Coachella 2008: Day 3

The last day of Coachella was easy like Sunday morning should be, especially for the sake of saving enough energy for the weekend’s brilliant finale. The grounds continued to showcase talent all around, starting young and growing older.

The Cool Kids kicked off a glorious afternoon teasing rap songs my generation would call old school (Skee-Lo’s “I Wish” anyone?), but with their own fresh Chicago spin, skater punk duds and Super Soakers in tow to relieve the crowd from the sun.

Barely legal Texas-bred glam rock cherubs Electric Touch took the stage just next door, turning in their fake ID’s for glam rock tunes that would make Kings of Leon or The Darkness proud. Just following, the similarly young men of Manchester Orchestra made their Coachella appearance a memorable one for me as a hometown supporter. To have their sound fill the field of the second biggest stage was seriously something special.

I’m From Barcelona didn’t invite us into their treehouse, but rather their more welcoming “you-and-me-house,” as they took over a tent to fill it with balloons and confetti. The Swedes were a sweet spectacle on the Sunday afternoon, and if anything, the collective made me want to get onstage with 25 of my own friends and sing twee tunes for fun.

Holy Fuck had the fury of garage-band kids fused with the funk of bouncing disco. For only three guys, they truly make it work and they definitely made an impression on the filled-out tent.

Shout Out Louds were nothing short of outstanding. In the time that I’ve been familiar with them, they’ve progressed from a quirky acoustic quartet to a synthesized Swedish new wave sensation. The pace of their set built perfectly, ending on a very high note with their recent hit “Tonight I Have To Leave It.” More cowbell!

Spiritualized was less than impressive. Whether it was the drum-and-bass trance blasting in a tent nearby, the technical problems that often outshone the orchestra onstage, or the one time all weekend where soundboard was an artist’s worst enemy, I was almost embarrassed. But their efforts were valiant to make everything work smoothly as it was intended.

I received word from friends that actor Sean Penn was quote “dropping knowledge” over at the main stage, so we ran to watch the actor/activist embrace his people. There were rumors running about that Eddie Vedder was in the building, but what we actually saw was 15 minutes of Penn making a strange solicitation for people to drop everything and depart for a New Orleans mission trip the very next morning. Following his impassioned speech, the day’s most highly anticipated show was finally about to start.

My day had finally gone from littler-known acts to legends. Legends-in-the-making My Morning Jacket brought in an influx of people from across the festival grounds, opening their set with “One Big Holiday.” Whereas most bands tended to drag on within their short sets throughout the weekend, it took MMJ so very little to fill a mere hour. For their biggest fans, the band was somewhat cheated out of their element due to time constraints, but for fans-to-be, it was a perfectly energetic introduction. The well-rehearsed quintet made ends meet at the halfway mark with both new and old songs that captivated the entire crowd; it couldn’t have been more fun to witness Jim James coming alive as a fun-loving, lighthearted frontman embracing his gusto as a main stage arena rock god.

The band served as the perfect opener for a piece of their own inspiration: Roger Waters of Pink Floyd playing Dark Side of the Moon. It was an ideal way to end a weekend that puts equal emphasis on music and art: the carefully orchestrated setlist, the art projected behind the band, the crisp sound on the speakers playing in surround mode that had creepy laughs and effects coming in left and right, a laser show that created a colored cloud ceiling over the crowd, an encore of “Another Brick in the Wall” and “Comfortably Numb,” pyrotechnic explosions and a full-on fireworks display… what a production. Added bonus: If anyone wanted to maximize their Dark Side experience, a projector was playing The Wizard of Oz on the top side of a tent towards the back of the field.

In the spirit of R. Kelly, after the party it’s the after-party. I sashayed to the faraway Sahara tent for my Coachella icing on the cake with hour sets from Simian Mobile Disco, Chromeo and Justice. After an hour that could have felt like a few minutes, I think I figured out that there’s a reason why Justice’s iconic symbol is simply a cross: dancing uncontrollably to beats that infectious is only akin to something religious.

Saying goodbye to Coachella was bittersweet, but in my last day alone I was lucky enough to see it at its very best and worst. Until next year, Coachella…