Coachella Review. Day 2
Posted by Frank Estrada on 05.12.2006
Still hung over from Coachella weekend, I finish my review of Day 2 with Madonna, Tool, Massive Attack and others.
Day 2. Before I was even in the vicinity, Day 2 of Coachella looked like the day to beat, on paper that is. I think I wasn't the only one either. Day 2 had sold out. The Two-day passes had sold out. A week into the show, if you wanted to attend, you only had Day 1 as an option. Who wanted to go to Day 1 when Day 2 had Tool, Massive Attack and Madonna? Well a lot more people it seemed wanted to go to Day 2. Now walking into the polo fields, I, along with thousands of festivalgoers, learned the hard way, Day 2 really had to put up or shut up, thanks to Daft Punk.
I started my day a little late today, but was on time to see Matisyahu. I understand what he is doing and he was good. I preferred Damian Marley yesterday. Matisyahu has a real good band behind him and I think maybe he should have played Day 1. Overall I was ok with his set and felt like we were building again, instead of continuing where we left off the night before.
Next is Sleater-Kinney. This was a must see for me, only because I have had so many chances to see them in the past and missed all of them. I've read so much about them I figured it is my time to check them out. Out the gate they were really good. I am not going to discuss them in depth, because I only know one song of theirs and they did it. I was pleased, I rocked out, I was near the stage because everyone was making their way towards the Sahara tent to stake out a good spot for Madonna. While I wanted to do that, there was more music to listen too. Bottom line, I liked Sleater-Kinney very much, will defiantly catch them again if the chance arises.
Now in the May round table I wrote that I was jealous of Danger Mouse. Well that's all I put and now I want to explain that quickly. I am jealous of the career he has made for himself. Is he talented and is his music any good? Well that is debatable, but working with the Gorillaz, the press he got for the Grey Album, working with MF Doom, you don't have to hear his music to know that he is making waves. So now with his Gnarls Barkley project, he is now taking my favorite basketball player's name and breaking records in the U.K. So I was more than interested to hear what they have to offer. I was impressed again. While dressed up as the characters of the Wizard of Oz and with their all star band, Gnarls Barkley was more soulful than I thought. I was blown away from what I heard. I'm not use to hearing soulful music live, unless it's from a hotel band in Vegas. It was good. I didn't stay for the whole set but I liked what I heard. Reading the message boards, they are hit and miss. I can see that. You can't bang your head to Gnarles Barkley. You can't mosh to Gnarls Barkley. But you couldn't do that to Sly and the Family Stone either. So I get it. And I guess I will get over my Danger Mouse jealously and start a band with him called Grillz Laimbeer.
On to the highlight of the day, the Sarah Dance tent. I walked to the tent with a huge smile on my face think about the Daft Punk set the night before and how that will not be topped on Day 2. (It wasn't) Paul Oakenfold got the task of warming up the crowd for Madonna. Now you know this isn't an easy task. Not anyone can do it. Not only was Okie the man for the job, he showed these thousands of newbies what Perfecto means. Say what you will about Paul, he knows how to get the crowd up and dancing. Every new song he threw in got peoples hands up in the air. And when he threw in Underworld's Born Slippy (nuxx) I went crazy.
The main attraction of the day was defiantly Madonna. She wasn't the last band, but there was no main stage act while she was on. Now you can look at this a few ways and I am sure you have heard about this everywhere. I mean I was flipping through US Weekly yesterday and there was a pic of Madonna on stage at Coachella in it. If you liked it our not, the masses were there for Madonna. The catch? She wasn't the headliner. She was slotted for 50 minutes and only did six songs. A lot of people were disappointed, because they thought they could catch a full Madonna concert for a fraction of the cost of her current tour. Boy were they wrong. Should I sympathize with these "fans" that were trying to pull a fast one over the system? Should I feel for those who were in the tent full of people because they couldn't get a good view of the stage? Should I empathize for those who only got to see Madonna do six songs, when ten songs would still not be enough? (Tool only played ten songs and I have yet to hear a bad review of their set.) Hell No. Have you been to Coachella? Have you researched it? Do you know it's rare for any act to play over 2 hours? Some have done it, but basically you are getting shorter sets from everyone. Did you think Madonna was the special secret act that no one knew about? If you did I hope you drove back where you came from in that little yellow bus you came in. Madonna sold day two out. While the normal Coachella number were going to be there because 1) this is Coachella, 2) Tool and 3) Massive Attack, Madonna put this show over the top. Seriously you only have to blame yourself.
Now to the review of Madonna. Six songs and you know what it was all gravy. I had never saw Madonna live before, but I knew she was a performer thanks to MTV and HBO. So I was excited. And you know what, she brought her show in a condensed version to the tent, and went dance music all the way. I mean if she would have sung Live To Tell in this tent, I think she would have lost a lot of people. Because the tent is where legends are made. Sure the Coachella Stage has all the headliners, but the Sahara Tent is where Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers and Underworld all made music history playing their assess off. Like I said earlier, Paul Oakenfold also played a great set, lets get this straight, he wasn't opening for Madonna. He was playing his set and what a great set it was. Now Madonna, she has been accused for lip-synching her live performances. I am here to say here she sang all songs live and she played her guitar on a couple. My highlights were Hung Up, Ray of Light and one of her earliest singles Everybody. Dancing, singing, guitar playing, this is something I will never forget. It is as if Elvis played Woostock…
A real quick Coheed & Cambria review. On the way out of Madonna, we had to pass the Mohave tent to go see Massive Attack. A friend of mines always tells me about this band. You know what, they were awesome. Very Prog. I wish I knew Massive Attack was coming back to L.A. because I wouldn't have missed Coheed & Cambria.
Off to the reason I am here on day 2, Massive Attack. I cannot explain how much I love Mezzanine. Some people are all about Blue Lines. I'm not going to complain about that. I just think Mezzanine is just a better album. Is one of those albums you will always remember that blew you away the first time you heard it. To be honest, Massive Attack was as good as I hoped. Cocteau Twins vocalist Elizabeth Fraser was with them singing along with Horace Andy. I heard Angel and Unfinished Symphony, but unfortunately I didn't hear Teardrop. I locked into their groove and I was blown away by how great they made their songs live. This is a band that can't be missed if you truly love them, or this type of music. They are going to be playing the Hollywood Bowl and I am going to try to be there too.
Now the main event: Tool . Man I was surprised how many people were here to see Tool. The most people I had ever seen in the 5 years I've been coming here, Tool packed the main stage. The sound system was great, you could hear Maynard's comments crystal clear where ever you were. And the Visuals. I am going to say six screens on the stage, big screens, and the new visuals? Breathtaking. While Sitnkfist did have visuals from the video, the new songs had some great visual, very disturbing. Just how the Tool fans like it. A good mix between new and old songs, not like the greatest hits set they did the first year. This was the kickoff for their new album, which is just as good. Let me put it this way. If you have seen Tool before, you know what you are in for and they do not disappoint.
The 411: Coachella is one of the best shows, if not the best show in the U.S. It seems to get better every year. Great sets this year included Daft Punk, Massive Attack, Tool, Depeche Mode, among others. You know I didn't get to see the smaller bands this year, but the headliners more than made up for it. It is really worth the money and the trek to the desert. While Day 1 had single greatest music performance in Coachella History, Day 2 seemed a little better. I can't wait till 2007 now.
