Want to hear a sad story? In a last hoorah before my undergraduate graduation, I was slated to go with a group of my friends to Coachella 2007. We rushed to buy three day tickets, arranged where we were going to stay, and had all the logistics planned out, unfortunately, none of us bothered to cross-check the dates with our academic calendar, as the festival fell squarely in the middle of finals. Bummed out to the max, we had to sell our tickets on ebay (one of us unable to recuperate anything for them) and sulk for the rest of the semester. And since then, I’ve been unable to make the festival for one reason or another (well, actually only for one reason as I’ve been in Europe for grad school).
This year, however, my luck might change as Coachella just released their initial lineup and I think it’s stacked enough to warrant a drive down to Southern California. The festival is so dense that even the acts relegated to the 6 pt. font are impressive (Beach House, Girls, Flying Lotus, Local Natives, and recent favorite Gil Scott-Heron). Here are the results after drawing up a list of acts I would like to see each day:
- Friday: Sleigh Bells (I figure I should see them live before bashing them further), Lucero, Yeasayer, La Roux, The Avett Brothers, Grizzly Bear, Fever Ray (if the Live in Lulea album is any indication, this could be the best of the festival), LCD Soundsystem, and Jay-Z
- Saturday: Beach House, Flying Lotus, The Raveonettes (my “white whale” when it comes to seeing them live), Camera Obscura, The XX (I’m thinking they won’t work well in a festival setting but I would still want to check them out), The Dirty Projectors, Major Lazer, Hot Chip, and Tiesto
- Sunday: The Soft Pack, Local Natives, Gil Scott-Heron (this will be hit or miss I think), Little Boots, Local Natives (want to see these up-and-comers live), Deerhunter, Matt & Kim (always a good time), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Spoon, Phoenix, Thom Yorke????, and Pavement — possibly the best day of the festival.
Here’s the poster of the lineup for those wanting to pick out their must-see bands:
