dynamic a shout out on twitter before destroying his turn tables with the scratching skills he’s picked up along the way. We gave him mad props in our Coachella preview and he returned the love with dope ass EARWAX. Gracias, let’s do it again soon champ. That was such a big musical breakfast that we needed to take break.

Fast forward to 4pm on Saturday. What were we up to you ask? A band by the name of Delta Spirit quite simply rocked our world. If we’ve said it once, we’ll say it again: 25% The Black Keys + 25% Kings of Leon + 50% White Rabbits = Delta Spirit. Except we’ll let you come up with a new equation to describe these bluesy cats, cause after playing “Come on,” along with their other jams, they established themselves as a new power not to be messed with. Beware, those fellas are going places.

Yet again we needed a break. We know, it’s a little suspect. Waiting with great anticipation takes lot of work, it requires rest. Lil’B hit us we some SWAG when we awoke from nap time. Thank you homie, much appreciated.

After that there were no more breaks, just a mission. A mission to make Saturday night live up to those high expectations. Shpongle gave us a a little love. Not bad. But then it was onto the first heavy weight of the evening: Mumford & Sons. Now before you go on about how their ascension to Rock A-listers was way too fast, too furious, please take a second to listen. “Awake your Soul,” followed later by “Little Lion Man” stole the hearts of the Coachella crowd. Lovers were loving, brothers were hugging and strangers decided to leave that strange thing behind and just dance. At one point Marcus screamed with extreme giddiness “This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever played for,” his words genuine and truly infectious. On a whole it was the first ultra kickass performance on the Coachella stage of the weekend. The bar had been set and the spirit of Coachella was alive.

A quick jaunt over to Empire of the Sun was huge on big show appeal, but low on substance. With Arcade Fire on the horizon, there was an emerging feeling of urgency that spread amongst us…acting on that, we positioned ourselves for what we thought would merely be a GOOD show. Understatement of the year. What happened next was an Epic musical journey that lead one through the gauntlet of human emotions.

After Arcade Fire took home Album of the Year at this years Grammy awards, there were tons of people asking, “who the hell are Arcade Fire?” Maybe those people have been on the LOST island for the last decade or maybe they just don’t know music, regardless – after their Coachella performance – Arcade Fire left no doubt they are the best band in the industry right now. The BEST.

“Month of May” got the set going as the band cruised through songs off of Suburbs , and along the way they tap into the crowds pure energy and joy. Did we mention their humanitarian efforts for Haiti? Well they did, bringing a human dynamic and connection to the performance. And with that it was on. At the end of the first set they dropped L.E.D filled balloons into the crowd during “Wake Up.” Hands down it was the best moment of the festival and after they left the stage – thousands of fans kept singing together in unison. Thousands of people. No connection. No familiarity with one another. Just a shared authentic passion for music. Our collective astounding magical moment.

For an encore Arcade Fire pulled out “Ready to Start,” “Neighborhood #1,” and “Sprawl (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” and took it up a notch believe it or not. The crowd was even more energized by this point. By the time their set was over one couldn’t help but feel: Pure elation. Historic set.

How could Sunday possibly live up to Saturday though (and yes we got more than a good night kiss the night before ;) ?

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! If only festival goers energy levels were up at that level of enthusiasm. No lie, Sunday felt like that last leg of a marathon (our writers have experience in this area). The list of bands we passed by or heard were great: CSS, Wiz Khalifa, Nas and Damian Marley, (Great Chill Set), the National, Ratatat (the Mojave tent was so packed we didn’t get a chance to check them out), the Strokes, Ryan Leslie and the Twelves.

“Barbra Streisand” was also in attendance at Coachella this year. Not the actress, but in the form of the song by Duck Sauce. The catchy tune brought people back to the Sahara tent, but the duo that is DJ A-Trak and Armand Van Helden absolutely created Coachella dance fever! Spinning 70’s and 80’s pop dance beats as the crowd enjoyed every second of build up to Babs track. Even the huge inflatable duck was grooving to the tunes. And when they finally dropped Barbra Streisand on us – the place went BANANAS. Seriously. You think ducks dancing are cool, you should of seen the 60 year-olds getting down. Just when we thought it was over, they played “Anyway” to close it out. To quote a young lady, “Ducksauce definitely stole the whole festival for me…epic.”

From Duck Sauce, it was time to chill. Phantogram helped out a ton with that. Seeing this band on a couple of occasions, this performance was strong. Josh, the new drummer and Sarah were all on point. Beats were smooth, yet effective and they set a tempo that people were happy to groove too. Especially some guy who looked like Rufio from HOOK (long story). Debuting their new single “16 Years,” Phantogram played a successful first Coachella. It was now G.O.O.D music time, let’s talk about the first hip-hop act to close out this festival.

Kanye West. Yeezy. Mr. West. Bursting onto the scene with a little album called The College Dropout, Kanye immediately gained attention for his brash character. And it was refreshing. Throughout, it seems like Kanye has always had something to prove, a chip on his shoulder. Call it what you will, it has fueled an unending ambitious appetite to be the best. So as he rose from the crowd into the air on a steel crane, Kanye asked, “Can we get much higher?” and took us through his Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. His honesty during the three act set was raw. Breaks in the set were spent discussing his struggles with the media, tribulations in love and frank talk about the death of his mother – opening up to his fans unlike any previous point in his stellar career. What came out was a lonely individual, seeking a connection to his adoring fans. He connected. And in doing so, he was telling the world that it wasn’t about bringing out Jay-Z (although he did pave the way), Rihanna or Katy Perry (Justin Vernon and Push-T did perform). As always – it was about Kanye West. It was about making the “Best music.” Not the gloating, egotistical (maybe a little bit, homeboy came out on a crane!), asshole Mr. West; rather the sensitive, human and vulnerable side of Kanye. In playing through his catalogue of hits, Kanye took the crowd through the journey of his career and the various artists his music has touched – showcasing his renaissance man character in his songs and solo dances. At first one may have been disappointed not to see his musical friends, but in the end you realize Kanye just wanted his moment. The moment he’s be seeking for his entire career. Closing the festival with “Hey Mama,” one noticed a lot of emotionally affected people in the audience, including Kanye himself. But he finally got that moment. And by the end of the show, Kanye was exhausted – so was everyone else. After the two hour monstrosity of a terrific set, he dedicated the show to his mother, took a bow with his cast and left the stage. The only question that remains – where does he go from here?

The moments were definitely many at the 2011 Coachella music festival. Another Coachella is in the books and tens of thousands of people have gotten back to their regular grind. To put this in perspective though – this was one of the best Coachellas of all time (watch out 2005). It was historic. Historic for the new enhancements The Creator’s Project brought out. Historic because of Arcade Fire’s awe inspiring performance. Historic because Hip-Hop had never closed out America’s Best Music Festival. Hopefully you can appreciate the crazy special awesomeness that is the time spent in Indio every April. We’ll see you again next year – can’t wait.

Author: Del Toro Alma

Photos by: Steve Adkins and Del Toro Alma