(Video Gallery + Commentary) Coachella 2011 Recap

FOR DAY ONE COACHELLA VIDEOS GO HERE.

Saturday’s line-up at Coachella didn’t really excite me much – it didn’t summon the “OMFG YES!!!!” reaction I was really hoping for. However, nonetheless there were some standout acts that played that day that are absolutely worth mentioning.

Yelle
I am absolutely head over heels for Yelle! Without a doubt Yelle put on my favorite performance on Saturday, and her set is certainly one of my top overall performances of Coachella. She’ll be back in San Diego playing at the Casbah on May 20th, and I could not stress to you more, how badly you need to be at this show! She even greeted the crowd with a hooded couture swamp-thing coat with icky seaweed-esque elements hanging down, that fortunately she later removed to reveal her skin-tight sassy red printed-leopard body suit. All eyes were MOST certainly FIXATED on Yelle after that. Her set was unbelievably fun from start to finish, but her performance of “Que Veux Tu” was positively heart-warming: as everyone crowd-wide flashed their hearts in sync with Yelle herself. And of course, once her band dropped her single “Safari Disco Club” the entire tent went totally bananas.

Empire of the Sun

I honestly I had no idea what to expect when we went to see Empire of the Sun - but I definitely didn’t expect THAT! Out of whack visuals, grandiose attire, and countless quirky dance numbers – why wasn’t Empire of the Sun on the Main stage?

REST OF VIDEOS AND COMMENTARY AFTER THE JUMP!!!!!

DAY THREE

Was nice to wake up on Sunday morning, and be excited about the third and final day of Coachella’ s line-up! Unlike Day Two, Day Three of Coachella had an amazing range of artists performing, and although the previous two days had certainly taken a toll on our bodies, we were more than ready to experience the final hours of aural magic & dreadful heat at Coachella.

Caspa

Caspa laid down some pretty sick dubstep to ignite the early afternoon on Day Three at Coachella.

Jack Beats

Introduced by the one and only 12th Planet, Jack Beats took the stage to an uproar of approving fans, as 12th Planet then proceeded to stage dive into the crowd. Typical move, but nevertheless exciting and fucking awesome.

Ellie Goulding
I couldn’t NOT be there for Ellie Goulding‘s set! And man, did her gorgeous voice just absolutely deliver on stage. Her cover of Elton John was particularly stunning, however her overall performance was just outstanding. And, her label even passed out some awesome Starry-eyed shaped sunnies to the members of the crowd. Love the freebies!

Tinie Tempah
Tinie Tempah may have been late coming out from the backstage gates, but he was anything but daunted when he was confronted by restless booing crowds. When he expressed his love for America and then proceeded to introduce Ellie Goulding back onstage for an energy-packed duet, it felt all worth the wait. Arguably, the best recovery ever.

Duck Sauce

The crowd for Duck Sauce was far and away more hostile and drug-ridden than Odd Future’s. My personal experience with the crowd was so unpleasant I felt more comfortable in a dance circle during Chase & Status’ DnB gone B O N K E R S than I was during Duck Sauce’s gimmick happy-go-lucky tracks. Scary business. Aside from the brosef-y crowd, overall Duck Sauce’s set was very fun, equipped with plenty of rubber duck bills for the members of the crowd within an arm’s throw away from the stage.

Arguably the song of Coachella, Atrak played in his set on Friday, as well as alongside Armand Van Helden during their Duck Sauce set. The track is (tentatively) named “The Big Bad Wolf” Check out this groovy LOLable house track below:

Chase & Status
WOW. What a phenomenal performance. Standing literally front center for the entire set, I was absolutely aurally and visually infatuated with Chase & Status‘ performance. When I close my eyes, I can actually visualize how unbelievably incredible it felt to be present for that amazing show.

Axwell

Decided we needed to end off Coachella the same way we began: In the Sahara tent. Axwell played a big room housey set as expected and then unleashed some unexpected friends and tracks as well. Tinie Tempah joined Axwell on stage to perform ‘Miami to Ibiza” and later in the night Axwell dropped the track that had been advertised on posters plastered across every Port-a-Potty in the vicinity – “Save The World”.

HONORABLE MENTION:
SLEIGH BELLS: I was too far back in the MASSIVE crowd to get a video that would do this incredible set justice. Sleigh Bells really truly pulled out all the stops for their Coachella performance. I saw them last year at Coachella, as merely openers, and getting to see them absolutely DOMINATE the stage as a more prominent act this time around was exciting, and almost felt rewarding to see them climb so high to the top of their tier, in just the last year! Alexis Krauss’ vocal range, that she demonstrated on stage on numerous occasions during their set, is pretty fucking mind-blowing. I’m so impressed by Sleigh Bells, and I look forward to the next opportunity I get to see them live once again.

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB: Again, the enthusiasm for Two Door Cinema Club was higher than I anticipated so I was stuck behind a large mass of people thus making any sort of opportunity for video sort of pointless. Especially when I already have OUTSTANDING video of their performance front row and center from just a few months ago. TDCC had a very fun set, and kept the crowd dancing and delighted from start to finish.

ATRAK: I am currently resizing these videos in order to fit them within my weekly Vimeo upload allotment, but in the meantime, Atrak stole the crown as the turntable king of Coachella 2011. I have never been disappointed by one of Atrak’s sets, and he certainly delivered a stellar set once again in the Sahara Tent.

REALLY WISH I SAW:
!!!- The lead singer of !!! is arguably the most fantastic person alive.

Phantogram: I have seen Phantogram live before, at Treasure Island Festival, but there’s nothing like Sarah Barthel’s beautiful vocals and those haunting synths live over an arena sound system.

The Presets: WTF why did on EARTH I miss this set??? FUCK. ::face palm::

Duran Duran: Heard these guys STOLE the main stage – so cool to hear that these guys are still killin it.

Lauryn Hill: I actually went to go see Ms. Hill, but after waiting 25 minutes to see her and still no indication of them even beginning her set, I walked off. Heard Cee Lo Green 45-minute late entrance was to blame. And I thought Lauryn Hill was supposed to be the “diva”!? What an asshole.

So… PCD (Post-Coachella-Depression) has set in. The Monday following Coachella weekend is worse than the day after Christmas. Sigh. Another amazing weekend at Coachella. And another horrible week-long recovery. Perfect.

By: TD