Coachella
Made it out a little earlier today, relaxed in the shade by the Heineken beer tent as The Lumineers drew in a huge crowd. Watching the masses from the comfort of a nice little shaded concrete pad, out of the 94F sun, is much nicer than risking getting stepped on!
Stopped by the Zia Records booth to get stuffed signed by OMD afterwards. They had a pretty small crowd, much smaller than expected-- other bands had massive lines five times the size for their signings! Then it was dinner time (even if we weren't hungry, we weren't going to have any other time to eat!). Brazillian BBQ again for monster fries with pulled pork, and the 1lb meat plate with tri-tip and chicken. NOM NOM. We did miss out on some other food, but the lines were just too crazy! (or not accessible, aka Joe's Pizza Truck. Bastards.)
Skipped Vampire Weekend in favor of La Roux, rocked out hard to Hardwell (ridiculously good), then got almost front-row in the crowd for OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). Unlike New Order, who definitely seems like they're aging, OMD is handling it much more gracefully. Instead of straight up rocking out because they're awesome, OMD works a little more to draw the crowd in as hilariously funny human beings rather than rock stars. Metroland and History of Modern (Part 1) are great new songs, while (Forever) Live and Die and If You Leave (so good!) immediately backstopped the new stuff. Hearing Sister Marie Says always surprises me how much the crowd loves it, and of course they ended with Electricity.
Roni Size and Dynamite MC did a great job, but they were almost empty as Wu-Tang Clan was on at the same time. Caught some Red Hot Chili Peppers as we took a break. More snacks-- that pearl tea was awful, the smoothies from another vendor were much better, and sadly the ice cream waffle place was still slammed with super long lines.
Wrapped it up with Eric Prydz, who did a bit of a slower set in the middle than most of the other EDM sets we'd heard so far, then he sped it up at the end to finish off Coachella, so you could go BOPBOPBOP on the way home!