Coachella 2009 - Day 2

Thought I should probably start on this before I head up to San Fran this weekend. I woke up on Saturday and could barely walk. My knees and ankles were swollen, but that's typical Coachella attire right? Anywho decided I would do my best to get an early start so I took a shower, hopped in the car and drove the 30 minutes to the polo fields where I was greeted with (from what I hear) the driest day of Coachella (NOT THE HOTTEST, DON'T FREAK OUT).

Click keep on reading for all the reviews and videos from day 2 of Coachella.


First up on my list was Doomtree's golden boy, P.O.S. on the Mojave stage. I have seen him twice in my life and he always puts on a good show. Hip hop in its truest form. Although this time he implemented a guitar which I thought was a very cool. He played most of the songs off his newest record, Never Better. And as always I loved his set and was actually only the 2nd set of the weekend that I got to stay the whole time for. So that was a great way to start my long day.

After that I reluctantly left the tent and started to head over to Cloud Cult who were about ten minutes into their set on the Outdoor Theater. This is where my opinion of that stage was solidified from the badness that took place the night before for Silversun Pickups. Again, the stage sounded like garbage. Cloud Cult was pretty decent for the 3 songs I saw before I bounced for a more heavier sound on the Coachella Stage.

One of the things I will never understand is how bands like Billy Talent go pretty much un noticed in the US while in Canada they have reached Grammy status and are selling out stadiums. An interesting thought. Let me know what you think. Anywho, I have never seen them and knew how big they were in Canada so I thought I would check them out. Straight punk rock. A very fun engertic show, all the while dressed in black. Here is a video of the song "Try Honesty:"



After the craziness that was Billy Talent I hesitantly walked about over to the Outdoor Theater to catch some of Liars, a band that I have been wanting to see for a LONG time. Well I could take about 2 songs before saying, F*%$ this stage and everyone performing on it. I was yet again disappointed at the other outdoor stage.

Every year there is a wildcard band for me that I feel like I need to check out. Last year it was Battles. And now I am a huge fan of them. This year was a band called thenewno2. Son of George Harrison, Dhani is the frontman for the indie outfit that absolutel BLEW me away. The melodies of the Beatles but the psychedelia of any prog rock band in the 70's. I was transfixed by the crazy guitars and the element of the keys all the while listening to Dhani's lyrics. Check out the video I shot for "Another John Doe" here:



I decided to put my former judgements against Dr. Drog behind me and try them out next. I was not a fan of their studio recordings but I was told that their live show makes up for it. Kind of put a bad taste in my mouth but I gave it a shot and I am glad I did. Such a visually appealing live show along with their dead on sound (despite some technical difficulties). They played a little bit of everything from all their records but their new stuff was what was really tingling my ear. Unfortunately I have since listened to the record again and still don't like their studio stuff. They are officially the first band that that has happened to me with. Here they are playing a song that I do not know the title of:



About this time I didn't really have much going on so I went and got some food and watched Amanda Palmer from a distance where she performed a very "weird" version of Creep with a ukulele from the production booth with everyone surrounding her. Pretty entertaining to say the least. I then realized I was gonna be late for Glasvegas. Don't worry though, they decided not to play due to exhaustion. Personally I think that is one of the most ridiculous reasons not to play a show, let alone a festival. Everyone is tired, everyone is hot, everyone got drunk the night before. That doesn't allow you to just bounce when you want to. I am done ranting.

Then I watched Calexico from a distance. Not much to see with their live show anyway. and from there I headed over to watch TV on the Radio on the main stage. I was kind of nervous cause of their performance at SNL. But I figured that was Saturday Night Live's deal. Which in the end it was. TV on the Radio are one of the best live bands I have seen and continue to be so. They had some guests up on stage, including a very attractive red head doing some background vocals that added some very cool sounds to the whole set. Here they are performing "Wolf Like Me:"



One of the other performances I was looking forward the most was TRV$DJ-AM. I downloaded their album the day they released it and it has been played in one cd player or another at least 12 times. And was the soundtrack to a New Years Eve party. I got their and the tent was pretty much overflowing. I squeezed my way through to get about 30 yards away from the stage and still could barely see what was going but was dancing my ass off. Here is a shorter video of what I could get: