Coachell-shock Day 1: Reviews, Rants & Post-Coachella Syndrome

COACHELLA: The things we will go through to see great bands and hear killer music. Three-hour lines just to get IN the venue, the hot desert sun pounding on you from every direction, wasted ravers with hula hoops and furry boots, Coachella is definitely an adventure to say the very least. But despite all the obstacles through out the day, we all went for the same reason: The music. From indie, unsigned artists, to the very tippy top of the pop bandwagon, there was literally something for EVERY taste of music, dispersed throughout the desert fair grounds.

Despite the obstacles, and the infuriating places people choose to sit, we captured footage of what we considered to be the best performances at the festival: We give you a full insider’s view of what festivals flashbacks were worth the post aural & bodily trauma.

Sleigh Bells (3:30-4:10) Gobi Stage
Sounds Like: Hyena, Pictureplane, Myth
Pre-Set Thoughts: Worth Sweating for?
To be completely honest I just started digging around for tracks by Sleigh Bells last night… But regardless, click their name above for a link to one of their videos, and you will see why I am making a huge effort to ensure I don’t miss their set. It’s electro-synth that’s rugged & has a reverb-y dicey-ness to it… But I dig it so far, and I am really looking forward to this set. Definitely will be an edgy, dance kick-start to your day!

Post-set thoughts: The line took 3 hours to get IN the venue, I missed the set by 30 minutes.. Did you catch the set? Take a video? Have an opinion? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Proxy (4:00-5:10) Sahara Stage
Sounds Like: Boyz Noize, The Bloody Beetroots; Greg Churchill
Pre-Set Thoughts: Worth Sweating for? Definitely. Don’t ask questions, just GO.
SO EPIC. Great set full of energy, totally worth the sweat!!!

Post-Set Thoughts: Caught tail end of set, and it was incredible. Such a talented DJ. Check out his set from Voyeur last Wednesday Night:

Aeroplane (5:15-6:25pm) Sahara Stage
Sounds Like: Low Motion Disco
Pre-Set Thoughts: Worth Sweating for? I dig this Belgium duos’ remixes, but their performance will really have to be life-changing to make this set worthwhile… This set could be a miss or a BIG HITTER. I’m torn…

Post-Set Thoughts: Meh. Nothing special. Kind of just regurgitated house music, but I think that’s what their style is anyways. However, it did provide a nice break from electro.

Wolfgang Gartner (6:25pm-7:40pm) Sahara Stage
Sounds like: Don Diablo, Magik Dick Johnson
Pre-Set Thoughts: Worth Sweating for? Definitely
He is AWESOME live – saw him at Voyeur not too long ago, and his set was INSANE! Go see this for heavy-electro dance bangers!

Post-Set Thoughts: Definitely succeeded my already great expectations: He spins an incredible set live, and his set at Coachella was nothing less than stellar. He pulled in a massive crowd even at the early hour of 6:30pm and packed the tent tight full of sweaty electro lovers. Very dynamic, very engaging, one very talented DJ. Still impressed.

Wolfgang Gartner Live at Coachella 2010 – “5th Symphony” from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

And here’s a special video I couldn’t help but share with you…

Wolfgang gartner – Crowd Cloud 9 from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

Passion Pit (7:00pm-7:50pm) Outdoor Theatre
Sounds Like: MGMT, The Big Pink
Pre-Set Thoughts: Worth Sweating for? I sure as hell hope so! They were AWESOME at Voyeur last October & at this past year’s Treasure Island Fest, so they better kill it at Coachella!

Post-Set Thoughts: Competing with three other artists I was dying to see, I didn’t have the pleasure of staying at Passion Pit’s set long, but while I was there it was very worthwhile. The sound at the Outdoor Stage seemed to be somewhat off, but performance-wise Passion Pit delivered.

Passion Pit at Coachella 2010 – The Reeling LIVE from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

La Roux (8:20pm -9:10pm) Gobi Stage
Sounds Like: Little Boots, Dragonette, Gold Frapp
Pre-Set Thoughts: Worth Sweating for? Possibly disappointing. I LOVE the remixes of her songs, especially the redundantly remixed track “Bulletproof“. Not sure if I dig the original versions of her tracks as much… Her performance will have to be really special.

Post-Set Thoughts: La Roux, although I think is a very fun, spunky-fresh, new-wave-looking chick with great stage presence, it seems as though her live set just fails to deliver what her studio-tracks do. It was apparent that the octave at which she sang her songs was almost too difficult for her to reach while simultaneously performing. She was straining to reach notes all throughout her entire set — where it was way too forced and sounded more like “bad-karaoke” renditions of her songs. At times it was even a bit shrill sounding, to the point of where I’d have uncomfortable chills shivering down my spine.

However, as I detailed above, my expectations going into the performance were that I didn’t think her songs, in their original form, were nearly as good as the remixes of her songs that other artists have produced. But, honestly, I did find that I totally dug her songs au natural just as much, and I will certainly be checking out the album tracks sometime soon.

Her voice live- not ideal. Her album, however- I could grow quite fond of.

Compare below:

Recorded Version: “Tigerlily”

Live Version of “Tigerlily”

La Roux Live at Coachella – Tigerlily from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

Her best performance of the night was undoubtedly “Bulletproof” her most popular song… Go figure.

La Roux – “Bulletproof” Live at Coachella 2010 from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

Jay-Z (10:50pm) Coachella Stage
Sounds like: Hip-Hop music.

Look. I know you know, I’m not a huge fan of hip-hop music: However, I did have to give Jay-Z’s set a go, because well, it was Jay-Z. And I figured something over the top would happen… Which in the end, it did…
However, before that we stayed for 5 songs, and I really sincerely tried to get into it, seriously. But I just couldn’t.

I knew I was out of place when Jay-Z shouted “Put your diamond in the air!” and I looked at my friend and said “Eww how pretentious! No one here is wearing diamonds?!” Where  my friend then pointed to what appeared to be everyone else in the audience making diamond-shaped hand signals, not showing off their bling… Yikes. It was my cue to leave.

The first 5 songs of the set were pretty boring in my opinion — but like I said, I don’t really dig hip-hop music. To each his or her own.

Jay-Z at Coachella 2010 – Diamonds in the Air from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

Deadmau5 (11:35-12:50pm) Sahara Stage

Sounds like: Kaskade, Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren
Pre-Set Thoughts: Worth Sweating for? Probably- He’s spinning at Intervention soon, so that will be a more intimate show for us San Diegans! But if you’re still going strong at the end of the night, and feeling up to dance your face off, hit the tent baby! It will be a rad show – as per usual with Deadmau5 – really just a set that depends fully on your own mood and your readiness for the chaos that will undoubtedly ensue during his house meets dance-in-a-dark-room- heavy-bass-trance sets. Or, if you have mouse or fuzzies fetish, this is DEFINITELY a set just for you…

Post-Thoughts: O MY GOD did I underestimate DEADMAU5!!!
Undoubtedly, ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHT PERFORMANCES OF THE WHOLE COACHELLA FESTIVAL. Deadmau5, aka Joel Zimmerson, is unbelievably talented to say the very least. His stage presence takes merely DJing to an entirely different level. Deadmau5′s set shouldn’t be compared to just any typical DJ set – this was like a FULL-ON performance, where Deadmau5 is more rockstar than anything remotely DJ. ALL with his EYES closed; essentially. Deadmau5 DJs with a GIANT light-installation shaped mouse head during the majority of his performance. A serious neck-strain, but also a wonder – not sure most DJs could perform with their EYES CLOSED. Apparently Benny Benassi can’t DJ even with his eyes open, but we’ll get to that….

The light show, the energy, the costume, the ability to arouse a multitude of emotions from the crowd even in just a hour-long set – unbelievable performance. Gives me chills just watching the videos again.

See the videos for yourself:

Deadmau5 at Coachella 2010: I Remember LIVE from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

During his set, DeadMau5 did something I have not personally witnessed myself before- which was making his light-up, evil grin sing along to one of his tracks, definitely creeping out the hula-hooping E-tards.

Deadmau5 Coachella 2010: Performance- Light Show -Mouse Head TALKING from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

Deadmau5 performing his track “Ghosts n Stuff” Live:

DeadMau5 Live at Coachella- Ghosts n’ Stuff – Disco Version from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

Stay tuned for our day 2 and day 3 recaps of our Coachella experience.