Coachella Day 3: Reviews, Rants & Straight-Up Raves

After all the chaos, the brutal sun, the endless walking, pushing, infinite lines, and the hula hoops, you realize Coachella has flown by and it’s already the last and final day of reckless dance parties, irresponsibility, and great music. And even despite the number of times you’ve said throughout the adventure “Never, NEVER again!!!” you’ve actually grown to love Coachella, and the carefree lifestyle of wandering its’ desert grounds in search of good sounds.

The 3rd and final day of Coachella did little to bring you back to center: Despite the reality of Monday morning responsibilities looming in the back of your mind, Coachella had no intention of letting anyone leave in any kind of state that remotely resembled normality. In fact, the most rave-tastic, trippy, and full-on neon-saturated acts took over the tents and stages on Sunday -during the day and at night. Reminisce, revive those consequential flashbacks, or simply gear your attention to the unrelenting chaos that took place on the last day in the desert:


Rusko (2:30-3:35pm) Sahara Stage
Sounds Like: Unrelenting, Dirty, filthy dubstep.

I knew even before the show this set was going to be one of the highlights of Coachella. However, I did not know Rusko was going to ABSOLUTELY KILL IT! His set – was complemented by a COMPLETELY PACKED tent – at 2:30 in the afternoon. Which most of you know, is not typical for most early afternoon sets at Coachella.

The combination of Rusko’s cranking dub-dance set and the unrelenting desert sun, caused the tent to become one unbelievably massive, sweaty mess – which didn’t seem to bother ANYONE. The dirty bass blasted to the max volume and the crowd was thousands of dub heads deep.

Think only ravers like dub? FAR from the truth. In fact, ladies, if you are looking for the tent with the sexiest collection of shirtless surfer bros, jocks, and dread-locked dudes alike - dub-step is where it is at.

I’m calling it right now: Dub-Step is the next big thing on the audio horizon. And if Rusko continues to bust out tracks that are equally as awesome as his track “Woo Boost”, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rusko took a headlining spot at Coachella next time around…

Rusko Live at Coachella 2010 – “Woo Boost” from Taylor Doms on Vimeo.

The Glitch Mob (3:45-5:00pm) Sahara Stage
Sounds Like: Remix masters – For all Vinyl enthusiasts. Hip Hop in an electro state-of-mind. Great group to see for those just entering into the electro genre.

The Glitch Mob put on a very technical show that demonstrated how unbelievably talented they are as sound engineers and as serious beat manufacturers. However, their performance at times definitely lacked in energy and didn’t really seek to engage the crowd. Following an out of control set like Rusko’s gnarly dub throw-down, The Glitch Mob failed somewhat to keep that wild energy flowing. Maybe that was their intention but either way, I was disappointed that The Glitch Mob didn’t at least attempt to maintain the crowd’s attention, and sort of veered in the noble direction of sound installation – rather than in the more context-appropriate direction of dance set…. Very talented group, great potential – bad timing, wrong crowd.

Matt & Kim (4:25pm-5:10pm) Mojave Stage

Having heard SO much about Matt & Kim in the past, I made it a priority to catch their set – and I am so stoked I did. Simply put, Matt & Kim are a much more fun, electro-infused version of the White Stripes. Kim bounces in delight while banging on the drums, while Matt’s synthesizer infuses the soundscape; their songs are upbeat, lively, and total crowd-pleasers ! But even if their music sucked, you can’t help but love them since they perform only with the biggest, most excited smiles on their faces the whole entire time. And the lewd commentary to follow each song somehow makes them that much more likable. Count me in as definitely on board the Matt & Kim fan bandwagon.

Miike Snow (Mojave Stage)

You’ve probably already heard of Miike Snow and their insanely remixed hit “Animal” – or perhaps one of the many songs they’ve remixed for other indie artists. With their creepy, Phantom of the Opera-esque masks and their catchy electro-infused beats, I was already sold on seeing their set.

Miike Snow’s music is dreamy: But it’s not to be mistaken for simply “chill” music. It’s more an electro-pop infusion gone emo. I don’t know what it is about the Swedes, but they just know how to make music that both tears your heart from you and makes you wanna get down. Check out the emotion-filled “Sylvia” or immerse yourself in a dose of fun with the  “Black and Blue” videos. You’ll understand what I mean:

Infected Mushroom (6:45-7:45pm) Sahara Stage
Sounds Like: Metallica meets Bloody Beetroots

The Infected Mushroom show was definitely one of the strangest, but most entertaining sets of the entire weekend. The bass lines were heavy as hell and it’s hard to even begin to try to put into words the vibe inside of the Sahara tent. The best way we can put it is like this– Metallica fell down the rabbit hole at the same time as Bloody Beetroots and this was what happened…

If you were able to finagle your way through the glow stick twirling ravers and get close enough to the stage, you could literally feel the bass pounding inside your skull (which we condone). However strange the set was, it was definitely still worth the experience!

Orbital (8:05pm-9:00pm) Sahara Stage

Sounds Like: Mark Farina, Remady P & R
While Infected Mushroom was one of the strangest sets we saw at Coachella, Orbital definitely takes the prize for HEAVIEST set of the entire weekend. This duo threw down a full-blown TECHNO-infused set, jam-packed with mind-numbing builds and drops. You could tell shit was going to get heavy from the get-go: when you looked around and saw everyone already wearing ear plugs! Suffice it to say, these guys threw down some insane beats and had the crowd go absolutely mad when they dropped their track “Halcyon“! 

Little Boots (8:10pm-8:55pm) Gobi Stage

Little Boots‘ performance was one of my favorites of the entire festival: She was engaging, lively, and her performance on stage was so on point. Little Boots’ integration of avant-garde laser/sound installations into her set really set her show apart from so many of the other sets at the festival. But aside from the fancy stuff, Little Boots’ energy, talent, and her ability to engage the crowd was very impressive. Her set was also an emotional one, announcing that that very Coachella performance was to be her last performance for the entire year. My heart just broke all over again just thinking about it.

As my luck would have it, unfortunately the videos I personally took of Little Boots’ awesome performance do not do her set full justice… Neither do any of the other videos available as of right now – which is really disappointing. So here is a video I found from her recent performance at the Casbah to give you a general idea of her performance in the meantime — until a better video from Coachella comes available…

Thom Yorke (Main Stage)
Sounds Like: Radiohead…

I’m sorry but WHY WASN’T THOM YORKE PUT ON THE MAIN STAGE?!?!?!?!?!??! He’s SO amazing, but the Outdoor Stage, overall, had poor sound quality and acoustics. Thom Yorke didn’t sound amazing at Coachella, but I can guarantee that was only the fault on the behalf of the set-up. Thom Yorke should have headlined, and should have been on the Main Stage. That’s all you really need to know.

Here’s a pretty decent quality video of Thom Yorke’s song “Black Swan” performed live at Coachella:

The Gorillaz (Coachella Stage)

The Gorillaz have some pretty catchy tracks that I really dig. And the visual animated presentation they put together was also pretty stellar – the first half that I caught at least. But most of the new tracks they performed at Coachella, off their new album “Plastic Beach“, were very average. And opening up with a “guest appearance” from Snoop Dog, in their video presentation, felt very out of place. Just because you are headlining doesn’t necessarily mean you need to implement a “bells and whistles” element – especially when it feels uncomfortably forced.

Some of their new tracks just lacked those aural nuances that most of The Gorillaz’s older, popular tracks embody: Gritty, darkness and drug inferences in “Clint Eastwood” or the disco-synthesized, upbeat tempo in “Dare“- strong elements that obviously The Gorillaz successfully integrated in the past (otherwise they wouldn’t have headlined…)- just seemed to be lacking in The Gorillaz’s newer tracks.

I only stayed for half of their set because simply put the audio element of their performance was very boring. I hope next year, Coachella ends the whole festival with more of a “bang” than with an animated bore.