COACHELLA 2011

Coachella 2008 (when I saw The Raconteurs, Hot Chip, Portishead, Prince, My Morning Jacket, Roger Waters' 2 1/2 hour Dark Side of the Moon extravaganza & Justice) & Coachella 2011 are officially my top 2 favorite Coachellas EVER! I've been to Coachella 7 years in a row & it just keeps getting better! The new lighting/visual systems in The Sahara Tent & on The Main Stage were unbelievable!

Last year, the system kinda broke down when counterfeit tickets were sold & accepted & thousands upon thousands of people managed to sneak into the Empire Polo Fields. This year, the new high tech scannable 3-day pass wristbands were mailed out only ~2-3 weeks before the show (in a BEAUTIFUL, treat-filled package btw) & people without wristbands weren't allowed within a 1 mile radius of the festival. I never waited in a single port-o-potty line, food & beer lines were short & quick & there were was WAY more shade available for concert-goers to rest underneath. I never once felt crowded &/or annoyed & I saw an obscene amount of amazing live music. 



Animal Collective



Afrojack

Arcade Fire

Trentmoller

My favorite acts of the festival included !!!, PZB in The Energy Factory, Afrojack, Cut Copy, Magnetic Man, Sasha, The Chemical Brothers, Broken Social Scene, The Kills, Animal Collective, ARCADE FIRE (see the beautiful glowing ball drop below!), Delta Spirit, Damian Marley & Nas, Death From Above 1979, Sven Vath, TRENTMOLLER (who I thought was going to be a single DJ but turned out to be a full band that just blew my mind at sunset on Day 3), Ratatat, Phantogram, The Strokes, Leftfield, Kanye, Axwell & The Presets. 

I had to skip The Black Keys & Kings of Leon to see Cut Copy, Magnetic Man & Sasha but, luckily, I've seen both bands a few times before & I'll be seeing The Keys again in August at Outside Lands. I also had to skip Duran Duran & The National to see Trentmoller but he turned out to be one of my TOP favorite acts of the weekend so, again, I have no regrets :-)

After days of camping, my camera died around 8pm Sunday so I didn't get ANY footage from Ratatat through The Presets which is a huge bummer but at least I was able to focus solely on the music! The Presets KILLED the final set of the weekend! I'd never seen them before & was SO happy I chose them over staying at Kanye. When we went to check out part of Kanye's set before checking out part of Axwell in the Sahara, we heard Jesus Walks, Can't Tell Me Nothing & Diamonds From Sierra Leonne AND of course we saw a fireworks so that was the perfect little snippet of Kanye.

Also, car camping is SO much fun! I can't believe I was such a huge house rental snob for 6 whole years! There is this fabulous sense of community & SUCH a positive & exciting vibe on the campgrounds. Plus, you don't have to drive at all the entire weekend AND you're allowed to go to & from your campsite during the festival so you can make cocktail pitstops instead of wasting $7 per beer &/or $13 per cocktail in the beer gardens. From now on, it's pretty much the only way to go. 

 In conclusion, I'm sunburnt, sore & have no voice left BUT...it was ALL worth it! :-)

COACHELLA 4 LIFE!!!

Check out all of my videos below!!!

Cold Cave

OFWGKTA = Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All

PZB in The Energy Factory

Afrojack

Magnetic Man

The Chemical Brothers

Sander Kleinenberg

Delta Spirit - "If you're feelin what I'm feelin, come on!"


Broken Social Scene - "This is the one that's supposed to make you feel alive."


The Kills - Future Starts Slow

Animal Collective

ARCADE FIRE - Wake Up Glowing Ball Drop!!!

Green Velvet - "It's time for the percolator."


Damian Marley & Nas - COULD YOU BE LOVED Reggae Dance Party :-)

TRENTMOLLER