Sunday
Feeling fresh today... though made the mistake of chucking the aircon on and charging the phone in the car. Especially on a 6year old 4x4 that has had its engine off for 3 days. Battery just died (n00b). Lets get ahead of this one and get a jump before the monday mayhem. This lost a fair bit of time to sort with ringing around and waiting. So learn - run the car frequently & avoid the fumes so if you can get an exhaust pipe to move fumes.
Lineup was a little hit and miss, just going to spend the day around camp then hit the bar area near Sonara mid-afternoon until evening.
Honestly I don't recall any specific band until late on, flicking around but not sticking out most perfomances.. for alcohol reasons. It seems alcohol is ruining my memory of gigs, at Coachella having to go to dedicated areas to get booze or shade, I found the festival vibe away from the stages.
Turns out 2 gigs since then had the ability to drink next to the stage and has resulted in a more drunken haze than euphoric amazement. Going to go back to designated driver at gigs or drinking bans.
Anyway back to Coachella, I've not spoken about food much. There was a lot of good places to grab food but portions were not in the american style (extra large style), such as a slice of pizzas or falafel type salads for $12 each. Lemonade (the flat kind) $10 a pint. Not cheap.
We found the Craft Beer Bar near Sonara stage had a great selections of alcohol (Ciders, beers, IPAs, Spirits) and soft drinks and really good food selections. Lots of shade, plug sockets and importantly plenty of clean toilets. The food was more upmarket here, but if you want extremely Garlic Chips there was a stall not far outside of the Crafts bar.
So I'm not going to cover the bands early on they were good but not enough attention and memory to fairly summarise: Whitney & Future Islands.
Hans Zimmer - Outdoor Theatre - I wasn't sure what to expect with this, we all know the compositions just not knowing it was this Orchestra (if thats the right word) Such as from Pirates of the Caribbean or the Dark Knight.
I tell you this was unexpectedly amazing, it worked and the festival goers really got into the vibe.
We stayed until Lion King was over then headed to Lorde.
Lorde - Honestly I don't get Lorde, it's not cup of tea. The lyrics feel like random words you might get from Roundtrees Randoms. I listened but didn't take in.
I'm guessing by now you see my blog isn't entirely reviews on gigs so I'm not going to review for reviews sake. I'll write up the ones that connect to me or I feel I want to draw out an unexpected achievment or failure. Fair play good vocals and crowd.
I feel like Coachella has been amazing, even when the line up doesn't fall your way all the time (or even part) and you make mistakes in preparation.
The atmosphere, neighbours, parties and such makes it anyway.
And so we draw to the final choice Kendrick Lamar or New Order. Having recently got into Kendrick he was on my list but pitching against fellow (Greater) Mancunians, and me being a Joy Division fan, New Order were the ones to see. With the departure and recent animosity with Peter Hook I was unsure what the setlist would hold.
Wow, I've read some on and off reviews about Bernard Sumner and today was on, on, on. Such a great vocal range and not once off pitch really.
At the Mojave stage we saw a bunch of New Order classics Bizzare Lover Triangle, True Faith, Blue Monday and Temptation. The crowd lapped it up gracefully singing and dancing like it was 1986 again. Surrounded by Americans, Australians, and everything in between. Aged 12 to god knows what.
This was what we were here for, this was New Order, this was Coachella.
Then... things took a sombre change; a sad and humbling end to the gig, yet respectful and Joyful. It was time for some Joy Divison - Decades and Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Throughout this we were shown slow motion blurry, ghostly even, images of Ian Curtis doing his legendary dancing. It was at this point you remember who influenced and continue to influence to the music industry. Without these souls we wouldn't have some of the greatest bands we have today... and for the New Order to continue to pay homage to Ian was what really stole the the entire festival.
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