Sorry that my review is so late...
SUMMARY
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Daft Punk, ftw. Nothing else comes close.
Friday
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Leave LA at 2pm, and a bit of traffic on the 10 in Riverside, but we get to the outlet malls at 4:30pm. We shop like there is no tomorrow at the mall. I pick up a couple dress shirts for $30/each and T picks up shorts for work for $5/each. Outlet malls rule.
In&Out fails to disappoint as we get to 1000Palms. We check into the Red Roof Inn (did you reserve your rooms for 2007 yet?), and "work" till J comes up from San Diego with the rest of the favors. We're up till 3, and then finally crash.
Saturday
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So, we don't get woken up by the maids today (see Sunday)...which will lead to no new towels Saturday night.
We prepare ourselves, grab our Red Bulls and grapefruit juice and jump into my convertible. We take our super-secret route, and stop at Red Robin to eat. I wish we had some good stories about Red Robin, but I don't. They didn't fck our orders, and brought us a lot of water and fries. We didn't even have to ask for the seasoning salt (usually someone hijacks it from the table).
Continue down our super-secret-route, and we turn into parking lot 3. I avoid a yellow shirt, and park correctly to get out of the festival in 30 seconds. Take that, yellow shirt.
So we now realize, that parking lot 3 isn't the same as parking lot 3 in previous years; we're one parking lot further away from the gates. But, even though the walk is twice as long, it will get us out in less than one minute. I'll take that anyday.
Walk, walk, walk. The lines sucked. You don't really want to hear about them, do you?
We get in, and have to take care of business first. The yellow shirt was, "Girls on the left, Guys on the right!" at the top of his lungs. He almost killed some guy that wanted to use the left side. The guy probably had to go...and getting killed over a port-a-potty wouldn't make a good epitaph, imho.
Business continues (shirts, water, favors): did you know that you can pay for shirts with a credit card? That was new last year, and they continued it this year; score. And, who forgets to bring enough money to Coachella? I just don't get it.
Colette
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I like her a lot (probably seen her 4 times before), but her set reminded me of Sandra Collins' set a few years back; wrong time slot. She was a bit too slow (especially as the heat died down a bit by the start of her set). Awesome voice, though.
Derrick Carter
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He came on and brought up the beats from Colette's set, and so I danced straight until 7pm... Very good set (for the short time I was there).
Sigur Ros
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I wasn't expecting much from them...I thought it would be like the Air set from 2004 (I didn't attend in 2001, so I didn't hear Sigur Ros then), which was decent if ur blazing, and just eh otherwise. FTW, they blew me away, and other people said this wasn't even their best set! Awesome vocals and violins just made the sunset so much more magnificent. I thought they were great, even if I can't pronounce any of their song names.
Carl Cox
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I've only seen him once (back at Godskitchen in 2005), and I thought he was good there, he was 10x better here. I was soaking wet after the end of his set. I'm not talented enough to trainspot most of his set...
oh, he did play Underworld - Two Months Off which rocked us. He rules.
He played that ugh The Police - Message in a Bottle (SOS) (Sander Van Doorn Remix) that needs to die now. DIE.
Depeche Mode
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Were fine... I was just waiting for:
Daft Punk
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Everyone must see them live once in their life. I can now die a happier man.
They start off with the melody from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Damn. And then, they appear. Robots. Their helmets. Daft Punk.
The pictures do no justice. The lights were so vibrant, and their sounds made us crazy; every next song brought us higher. One time, they stopped for a second, and I thought it was over (and I would have been just as happy), but instead they go on for another 30 minutes. 12:30!! FTW, they never do that at Coachella...but they did!
We were completely out of our minds the entire time. Hell, most of the day I was just saying, "Daft Punk"...and people looked at me funny. Fck them, it was the best set at Coachella.
Well, it had to end at some point...we stumble back out: Walk, walk, walk, walk through the gates, walk, walk, walk, back to the car. Yay! Out in 1 min, and 10 min back to the 10.
Off to Denny's in 1000Palms. We expect the worst, and we pretty much get it. I think they forgot to hire people, because of the 40 tables in Denny's, only about 1/2 of them are full. We have to wait 15 min for a table (even though there are about 20 of them open). Once we get a table, it takes about 30 min to get our order taken...and then another 30 to get our food. Thank god I wasn't hungry... J devoured his steak, eggs, hash brown and toast in 7 minutes. I barely finish my fries and T had something greasy (is there anything at Denny's that isn't made with grease?) We pay and get the fck out by 2:30a.
We get back to the motel, and our room isn't made...which means no new towels. I send T after new towels...he comes back from his mission in like 5 minutes with fresh towels. Who knew?
We crash at 3 again.
Sunday
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9:30am... "Housekeeping". I answer the door, "We're leaving today, you don't need to make our beds." I shut the door.
10:00am... "Housekeeping". I answer the door, "We're leaving today, you don't need to make our beds." I shut the door.
10:30am... "Housekeeping". I answer the door, "We're leaving today, you don't need to make our beds." I shut the door.
11:00am... "Housekeeping". I answer the door, "We're leaving today, you don't need to make our beds." I shut the door.
You can imagine I was perturbed.
I stop by the Flying J (why a J?) to get some Band-Aids; I got blisters from dancing too much the day before, but I'm not going to stop Sunday. We forgot to ice down the Red Bulls we had, so I bought some more to share.
We go down the super-secret-route again, and then eat at "the cafe" (who knows what real name of it is). J gets nachos, which look completely gross. I have some chicken salad thingy which should be enough protein for the day.
Drive to the site, and go to parking lot 3 again. Today, the yellow shirts chased after me after I parked in my 30 sec spot. So, I almost ran her over, but she couldn't run after my car...so after she turned around, I went back to another spot, and it was just as good. 30 sec parking rules.
Pounded my Red Bull, some grapefruit juice (it was a alcohol free day) and brought the rest of my water, and off we go from the end end end of parking lot 3 to the gates. The walk seems twice as long today.
Walk, walk, walk. The lines sucked less than Sunday. You don't really want to hear about them, do you?
So, I get to the tent, and they have the whole front section blocked off. We inquire, and it's for Madonna. Sigh. So, you have to dance about 30+ feet back in the second section. That totally kills the DJ vibe. I understand why they did that, but it was such a vibe killer for the early part of the day.
Gabriel & Dresden
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Their set wasn't bad. I really wish we didn't miss Kristina (we had to eat, alas), but they were just so, boring. Trance at 3pm doesn't seem right.
I don't like Tracking Treasure Down (very pop-y). WOW - Mindcircus (G&D Remix) always is strong, so that was a plus...
Louie Vega
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Kicked my ass. I'm a house-junkie anyway, so he would blow me up (and he did  . Totally rocked my world when he ended with Donna Summer - I Feel Love. Awesome.
I then walked back to the 'KROQ' booth (does KROQ play any of these bands at Coachella?...all I listen to is KCRW), and stood in-front of the blowing mist fan. I was blowing up for more than an hour. Yum.
Bloc Party
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Was fine. We were just blazing at that point. We should have seen Wolf Parade instead (there were a lot of *wolf* bands this year...) So, I did run into an old coworker of mine though...out of 60,000 people, what are the odds? Was cool catching up with him.
Gnarls Barkeley
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Eh. His recorded music was better than his set. I'd give him another chance, but I wasn't in the mood. I thought their costumes were cool (dressed up as the Wizard of Oz characters) though.
Madonna
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.Too short
.Went on late
.I can see why people pay to see her
.She's in great shape for pushing 50
.Is this jumping the shark? Let's see in 5 years...
Mylo
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I'm glad he recovered from his ear infection. I'm torn though. One side of me said he was overhyped, and he spun some crap records. The other side said that he knows how to throw a great party. All I know is that everyone that was there for Madonna left before Mylo went on Would I see him again? Not sure. Would you?
The Go! Team
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Woo. I love campy British fun people I also love British accents, go figure. I've seen them twice before; there set was good, but I really think they shine in small, confined clubs But, how can you not like them?
Michael Mayer
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The space invaders were cool. I did like his set (reminded me of an old-school rave vibe); I just wished it was earlier in the day... I haven't really heard much about his music before (versus his label, Kompact), but I enjoyed it. I wonder if his mix CDs are anything like that set? I did some searching and I couldn't find any live sets of his.
Scissor Sisters
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Woo. I love campy American fun people even more They're wonderful, and I think they brought this Coachella all together. I wasn't expecting an insane-time like Basement Jaxx (2004) on the stage, but for what people stayed around, we all got a great show. Jake is great, and I loved his anecdotes! Now, their comments about Coachella leaving were not unfounded...the rumors were true before the show; last week, there was a big article in the Sun, and Goldenvoice will work something out with other owners in the area. Don't fret...Coachella may change, but it should still be great.
I didn't avoid the disaster which was the lines out on Sunday. I got stuck in the middle of it. I had to be patient, but it's a total killer. The funny parts were the people that were trying to jump the fence (where the first port-o-potties are), and they had to jump on top of the port-o-potties first (which meant you could have been stuck in the hole!), then jump on the roof, then jump over the fence, and down through the trees: insane! I just waited with the rest...it took about 30 min to get out (where it should have taken 1 min), but oh well. No one understood why they didn't open the second gate.
Monday
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We reach the 10 by 1:45a (not bad), and our first stop is the Flying J again for some Red Bull. we fly down the 10 to the _World's Slowest Del Taco(TM)_ in Beaumont. We get there, and there are 3 cars in line. 35 minutes later, we get 2 cold quesadillas and 4 cold tacos. I just don't get this Del Taco. They are consistently the worst in the nation (and I've been to a lot of Del Tacos...)
We switch off, and T drives the rest of the way home, and I drop him off at 4:30a.
I get home at 4:45a, turn on some Digweed and haze around till like 11a. I crash for a bit, then go out with a friend for Indian food in the evening. Come home, continue Digweed till I pass out at like 10p... alas, work in the morning.
PVD/Tiesto in SD this weekend: woo!
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Upcoming events:
Busy, busy, busy.
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. When I went to return my rental car today there were 2 guys there that went to Coachella. And I quote, "we checked out the Sarah tent a few times, whoever that chick dj was in the beginning was really cool. Every time we went back there she was rocking it out, too bad Oakenfold sucked though." Nice one bruv! 
Second Stop Cochella. Took forver to get into the parking lot so Missed most of Infussions set.
I heard it come in all most gaged. That track reallllllllly needs to die. I mean Reallllllly!
