DESERT SESSION
Jul 1, 2005 12:00 PM
Ah, yes, summer is here. For the past few years now, the summer festival season has started with a bang at the annual Coachella Valley Music Festival at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif. With initial reports expecting attendance to be near 100,000 — blowing away the 70,000 or so from 2004 — Remix was more than a little panicked about the teeming throngs; last year, after all, was something of a nightmare. But when you break that number down to 50,000 folks or so per day, it's not so bad. (The Polo Field is a big place.) The less-intense nature of this year's festival, April 30-May 1, may have had something to do with the much-more-agreeable temperatures, which topped out in the 90s rather than a skin-bubbling 110.
As for the music, Coachella's five stages once again promised not only an exciting two days of lineups but also plenty of agonizing over which bands to see and which to skip. With everyone from Jean Grae, Swayzak and MF Doom to M83, Four Tet and Sage Francis playing day one, the choices were often difficult. And, really, who decided to pit Bloc Party and Bauhaus against each other on dueling stages? Choosing Bauhaus was validated as soon as the band took the main stage: The smoke cleared, and there was a platinum Peter Murphy, hanging by his feet from the rafters like a bat, and he proceeded to sing all of “Bela Lugosi's Dead” upside down — awesome. Bauhaus then launched into hits such as “She's in Parties,” “Rose Garden Funeral of Sores” and “Stigmata Martyr” for a totally satisfying set. Those who still had it in them then went to check out the Chemical Brothers in the Sahara Tent, but plenty saw their chance to get out early. Watching Coldplay wasn't even an option.
Day two had all the promise of the first with Zion I, Matmos, Diplo, Matthew Dear, Aesop Rock, Miss Kittin, Junkie XL, Roots Manuva, DJ Krush and plenty more. But the true daytime hits were indeed M.I.A. and the Arcade Fire (the hipsters can't get enough of 'em). Nevertheless, Sunday was all about the main stage. A reunited Gang of Four tore it up with badass renditions of “Damaged Goods” and “Anthrax,” and New Order surprised everyone with three classic Joy Division covers (“Atmosphere,” “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” “Transmission”) — perhaps those were to make up for the glut of new material the band played in lieu of old faves. But the night truly belonged to Nine Inch Nails. As soon as the überbuff Trent Reznor and his band took the stage, the somewhat sparse day-two crowd surged with people, dancing and screaming along to new material and NIN favorites such as “Terrible Lie” and “Head Like a Hole.”
Not ready to give up yet, the crowd seemed to migrate en masse to the Outdoor Theatre to watch The Faint after Nine Inch Nails. And from there, everyone moved to the sweltering heat of the Sahara Tent for The Prodigy, complete with Keith Flynt. (Sorry, Black Star.) And then, it was over.
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