Festival Scorecard: Coachella 2011
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Website: http://www.coachella.com/
Dates: April 15-17, 2011
Location: Indio, California
Top Bills: Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, The Strokes
7p Score: 52%
Coachella is in an enviable position. It's one of the most attended festivals in America (for better or worse) and can draw huge acts. Since it's the first major one-site festival in the calendar year, it is naturally the first to announce its lineup. So not only does every act on the bill feel like a "scoop", they're able to tempt you with the promise of music in the oh-so-toasty desert while you're shoveling your car out from under three feet of snow. This year Coachella seems to have leveraged its position to assemble a lineup of indie fence-sitters at the top and its usual impressive selection of international and little known acts underneath. I just haven't heard of many of them...
The Headliners
I never was into Kings of Leon. I enjoyed a few tracks off of Aha Shake Heartbreak, but since then I have no sense of their music except that it is really popular - so much so that they can headline festivals. Good for them, but it just doesn't do much for me, so I'll pass. I'll also pass on Kanye. I admit I haven't given him even a cursory glance at any point in his career, despite consistent positive reviews. Ultimately, it's just a case of rapper's block, which hasn't yet been cracked.
Much more up my alley are The Strokes and Arcade Fire, two acts that I have seen live before and would gladly see again. It's interesting that The Strokes have become one of the elder statesmen of the 2000's alterna-indie-modern rock generation and may now have that title outright with the White Stripes recent disbandment. Also interesting is the fact that Arcade Fire was playing clubs with a capacity of 350 only six years ago and now they've won Grammys and are selling out arenas in seconds. And yet, a vast number of people are either completely unaware of their existence or completely enraged by them (mostly because they were completely unaware of them. Amazing.
The usual charcters can be found near the top too. You have the true indie darlings (The National, Animal Collective, Bright Eyes), the meteoric riser (Mumford & Sons), the hard-working breakouts (The Black Keys, Robyn), the nostalgia act (Duran Duran), the comeback kid (P.J. Harvey), the reunited (Death From Above 1979), the big name but what-have-you-done-for-me-lately acts (Interpol, The Chemical Brothers) and international phenomenon that leaves most Americans scratching their heads (Caifanes).
Undercard
Historically, Coachella's undercard contains many bands that are obscure to me, and this year is no exception. In fact, bands that I haven't heard of outweigh bands I've already seen PLUS bands I would have interest in seeing. By no means is this a knock on Coachella, but rather an indictment of my current musical purview. Still, there are some gems buried in there for me, most notably The London Suede and Elbow.
7p Must Sees
Sleigh Bells, Warpaint, Tame Impala, The Drums, The Morning Benders, Animal Collective, Mumford & Sons, The London Suede, Elbow, Jenny and Johnny, Foals, The Radio Dept., Death From Above 1979, Phantogram, fun. (15 total)
Summary
Less than a third of the acts on Coachella's bill would be on my radar for the weekend and I've seen 23 of the billed acts already. There are really no stunning or exclusive acts to be found and the headliners don't stir up much interest for me. Kudos to Coachella for the variety in the undercard, but a lot of it is lost on me. Final score: 52%.