Various news sites such as Holy Moly! are reporting that The Smiths will be reuniting in 2013 for four UK shows, including Glastonbury. What's the source for the current hysteria? On September 27, Australia's Herald Sun uncovered this tidbit in an email interview with Morrissey:
At Coachella a few years you complained about the waft of
burning flesh from a nearby barbeque. Has that been a problem since at
outdoor shows?
Not at all, and interestingly the agents
for Coachella offered a 100-per-cent vegetarian event for the following
year if I would agree to headline with Johnny Marr as the Smiths.
Fascinatingly they made it clear that they would 'not require' the
Smiths' bass player or drummer ... which I thought certainly said
something.
The burning flesh incident in question occurred during his 2009 Coachella main stage performance. So, "the following year" would be 2010. Goldenvoice offered to go meat-free in 2010 for Morrissey and Marr to reunite with the rhythm section of their choice, and this offer clearly was not accepted. Thanks to the purple monkey dishwasher phenomenon, "the following year" seems to have been taken out of context and converted into "next year." In short, he's talking about a previous offer, and thanks to a lack of research and reading comprehension all around, your facebook and twitter feeds are now flooded with reunion "confirmations". As if Glastonbury tickets weren't already a challenge to reserve...
The Orange County Register recently published an article listing a hundred acts they want to make their Coachella debut. There are some impressive choices on the list, such as Sparks and A Tribe Called Quest, but Simply Fuss Free's take is that it's too focused on big names, many of whom are questionable for America's most popular festival. Here's a list of 25 more acts that would make Coachella, or any festival, one for the ages.
The inevitable revelation the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival lineup became a matter of "sooner" rather than "later" on Wednesday, with an official confirmation of Azealia Banks. Following Azealia Banks' appearance on the festival's homepage were videos of AraabMuzik and Jimmy Cliff yesterday and today, respectively. Although an official release date for the lineup has yet to be announced, months of rumors, fan-made posters crafted with dubious levels of competence, and equally incompetent journalists spreading these fakes as gospel are expected to finally come to an end within the next couple weeks.
Because there has already been near-endless speculation for headliners, reunions, and the obvious critical darlings du jour, here are some videos of artists that have evaded rumor-mongering, but Simply Fuss Free would love to see featured as part of the big reveal.
When onsite camping was introduced in 2003, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival cemented its status as America's premier destination music festival. Prior to 2003, limited offsite lodging in the surrounding area meant fewer people could feasibly travel for the festival. With onsite camping, not only did thousands more visitors have an affordable place to stay, but also the foundation was set for the growth of the festival itself. For many, the labor involved with setting up and taking down one's camping gear makes attending only one day a bit of a waste, and with thousands of people coming from out of town and spending the entire weekend at the Empire Polo Club, logic dictates that camping was instrumental in Coachella becoming a three-day festival.
While onsite camping has always been cleaner and more comfortable than its European influences like Glastonbury, with its shower trailers and well-maintained portable toilets, it has evolved over the years just as the festival itself. The campgrounds were originally located across the street from the festival site in the lot south of the giant white structure that first-timers often mistake for the Sahara tent when driving down Monroe Street. Thanks to a legendary lineup featuring Radiohead, Kraftwerk, and the first announced Pixies reunion show, demand for camping drastically increased in 2004 as thousands more came from all over the world for this shining moment in live music history, and once the ticket supply for this "Camping Lot A" depleted, a second lot was added that also sold out before the big weekend arrived.
The inflatable movie screen made its debut in 2005.
Onsite bar with karaoke on Thursday nights and breakfast in the mornings.
Now that Coachella had become a household name, camping moved to one large lot directly adjacent to the festival grounds in 2005. Onsite camping in 2005 featured the introduction of an inflatable movie screen, a karaoke bar, and free raffle prizes. While the convenience of not having to commute in the morning traffic was enough to entice many to arrive the night before, these bonuses served as special rewards for arriving early. Most people still drove to the festival every day, so having a significant number of people off the road helped ease traffic.
Coachellians dancing along to the beat of butchered classics.
Camping remained mostly the same in 2006, with the notable exception of an internet lounge sponsored by Dodge. This lounge featured computers available for free internet access, wi-fi, XBox 360 gaming, and lockers for securing laptops and other valuables during the weekend. Free internet returned in 2007 and has remained ever since, just in a different location, without the Dodge sponsorship, and now with outlets for cell phone charging.
The first internet lounge in 2006.
Although several new additions became part of the camping experience in 2008, the only one that returned in subsequent years was the availability of onsite lodging. Accommodations in onsite lodging were in safari tents and included amenities such as beds, air conditioning, golf cart rides to the festival, and backstage access. Lodgings were also available in pre-pitched regular tents that came with the usual sleeping bags and pillows. The tents are no longer pre-pitched in 2010, but still offer a viable alternative to checking a lot of luggage when flying to Coachella. Onsite camping in 2008 also featured Laserium, a laser show set to the music of Pink Floyd, and Coachella Express, a free train ride from downtown Los Angeles to Indio.
On Coachella Express, traveling in style was redefined as attendees drank Corona's and danced in the aisles to live DJ's like Junkie XL, made new friends and hookups, cheered when passing the iconic desert windmills, received free shirts, ice cream, and VIP upgrades, and were greeted at the temporary Amtrak station with shuttles transporting them directly to the campgrounds, where their gear was already waiting for them. Unfortunately, Coachella Express proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Even with a midnight curfew, the party never truly stops festivals like Coachella, Glastonbury, and Bonnaroo and in 2009, this phenomenon was enforced by the addition of a special dome featuring late-night sets by acts such as Flying Lotus for everyone camping onsite. Late-night sets will return this year, and it is currently unannounced if the "Pavillion at the Heart of the Coachella Campgrounds" will be the same dome and location as in 2009, and no acts seem to be playing on Thursday night this time.
The 2010 latenight sets.
Left to their own devices, even the Coachella attendees have evolved over the years. Fans of acts like Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and Depeche Mode have organized unofficial sub-camps, and other large camping groups that have formed over the years on the Coachella messageboard include "Party All Weekend" and "Camping All Alone/Solo at the Polo." In addition to camping groups, Coachella fans have proven their creativity and sense of adventure by taking it upon themselves to put on parades, spontaneous all-night singalongs, live music, and even slip-and-slides.
A small drum circle rapidly expanded to a mob of hundreds singing and partying all night.
Onsite camping at Coachella is about to experience its biggest change yet in the form of car camping. Eight thousand vehicles will be able to camp onsite, with no limit to the number of people per vehicle, and these $55 tickets sold out last week and have been scalped for over $800 on ebay. The car camping announcement of car pleased many, as hauling loads of camping gear across the fields is now thing of the past, and now several people can share a camping ticket and save money. Additionally, cars make it easier to lock away valuables during the day. However, some have been less than enthusiastic, primarily due to the new restriction on driving in and out of Coachella throughout the weekend and not being able to save a car camping spot for a friend arriving later. To help address these concerns, a companion parking lot with limited space will be available for campers meeting up with friends that arrived before them.
Besides the major fundamental changes, the added bonuses to the camping experience will be better than ever this year. A roller skating rink would be available to campers in what must be a first not just for Coachella but any festival. Keeping in line with this new retro theme, a pinball tournament with prizes will also be at the campgrounds at night. Festival goers will now have more outlets for their creativity besides elaborate camp setups and activities with the Coachella Art Studio, offering a wide variety of crafts ranging from wood shop to mushroom and zine creation.
Although details such as cost and hours are forthcoming, a shuttle to the nearby Ralphs will be available to campers for the first time this year. This shuttle to the local supermarket, with Mexican and Italian restaurants in the same shopping center, seems to be a response to concerns over not being able to leave the campgrounds until the festival is over. Even without a shuttle, campers will have a local farmers market onsite for the first time, in addition to the numerous food vendors people have come to expect over the years. After all, as Goldenvoice continues to find ways to evolve and innovate with Coachella, even in camping, what else can people truly expect year after year besides quality service and the formation of the fondest of memories?
Camping Trivia:
Instead of traditional event security, campers were searched upon checking into the grounds by local police in 2004.
Camping passes sold out in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2010.
Safari tents were available for rental beginning in 2008.
Ready-to-go packages featuring tents, sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets were introduced in 2008.
The official Coachella site listed a surprise performer as being one of the bonuses for early bird campers in 2005, but was removed from the site a couple weeks before the festival. For whatever unstated reason, it didn't happen, and the most prevalent rumors were Beck and Queens of the Stone Age.
Raffle prizes have included VIP upgrades, camping ticket refunds, CD's, and a meet and greet with Depeche Mode.
The campgrounds are close enough for soundchecks to be fairly audible, and campers have been treated to hearing some music from acts like Portishead, Kraftwerk, Prince, Paul McCartney, and Rage Against the Machine before everyone else.
What movies were on the inflatable screen? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 2005, Coachella in 2006, and The Song Remains the Same in 2007.
It was originally listed on the official site in 2004 that campers were to be assigned to specific spots of 50 square feet after signing in and leaving their name and contact information, but this did not happen until 2005. In 2007, the sign-in process was eliminated and camp counselors directed people to whichever spots were available in the areas being filled at that time.
Campers have had a separate entrance since the beginning. However, in 2005 and 2006, most people did not seem to know where it was, since the closest entrance to the campgrounds was actually the main entrance for everyone else. The camping and VIP entrance was past the trailers for will call tickets, and veterans from 2003-04 knew where to find it. In 2007, the camping entrance became incorporated with the campsite itself.
The price of camping in 2004? $25, plus surcharges.
With Jay-Z, Muse, and Gorillaz topping the bill, the 2010 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival marks a departure from the recent model of a stadium-filling legend like Madonna, Prince, Roger Waters, or Paul McCartney on the bill to its youth-oriented roots. After having already headlined the largest festivals in Europe, Muse comes as a new and welcome addition to the short list of acts from the past decade that can actually headline a festival. Does anyone still question if Jay-Z, the biggest hip hop artist in the world, could or should headline a rock festival after he already silenced naysayers with his controversial headlining set at Glastonbury? Most surprising is Gorillaz, for their last tour consisted of multiple nights in New York and London, but nowhere else. Considering the probable logistical nightmare of securing a wide variety of special guests to join Damon Albarn and company on-stage, this just might be the only Gorillaz performance in the US this year. In any case, all eyes will be on Gorillaz on Sunday night, and nobody knows what to really expect.
The mid-tier of acts for the 2010 lineup appears to be larger and more diverse than ever. Recent breakthrough acts like LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, and She & Him are all playing, as are supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, Jack White's latest project The Dead Weather, and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's solo outing. If anyone can get away with touring a solo album four years after its release and demanding to be billed with four question marks attached to his name, it's Thom Yorke. Joining them are less contemporary surprises including disco legend Grace Jones in a rare performance, Echo & the Bunnymen, Devo, and Gary Numan.
If any festival is not about the headliners, it is Coachella, and this is more true than ever in 2010. Included in the lineup are several reunions and rare acts that are touring for the first time in years, or ever. The unfathomably-influential indie rock band Pavement and 2 Tone ska legends The Specials will be doing their first American reunion shows at Coachella, as will the recently reunited Faith No More, Public Image Limited, and Orbital. Most surprising is the presence of Sly and the Family Stone on the lineup. The genre-defining funk/soul legends are the kind of completely out-of-left-field surprise Goldenvoice is renowned for making happen and are the first Woodstock veterans to ever appear at Coachella.
Additionally, the Empire Polo Club will be host to the only 2010 performance of Fever Ray, the solo project of Swedish electronic duo The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson. Like The Knife, Fever Ray is another act that has done only a literal handful of performances in America, and getting her to come back for one last show is a major coup. Coachella also will feature the first festival performance from Charlotte Gainsbourg, as part of the first ever tour from the French actress and singer. Considering Gainsbourg's busy schedule with films, it would be unwise to expect another tour anytime soon, as she did not tour for her 2006 release 5:55, a collaboration with Air, Jarvis Cocker, Neil Hannon, and Nigel Godrich. Considering how Beck co-wrote and produced Gainsbourg's IRM and lives in Los Angeles, will he join her band on-stage? Other inspired bookings include electro dj supergroup Club 75, Sigur Rós frontman Jonsi, Richie Hawtin's Plastikman alias, and most randomly, DJ Lance Rock of Nickelodeon's Yo Gabba Gabba, a favorite among children and stoned adults.
This year's edition of Coachella offers top-notch talent from top to bottom and not only bring something for every type of music fan but also gives the opportunity to see acts that cannot be seen elsewhere. Will the absence of a boomer headliner affect attendance? How in the world will the set times allow everyone to see all those rare and unique acts, especially on Sunday? Can the city of Indio please allow the festival to run all night? Instead of attempting to predict the future, it is better to simply have faith in the most forward-thinking major festival in the US.
Stay tuned for future posts on which acts in the small print are not to missed and why.
10. Metric at Wiltern After commanding the second stage to a massive crowd at last year's Coachella, the next natural step was clearly The Wiltern. At one point, Emily Haines listed off all the venues they had played in Los Angeles, from their days at the Silverlake Lounge to the present, and this progression of the band's history served as a perfect context to their Wiltern show. As Metric became bigger and bigger, their ability to mesmerize and rock the socks off the crowd has adjusted accordingly, and this night was no exception. With a performance as golden as Emily's sparkly dress, Metric kept the sold-out crowd of 2300 dancing and shouting along to a set that consisted almost entirely of their newest album Fantasies, and even included what Emily called their "Freebird": an acoustic singalong of "Live It Out", complete with singalongs and lighters, both real and digital, waving in the air. Was this arena rock moment foreshadowing a future where they fill such venues? Probably, so catch them now while you can still enjoy them with some degree of intimacy.
9. Bat for Lashes at Henry Fonda Theater If a Bat for Lashes show had to be summed up in one word, it would be "magical." The whimsical weirdness of a backdrop of a wolf howling at the moon (to be replaced by a keyboard cat in 2010?), an other-worldly band playing instruments you didn't know existed, and Natasha Khan's overwhelmingly powerful voice that nails every note perfectly live even while dancing? All these elements combine to take the audience on an enchanting journey like no other. It also helps that the studio recordings are already intriguingly bewitching enough to do so.
8. Asobi Seksu at El Rey Just as with their recorded material, Asobi Seksu is a force to be reckoned with live. As Yuki Chikudate's vocals soar, rather than getting lost in the wave of noise, one cannot help but to become completely entranced. In addition to being impressively gifted musicans, the band has a magnetic stage presence that is unique among their shoegaze and dream pop peers. Although Hush may be a departure from the wall of guitar noise, James Hanna still expertly works his guitar and pedals to flatten the crowd with reverb with the showmanship of a rockstar. Yuki, already having captivated the soul with her angelic melodies, captures the heart as she headbangs along to the beat, nonchalantly throws tambourines and bells to the ground, and takes over the drums and pounds them into oblivion at the end of their mini-holocaust of "Red Sea."
7. Leonard Cohen at Coachella What else can be said that hasn't already? Leonard Cohen was a class act and he and his band and backup singers gave a perfect performance. Unfortunately, while singing "Hallelujah" with thousands of fans at dusk and surrounded by palm trees is a gorgeously spiritual experience second to none, with a discography as rich as Leonard Cohen's, one hour isn't nearly enough.
6. My Bloody Valentine at El Rey Spirits were high at this last-minute Coachella warmup gig and how could they not be? Last year's reunion tour proved that the shoegaze gods are better than ever, and thankfully their show still felt fresh a year. Clearly My Bloody Valentine wants to feel, and not just emotionally but also physically. Their legendary "holocaust" at the end of "You Made Me Realise" is, in fact, as loud as everyone says, especially in a small theater with superb sound. The force unleashed by the speakers could be felt everywhere from the hair on the arms to the acid of the stomach. Hopefully it will not be another sixteen years before the next tour and that new material finally sees the light of day.
5. Neil Young at Glastonbury Thanks to having never played during Glastonbury's 39-year existence and canceling a headlining set in '97, expectations were high for Neil Young's Glasto debut. Thankfully the legend did not disappoint. Young wowed the crowd with enough hits to please the crowd, while omitting enough to increase the desire to catch him again someday. He also peppered in enough extended versions and false endings and even destroyed his guitar strings at the end of "A Day in the Life", all without ever being an arena rock cliché. Hopefully some of the newer acts at the festival paid close attention to what it means to be a rock legend with dignity still intact.
4. Jarvis Cocker at Wiltern As the legend took the stage busting some of his legendary dance moves and revealing his hands decorated Pan's Labyrinth-style and the crowd ate it up, his solo Los Angeles debut extinguished any remaining doubt that America is not ready for Jarvis Cocker. Sure, a lot of people might have been hoping for some Pulp songs, but everyone stayed to scream for a second encore that unfortunately never came. Nevertheless, everyone walked out of that theater properly entertained. And how can they not? Jarvis Cocker is the rare gifted performer who could read from the phone book and still be engaging.
3. St. Vincent at El Rey With an album as richly layered and sweepingly orchestral as Actor, it is only natural to be curious as to how well the songs work in a live setting. Thankfully the talent and creativity of St. Vincent, a.k.a. Annie Clark, and her four-piece touring band not only pull off this seemingly impossible task but also go a step further and transform them, adding a new level of jaw-dropping intensity, so much that memories of "Just the Same but Brand New" are still haunting this reviewer over six months later. Clark's angelic, delicate voice serves as the perfect counter to her wicked guitar playing and watching her furiously shred and punch her guitar while jolting robotically is a spectacle in itself and a must-see.
2. Paul McCartney at Coachella Paul McCartney is the perfect festival headliner. After all, how many acts have a back catalogue filled with a wide range of fan favorites and classic singalongs anywhere close to that of The Beatles? So why did it take so long for this to finally happen? Has he even played any other fests besides Glastonbury? What kind of acts would even be playing Coachella if it weren't for The Beatles? Would there even be a Coachella? In any case, hearing Sir Paul perform so many of the greatest songs ever written to a crowd of 60,000 people in the perfect environment for a production that included hundred-foot-high screens and fireworks was a magical time for all involved. Highlights of the two and a half hour set were not only the obvious favorites "Live and Let Die", "Helter Skelter", and "Hey Jude" but also the touching tributes to George ("Something" on a ukulele) and John ("A Day in the Life" into "Give Peace a Chance").
1. Blur @ Glastonbury Glastonbury may not have been the site of the first Blur reunion gig, but it was definitely the emotional homecoming for the band. Blur's return to the Pyramid Arena proved that their music has aged remarkably well, thanks in part to a departure from Britpop and an exploration of other sounds, such as American indie rock, but also to the band themselves playing every song with the same energy that made them superstars over a decade ago. The truly legendary gigs tend to strike a chord with both the audience and the band, and in this case, the crowd instantly erupted into a frenetic mosh pit of positive vibes where people lost their inhibitions and pushed and sang along to the music out of love, not aggression or greed for a better spot, and hugged strangers out of sheer bliss. In response to the rapturous reception and the kind of perfect rapport between the crowd and band that comes only once every never, Damon eventually broke down and cried and Alex declared it "the best gig we've ever done." This reviewer experienced one of the most magical moments in his concert history as a group of people pulled him and other random strangers into a spontaneous arms-around-each-other circle and sang along at the top of their lungs to "Tender", which resurfaced during the encore breaks and again at the end of the night on the way back to the tent, a testament to the true power of live music.
