Coachella 2012

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

Haha wow you're awake already too........ the whole show!!!  Dangggg!!  8)

yeah, I haven't been sleeping right.  not sure if it's just my internal clock or if I'm sick or what but I've been waking up so fucking early for no reason no matter how late I go to sleep and then I feel all anxious and weird.  can't figure out what it is that's making me wake up, but it blizows.  I love sleeping.   :'(  radiohead was fun tho. 

[woodnymph]

Haha wow you're awake already too........ the whole show!!!  Dangggg!!  8)

yeah, I haven't been sleeping right.  not sure if it's just my internal clock or if I'm sick or what but I've been waking up so fucking early for no reason no matter how late I go to sleep and then I feel all anxious and weird.  can't figure out what it is that's making me wake up, but it blizows.  I love sleeping.   :'(  radiohead was fun tho.

I can't seem to sleep much past 11am these days, but I haven't stayed up as late as last night in a looong while.... but when I finally let go of the energy from the show last night, I did drift off fairly soon-after... I could've rode that wave til sunrise though I think! That's weird you've been wakin up early though, how early have you been up?? Do you have dark enough curtains?? My curtains were what woke me up today I think..... I thought they were pretty damn dark but I don't think so anymore  :-\

[MrWhippy]

That's very cool that there ended up being a webcast and that people dug it.  I thought Radiohead's set was fantastic, and the energy of the crowd felt fine from where we were (just in front of soundboard).  Everyone was very into it, I didn't see a single person who didn't seem enraptured. 
The current Radiohead tour is just insane in my opinion, I think it is the best I've seen them since the Kid A/Amnesiac tour in 2001.  I love the King of Limbs record, but the degree to which those songs come alive live is incredible.

The other big highlight of yesterday for me was Jeff Mangum.  This was my third time seeing him and every time I can't believe it's really happening.  I was concerned about how this set would go over at a festival, but it was great.  The crowd achieved that rare things that I'm amazed can never fully happen at movies where people actually STFU and pay full attention to what they came to see.  By far the most silent and respectful crowd I've ever experienced at a festival.  Just magical, also really nice to hear Jeff play with horns that played the parts from the Neutral Milk Hotel records.

Saw Bon Iver before Radiohead just due to wanting to stake a spot at the main stage, but was really impressed.  The new Bon Iver record had really bored me the couple times I tried to listen to it, but I thought it came to life in a live setting very well.  It also helped that he had Colin Stetson on saxophone, that guy is a force of nature.

Caught The Shins before Bon Iver and was also more impressed than I expected to be.  I've heard lots of people say they are pretty flat live, but maybe they have stepped up their game or something as I was pretty engaged by it.  Also, the new stuff is great.

Andrew Bird was definitely good but just not really my thing.

Really enjoyed Laura Marling, but it was a terrible environment for her.  Lots of sound bleed from other stages during her set, even right up front.

I was really disappointed with fIREHOSE.  Maybe it was partly due to now knowing their music, but it just sounded lame and really lacked any power or swagger.  It's always fun to see Mike Watt, but I've seen him in such better situations lately (such as with The Stooges).

The Buzzcocks delivered in all the ways that fIREHOSE didn't, as the Buzzcocks have still really got it.  Seriously great set.  For most of the set, I was standing right behind Danny DeVito, who seemed really cool and personable to all the people coming to say hi and take their picture with him.

Destroyer was decent, but not the most thrilling live act or something that really adds too much over the records in a live setting.

We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Vaccines were both good enough, but pretty unremarkable all in all.

Onward to Day 3.

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

Haha wow you're awake already too........ the whole show!!!  Dangggg!!  8)

yeah, I haven't been sleeping right.  not sure if it's just my internal clock or if I'm sick or what but I've been waking up so fucking early for no reason no matter how late I go to sleep and then I feel all anxious and weird.  can't figure out what it is that's making me wake up, but it blizows.  I love sleeping.   :'(  radiohead was fun tho.

I can't seem to sleep much past 11am these days, but I haven't stayed up as late as last night in a looong while.... but when I finally let go of the energy from the show last night, I did drift off fairly soon-after... I could've rode that wave til sunrise though I think! That's weird you've been wakin up early though, how early have you been up?? Do you have dark enough curtains?? My curtains were what woke me up today I think..... I thought they were pretty damn dark but I don't think so anymore  :-\

haha, my rooms a fucking cave. I've got a bear and wolf blanket covering it keeping the evil out.  been waking up at like 8:15-8:45am, and usually feel like shit.  what can ya do.  I'm sure my body will exhaust itself soon enough.   

[oistheone]

This Santigold performance is pretty funny. Great high-energy set and now there's about 50 people from the crowd partying on stage. Looks like such a blast, god bless webcasts!

[APR]

Nice reporting Mr. Whippy.

It has been fun to see some of the You Tube footage.  It looks like a lot is saved so you can go back and watch some songs and/or complete sets.  Radiohead always puts on a great show with cool lighting as an added bonus.

[Fully]

I keep looking for Whippy in the crowd shots. I haven't seen him so far, but I did enjoy Wild Flag at Couchella. The stream keeps skipping and that's getting on my nerves. I wish I could stay up late enough to see the good doctor and Snoop perform with Nate Dogg. Alas, I need to go to bed in time to be coherent at 5am.

[MrWhippy]

Here's my recap of Day 3, which was kind of a strange, uneven day due to there being much less stuff I really cared about this day.

The first thing we saw, and the highlight of the day, was Band of Skulls.  They were my big Coachella discovery in 2010 when they played in one of the tents, and it was great to see them on the main stage.  One thing I love about festivals is the chance you sometimes get to see bands that generally play smaller places having to play on a huge stage.  Sometimes the music gets suitable huge to fill the space they are in, and that definitely happened with Band of Skulls.  They completely nailed it.   I'm on such a high with these guys right now.

Next, we checked out Seun Kuti and Egypt 80.  I don't know much about African music, and I didn't have much to compare this to other than seeing Fela about 21 years ago when I was in college.  Seun was definitely good and brought some of the same energy as Fela, but he lacked or doesn't yet have the serious star power that his dad had.  Really fun set, though, and people were getting down.

Caught some of Real Estate, which was good and jangly, and Beats Antique, who are decent and better musically than I would have thought.

The next big thing for me was Wild Flag, and they were very good.  I'm a huge Sleater-Kinney fan and a moderate Helium fan, so interested to see this super group.  It was great to see Carrie again and she tore it up, but mostly it just made me miss Sleater-Kinney.

Caught a bit of The Hives, and they are still The Hives.  Fun for a few minutes, but got old quickly.

Next we watched some of The Weeknd because there wasn't much else going on.  The guy has a great voice and it sounded good, but not really my kind of thing.  Seemed very big with the ladies.

Next, checked out Justice, also because there wasn't much else compelling happening.  They were impressive in some ways but nowhere near the incredible set the Chemical Brothers did on the main stage last year.

Next was At the Drive In.  For this, I got to my favorite main stage spot just in front of the soundboard, which resulted in a very interesting philosophical moment.  Some artists hang out in the soundboard area, so just behind where I was standing.  Before ATDI started, I turned around for a minute and Skrillex is standing right there literally just about 5 feet from me.  I debated heavily whether I should kill him, thus sacrificing myself (assuming I would also end up dead or incarcerated) for the greater human good.  But, in the end, I chose to live.  Sorry, Western Civilization.

At The Drive In were definitely solid, and it was cool to see Omar and Cedric in a different setting ,but all in all I'm a much bigger Mars Volta than ATDI fan. 

After that, I checked out Modeselektor for enough to realize that it was very good, but just not my thing.  Didn't check out the Snoop/Dre set, which sounds like it was actually very good, but I'm just not a big fan of live hip hop.

[Fully]

Before ATDI started, I turned around for a minute and Skrillex is standing right there literally just about 5 feet from me.  I debated heavily whether I should kill him, thus sacrificing myself (assuming I would also end up dead or incarcerated) for the greater human good.  But, in the end, I chose to live.  Sorry, Western Civilization.

You let us all down, Whippy. Sometimes one must sacrifice one's self for the greater good of all. Sigh. :-\

[mahg33ta]

Hey Mr Whippy-  great reports, as promised.   Really enjoyed reading it all.     If there's one guy I'd want to be stuck behind at a concert, it's Danny DeVito.

[johnnYYac]

Hey Mr Whippy-  great reports, as promised.   Really enjoyed reading it all.     If there's one guy I'd want to be stuck behind at a concert, it's Danny DeVito.

;D

[Murph]

TUPAC ft SNOOP ALIVE AT COACHELLA 2012!! [FULL] HQ

This is one of the coolest things Ive seen in awhile.