Coachella 2007-Day 2

These are my entries I wrote after each day of
Coachella. Some of them are long, so if you get bored, then I'm a lousy writer (definitely possible). The pictures were all taken by yours truly.



Day 2 begins with a whimper for Mike

Coachella Day 2
No soiled appliances today, just some fine fine music. I woke up early, at around 930, and immediately felt like I couldn’t get up. My back hurt, my knees hurt, and I suddenly felt as if I had aged 40 years overnight. I almost considered going back to sleep, but I realized that if I did I wouldn’t get up until the late afternoon. I went and got everyone breakfast, and shuttled us out the door by noon. We arrived on the grounds at around 230, and the day formally began. Here are some highlights:


Pharoahe Monch- We only got to see around the 2nd half of Pharoahe’s set, but it was nice to see him back in action. I couldn’t help but notice the swath of white people enjoying a set by the man who famously said, ‘I buttfuck MC’s’. I guess white people just love the hip hop music. ‘Simon Says’ did tear the house down.

Chuck Dukowski Sextet- Only four people, not a sextet. Mike commented that it appeared they had gotten together via Craig’s List. A kid from my Boy Scout days recognized my camp t-shirt and I talked with him for a while. It is wild to see these kids for the first time in 9 years. It reminds me of how old I am.


Hot Chip: These dudes rock. Their music is fantastic, and it is brought to life even more by the fact that they look like the five guys in your PE class who never participated. They are either very fat or very skinny, they all have glasses and their attire is ridiculous but believable. Plus given their age, it looks like they just turned the D&D club into a dorky Devo tribute band, then decided to write original material. They played a fantastic version of ‘And I Was a Boy From School’



We took a small break to eat, and while Peter Bjorn and John played, Aaron Mike and Andrew got some food and a beer. Well, Mike got the beer, I stared at this guy in the beer garden who I swear was on my study abroad program in 2002.



!!!-Jason Goldman chastised me for wanting to see them, given that we are going to see them in New York in May, but I couldn’t resist. Mike, Andrew and I weaseled our way in way up front to be with the kids who dance. I overheard someone behind me talking about Capitol Garage, a small venue in Sacramento (home of, among other things, !!! and me), and when I struck up conversation, it turned out the two girls were the sisters of !!! guitarist/LCD Soundsystem bassist Tyler Pope. Small world. Oh yeah, !!! were amazing, and I haven’t had that much fun at a show in a long time. They had the most energy of any band so far. A great show with a 10 minute finale of ‘Intensify’

Ghostface/Arcade Fire-I wanted to see Ghostface, but it was garbage. I don’t think it was Mr. Coles’ fault, hiphop shows at venues like that are difficult. The sound was terrible and he had a crew of hypemen, which was annoying. Mike and I ate Indian food, Andrew had something Asian. We went over to the beer tent and listened to most of the Arcade Fire’s second Coachella set in 3 years. They were completely solid, as usual. They are a great live band, and even sounded good from about 400 yards away.

Girl Talk-Everyone loves Girl Talk. Party kids love him because he keeps all the songs familiar and never stops. Hipsters love him because it gives them an excuse to dance to all the Top 40 hits they secretly love. Paris Hilton loves him because, well, he’s just hot right now. Unfortunately her presence onstage with him may have signaled his saturation point, but the show was fabulous. Balloons, confetti, kids dancing on stage, all of our favorite hits from yesteryear, and today’s radio mixed together for an amazing party.
Notable Quote: “Are you ready, Coachella? This is the best time of our lives”. If only life were that simple.


Mike Relm-Since I had just seen LCD Soundsystem 2 weeks ago I decided to check out something new, on Dave’s recommendation. Mike Relm is a sort of audio/visual DJ. He scratches well, plays familiar beats and songs and also scratches DVDs for added effect. A favorite skit was the scratching of the notorious ‘Oh face’ routine from ‘Office Space’. Some of the clips he chose didn’t really fit, but it’s originality was great, and the show was very enjoyable.



The Black Keys/The Rapture-Musically, the night closed with these two acts. The Black Keys were great, but I am not sure the venue was right. Their 2 man blues rock would certainly fit a lot better in a dive bar somewhere in the Midwest. Great stuff though, and I am glad I saw them. I also caught the last two songs of The Rapture’s set, which was nice. The crowd had emptied out as the final acts on the main stage grabbed most of the people.

I had to wait out the last 20 minutes of trance DJ Tiesto’s set. It sounded like one song. One long, boring, repetitive song. With keyboards. Annoying.


Day 2 Stats
Celebrities Seen: 3
-Human Giant/UCB comedian Rob Huebel
-Paris Hilton on stage dancing with Girl Talk
-The big guy from Parker Louis Can’t Lose and ER

Urinations: 1
Defecations: 0
Meals: 3
Bottles of Water: 10+