Krafty Aces

To Coachella and back again!!

Well the first festival of the year went down a storm!!! Had 3 days in LA to prepare for the upcoming madness that was to be Coachella. Besides the heat it was an extremely enjoyable experience, lots of random art installations, food stalls selling everything you could want to eat (although the philly cheese steak stall always smelled like the portaloos prior to cleaning) and lots of happy, slightly sun burnt festival goers driving for the nearest piece of shade going to hide from the sun and become a flys best friend. Oh the flys, sitting down for a rest nursing a killer hangover with a swarm of flys trying to eat you for their dinner wasn't the best thing at the festival, but the music certainly was!!
After arriving in Indio, home to the Coachella music and arts festival, I stepped off the lovely air conditioned coach and into what can only be described as an inferno. Seriously, 7pm and it was well over 30 degrees. At that point I wasn't looking forward to the middle of the next day.
Once in the campsite after waiting in the will call queue for an hour the tent went up quick and easy, no wind or rain here to hinder the tents progress. Beer or alcohol of some discription was the next highest priority so off to the beer tent we go, only to find out you need to get id checked, luckily being over 21 has its advantages in America. I mean a queue for a wristband so you can queue some more to buy overpriced beer, someone was having a laugh. Well i did when i saw Stan Collymore in there sat in an England shirt(not worn one of those for a few years eh Stan!!)
So Friday morning, opening day of Coachella and with visions of Stan the man fresh in my mind it was off to another will call queue to pick up the day tickets. This was mistake number 1, mistake number 2 was actually standing in the ridiculously long queue for an hour in the blazing sun with no water. In that hour we progressed no further than 10 ft, sack that, beer tent!
Using a pair of tickets that some random bloke had given my mate, we decided to leave the comfort of the campsite bar and head to the camping festival entrance and were greeted by yet another queue, although this one was moving at a slightly quicker pace. Getting past the airport style security screening and just a furlong before the finishing post i handed my ticket to a guy with a scanner, he asked if i had got a refund on the ticket, oh no now i know why the dodgy guy had willingly given 2 tickets away. I told the guy i hadn't an with all the problems they were having he just waved me in, i liked that man, for once there was no jobsworth shenanigans! woohoo i'm in. Only one problem my mate hadn't managed to find such a forgiving ticket scanner and was sent out to have another shot at will call. Well find a beer tent and wait was all i could do.
With a nice cold beer and a cracking view of the main stage i sat down to await the imminent arrival of sheffields finest the Arctic Monkeys, who came storming out blowing the Coachella crowd away, out of the whole weekend they were the only band i braved the heat and sun for!! Thats how good they were.
Found my mate straight after their set and went off in search of more food and beer. Watched Jesue and the Mary Chain who i'd never really got into but was very impressed with their set and will buy their albums to give them a good listen. It was then Arcade Fire's turn to try and impress but for me i wasn't budging on my view of them being completely middle of the road. Some say they are the savior of rock, even music but all i heard was a load of pretencious crap that i couldn't wait to end! They finished and i was a happy man again!
Next up I changed position and ran to the massive sahara tent to catch Faithless, a group i've wanted to see for years and years, they came out to Insomniac which is always a crowd pleaser and quite fitting seeing as hadn't slept for 2 days. Gogol Borello finished the night in style with some crazy "i lost my leg" and "start wearing purple" action, mental gypsy punk! just what the doctor ordered. That was Friday, I was tired. went to crash out and woke 10 hours later absolutley boiling like i was a lobster in a pan of boiling water, ah the screaming, welcome to the desert!

posted by Krafty @ 4:23 pm