Coachella 2014 ::posted Tue, 15 Apr 2014 02:00:24 +0000:: ift.tt/1hDrwNN rss@dailykos (Doctor RJ) Palm trees and music in SoCal What began 15 years ago as a shaky financial proposition, which had trouble paying the musical acts on time in its initial years, and debuted three months after the debacle that was Woodstock 99, the Coachella Arts and Music Festival is now considered one of the premier festivals in the country along with the likes of Lollapalooza, South by Southwest (SXSW) and Bonnaroo. The appeal of Coachella is its massive lineup of headliners and up-and-coming acts of diverse genres spread across two weekends and multiple stages at the very serene setting of Indio, Californias Empire Polo Club. The event is also known for reunion performances (e.g. Janes Addiction in 2001, Iggy Pop and the Stooges in 2003, the Pixies in 2004, Rage Against the Machine in 2007) as well as surprise appearances and unannounced collaborations. One of the major draws this year are the first reunion performances of Outkast. Unlike some of the other festivals, Coachella usually isnt plagued by the standard complaints of overflowing Port-A-Potties and $10 water bottles (water is $2). However, while Indio is beautiful, the attendees have to deal with the near 100 °F heat of being in the Inland Empire desert. And Coachella has a reputation for being a venue that attracts wealthy assholes and trust fund babies that stand with their phones over their heads during the ENTIRE concert (because all of YouTube and Instagram are dying with anticipation for those selfies and shitty sideways videos). A general admission three-day pass for one of the two weekends costs $375, and a VIP pass (which consists of access to such things as shaded areas, couches and picnic tables) is $799. Since tickets sold out in less than three hours when they went on sale back in January, Coachella passes for this past weekend were running as high as $3,000 on StubHub. Many critics have pointed out the irony of this, given that the idea for Coachella originally grew out of a Pearl Jam concert protesting Ticketmasters policies. But even with the pricing, it still comes down to whether the close to 100,000 attendees feel like they had a good time and got their moneys worth in partying and music, as well as what (if any) buzz may be generated by certain artists. So what happened during the first weekend of this years festival? Who stood out and who didnt? Venture below the fold for performances, reviews, entertainment news and pop-culture musings that came out of this weekend. [Forwarded by the MyLeftBlogosphere news engine. Link to original post below:]
Posted on: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:03:24 +0000
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