2014 was a year of Coachella firsts for me — it was my first time camping and not going as a member of the press. It was a series of highs and lows all bundled up into one fun, yet exhausting weekend. I’m still coughing up dust, but I can…
Dave Mason was disappointing. That’s the bottom line, though many in the audience would say otherwise — particularly during the “Dave set,” which would be telling enough in itself. Billed as Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam, the idea of Mason playing Traffic tunes — the band he was a founding member…
Oakland resident Kimchi Truong was 24. She passed out on the Coachella grounds last weekend, likely due to an overdose. Her death, Thursday, was shocking. But what’s really shocking is that this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often. This story is about very young people doing a shit-ton of drugs, but…
Chris Victorio/OC WeeklyYou tell ’em, Grandpa!Age, of course, is a state of mind. But it’s easy to feel like you’ve aged 30 years after three busy days at Coachella. Whether you’ve gone to the festival since the first year in 1999 or just started going a few years ago, the…
“I’m terrified of being an adult,” Lorde told a packed house toward the end of her concert Thursday night at Comerica Theatre. Given the way the 17-year-old songstress’ debut album, Pure Heroine, dominated the latter half of 2013, and given her lyrics — coolly defiant celebrations of suburbia, rejections of…
Music-loving Phoneicans have been basking in Coachella’s sunshine all week, and this weekend is no different. High-profile acts from the California festival will continue swooping into the Valley of the Sun. It’s a great time to be a fan with disposable income. Local music festivals abound too, from the Under…
Timothy Norris Round one of Coachella is over and damn, was it a good one! We’re all soar, sunburned and smiling. For those of you heading to Cali for Round 2, here’s the best of what we saw during the festival’s first weekend…
Thousands of fans packed a sold-out Comerica Theatre in downtown Phoenix Tuesday night to catch a rare performance from singer Elizabeth Grant, a.k.a. Lana Del Rey, in between her Coachella stops. With no opening act, Del Rey hit the stage around 8:30, with opener “Cola.” Sporting jean shorts, U.S. Postal…
Foster the People Marquee Theatre 4/15/14 It’s official: Foster the People is now, well, for the people. Gone are the days of the band’s crowds being elitist and hip, and now we enter the age when 40-somethings know more words to Foster the People songs than you do. This is…
Perhaps you’ve heard about all of the crazy sponsorships celebrities are getting to simply show up to Coachella and wear clothes. Glee actress Lea Michele is said to receive $20,000 from Lacoste to wear the French fashion label’s clothes, while Spring Breakers star Vanessa Hudgens is getting paid $15,000 by McDonald’s to…
Timothy NorrisCoachella’s first weekend was amazing this year! Except when it wasn’t. Here are the parts of the festival that rubbed us the wrong way. Saturday Night dust storm (above) Conditions may not have been as bad as they were during last year’s Red Hot Chili Peppers set, but Saturday…
As Bombay Bicycle Club singer Jack Steadman walked up to the microphone in the middle of the band’s show, he lifted his hands above his head. The sound of a church organ filled the crowded Crescent Ballroom as his bandmates slowly worked toward the finale of the title track of…
Colin Young-Wolff So many Coachella-goers spend months before the festival working on their tans, their outfits, their figures, and their breezy poses. There’s a real glut of fabulousness, we have to say, both among those in attendance at the Polo Grounds and the parties surrounding the festival. Here are the…
Ever since sunshine acid saturated Woodstock back in 1969, music festivals and recreational pharmaceuticals have gone together. While we applaud those using Coachella as an opportunity to get sober, it’s not for everyone, which is why, below, we’ve recommended a fine list of musical acts and drugs that go together,…
From everything we’ve heard, seen, or read over the past few days, the first weekend of Coachella apparently went off quite fantastically (unless you happened to be in Outkast). And if you’re weren’t able to be at the polo grounds in Indio, well…that certainly is a bummer. The good news…
This time of year you should be well within your rights to bitch slap any music fan who spends the weekend whining about how there’s “nothing going on.” Plenty of live music is flowing all over the damn city, at any given time, and the weather is nice, too –…
Joe Diffie, Tyler Farr, Colt Ford, Jason Aldean Country Thunder 2014 4/13/14 As Country Thunder closes out, the tried and true aficionados remain: They’re the groups who’ve done this before, who have more alcoholic stamina than all your friends combined, who will wake up at 5 a.m. on Monday morning…
Did you know that, for some people, Coachella represents a big ol’ Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? Since 2009, New Orleans couple Bob Johnson and Jane Smith (not their real names) have led 12 step meetings on the festival grounds for those who, like themselves, are in recovery. They call their group…
As a dusty wind whipped behind her in hazy stage light, Solange and her ultra-slick backing band brought serious chops and swagger to the polo fields as nighttime fell over Coachella. And then Beyonce showed up on stage, dancing to “Losing You.” It was the first Coachella big celebrity surprise…
Omar “Bombino” Moctar is a Tuareg nomad from Agadez, Niger, and while his music is rooted in the deepest traditions of desert life, Bombino is also deeply indebted to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton — maybe even Jerry Garcia. I went to the Musical Instrument Museum to…
Mark Chesnutt, Craig Morgan, Miranda Lambert Country Thunder 2014 4/12/14 By day three of Country Thunder, most attendees are in one of two states: You’re either cripplingly hungover and sunburnt, acting as brothers in spirit with those souls at Coachella, or you’ve been saving yourself for the biggest two days…
The Band Perry, Easton Corbin, & more Country Thunder 2014 4/11/14 Country music fans in Florence were surely pleased with the way their weekend kicked off last night. Friday marked day two of this year’s annual Country Thunder festival, and the night’s lineup featured up-and-comers Mary Hoffman and Cassadee Pope,…
