See also: Coachella: Radiohead's Weekend 1 Set Has No Alarms and No Surprises See also: Coachella: The Black Lips' Cole Alexander Goes Full Monty, Plays Guitar With His Ding-Dong See also: Best of Coachella Weekend One: Friday, April 13 Everyone was ready to shit their pants for Radiohead, but there was plenty more going on at Coachella on Saturday. Be it the reclusive Jeff Mangum, the underrated fIREHOSE or closing out the evening with a ferris wheel ride with Radiohead as the soundtrack, here are our Coachella writers' favorite moments from the festival's second day.
Jeff Mangum Jeff Mangum hates having his image disseminated; photographers aren't allowed to shoot his shows, and at his Coachella appearance on Saturday he wasn't even shown on the giant video screens bookending the stage. The horror! In fact, it was just him in his newsboy cap with his acoustic guitar, sitting down in a chair, playing the songs that so many thousands of kids grew up weeping to. He performed most of his Neutral Milk Hotel classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, his voice as bracingly heartwrenching as ever, and then on the title track, just when you started wishing for the horns, out they came, by way of a trumpeter and french horner marching out. Later, they were joined by an accordionist and a tamborinist; while I realize these aren't real words, it was most certainly a wonderful show. -Ben Westhoff
fIREHOSE fIREHOSE should've had a massive Coachella crowd, but they didn't. The fact that the punk power trio played for just a select few proved how underrated the San Pedro band was. Even when they were active in the mid- '80s to the early '90s, no one recognized that fIREHOSE was the West Coast's answer to the Talking Heads. On Saturday, despite feedback problems, Mike Watt and company showed us they were everything we remembered: funky and loud, proggy and bouncy, tight and exceedingly fun onstage. -Lilledeshan Bose
Lykke Li Appears at Miike Snow Miike Snow's live set had a technical and emotional intensity that pushed their set a step above their recordings. The show peaked when fellow Swede Lykke Li joined the electro-pop group on stage; lead singer Andrew Wyatt (the lone American) announced that she just got engaged. Li seemed as happy as could be, singing a number and then dancing joyfully offstage. The band closed with their hit "Animal", which would have brought the house down, except we were outside. -Kai Flanders
Manchester Orchestra This was one of those shows where you walk away ready to buy the band's full catalog. Tightness. Manchester Orchestra is great for their the ability to play with maximum precision, five musicians as one unit. Every dynamic is deliberate with no throw-away notes or approximated rhythms. This sort of tightness is typical to metal bands, as it makes for very powerful sounding music. But Manchester Orchestra's guitar tones are vintage rock 'n' roll, and the vocals key on melody, not growl. There's no processed djent-djent-djent, no creeper lyrics, no hesher element. Just beautiful, airtight indie rock that loves going big. -Adam Lovinus
The Ferris Wheel Lured by the bright lights of Coachella's iconic Ferris Wheel, we quickly found ourselves in a small box circling high above the masses, Radiohead in perfect view. (They sounded great, too.) Gently swaying in the breeze, we were suddenly overwhelmed with the beauty and glory that is Coachella. -Gabrielle Canon
