2004 Coachella Valley Music Festival (Page 2)

Most people ignored stuff like this unless they happened to be selling water near it

The weirdest band on the smallest stage at Coachella

Won't even try to explain what was happening here

After surveying the scene and stocking up on Gatorade, I caught about half a set each of The Sounds and Howie Day. The Sounds of 1982 was more like it, although Howie Day was doing some interesting stuff with just an acoustic guitar and a foot-triggered phrase sampler.

Howie Day trying to wrestle with his 102 degree guitar strings

The next band I saw were The Stills, who were probably my favorite for the day. I like their album quite a bit, and they sounded just as good on stage, even though they are from Canada.

You can Stills rock in America (even if you are Canadian)

Next, I made the mistake of squeezing myself into a stupid tent to wait an hour for Beck, who was a last minute add-on at the show. Apparently, they didn't notify him of it either, as he played a really disorganized set of mainly acoustic songs which just kind of fell flat. Actually, he did a good job on "Lost Cause" toward the end, and then wrecked it by trying to get his GameBoy to play a song for us for ten minutes while we roasted in the stagnant, sweltering heat.

Beck playing to a tent full of sweaty sardines

Best seats in the house

After grabbing a Polish sausage and my twelfth bottle of water for the day, I caught most of Sparta's set, and then of course The Pixies. Sparta seemed OK, and were one of many bands bashing Bush and encouraging people to vote in the upcoming election. The Pixies really sounded great, although I kind of sensed they were phoning it in at times. I love quite a few of their songs, but an hour was plenty for me, and I decided to pack it in after that.

The crowd gave a three minute standing ovation to The Pixies drumset

Frank Black Francis on the JumboTron

On the way out, six different people told me that I was crazy for skipping Radiohead's set. Since they bore me to tears, I didn't even think twice about it. Besides, most of them are still looking for their cars in a dusty parking lot, and I'm already home typing this! By the way, the panic button on your remote works great for finding you car in a parking lot the size of Jupiter.

Even though it was well over a hundred degrees, it didn't really seem uncomfortable to me until the wind died down around and the heat seemed to linger a little too long before the sun set. All in all, a great way to spend an afternoon. Looking forward to next year...

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Regarding music and the curing of savage beasts...