Wednesday, May. 05, 2004 | 10:14
coachella fragment one
about 4pm saturday we made our way from the vip section down to the field in front of the coachella stage. we got as deep into the crowd as we could (many still sat, creating the amusing twin problems of using too much space and making people think they can move into an open spot that isn't really there) and stood to watch sparta. the sound went in and out a bit, but the engineers got it right and the show went ok. my girlfriend is a sparta fan, but though i appreciated their anti-bush stance (a common sentiment from performer and fan alike), i'm not really keen on them. i mean, they're a good emo band, but they're not as interesting as the mars volta. of course, neither is at the drive-in, which is the source of all our problems.
after sparta came a slight exodus and the ensuing crush as people filled the spaces and pressed up to see the pixies. the gf's messed up toe was already hurting from all our walking, but people stepping on it didn't help matters. not to mention the pit of pot smokers in front of us (the gf sometimes has panic attacks when she smells pot smoke, so this was a real problem) were annoying. the pixies rocked, playing a bunch of great old songs--nothing new. joey santiago had an effects solo, which was pretty cool, and kim deal got to sing 'in heaven,' which was awesome. a good solid set.
another ebb and flow and we were as close as we would get to the main stage. after some jostling and more foot-stepping we finally got to see radiohead, which was a blast. except for the crowd problems, that was probably one of the best performances i've ever seen. i'd never seen radiohead, so i was pretty psyched. i'd heard they were great, but i wasn't really prepared for how good. despite the pain in my legs from being on my feet all day and weariness from the heat, i was bouncing and dancing through their whole set. the gf was physically unhappy, but when they pulled out 'my iron long', she perked up. she couldn't believe they'd play something so old. they went on to do 'street spirit' and 'planet telex' before reminding us of where they began with the rarely played 'creep.' the gf was so impressed she called her friend (on my intermittently-working cell phone) who adamantly believed radiohead would never perform 'creep' again. he was impressed, or so i gathered from the 4-and-a-half-minute call. ah, free weekends.
after a mind-blowing show, all one can do is retreat back to the fence and sit in the grass (since they wouldn't let us back in the vip area after midnight). or maybe we went in and had a drink before sitting out on the grass to wait for our crew. i don't think we had a drink, because that would have made the walk around the polo grounds (we got artist parking, which was by the stage, but had to exit through the vip entrance, which was on the opposite side of the rather large block) much easier than it was. despite the long walk, it was a great day.
