Coachella 2011 Day Three

The third and final day of Coachella is always a sad day, because you know when the day is over, the festival is done for another year. I had already seen some amazing sets over the previous two days, so I knew that it would be rare to find anything to top what I had already experienced. Funny then, that I saw my favorite show on this day.

First up for the day for me was Menomena. I've never seen them live and always heard they put on a great show, so I had to make a difficult choice to see them over Twin Shadow, who unfortunately was playing the same time. Menomena put on a professional, yet passionless show. I didn't get they were fully engaged with each other, and felt something was lacking. It didn't help matters that they didn't play "Trigga Hiccups," which, I think, would have gotten the crowd pumped up.

We left during the last song of Menomena so I could run over to see Delorean in the small Gobi Tent. With Klaxons cancelling, Delorean had become one of my defacto must sees of the festival. Despite some sound issues, and one false start, Delorean put on an amazingly tight, fun show. And I found my new boyfriend, the little, cute bear in the yellow shirt. He was very animated and you could tell he was having a blast. It was the one time of the festival I got my dance groove on. I was able to get close to the rail and was surrounded by a nice group of real fans who all danced and had a great time. I was basically wiped out after their set.

I had a break before a long stretch of bands, so we wandered over to the Mojave Tent to catch the end of MEN's set, which turned out to be a nice surprise. Fronted by a member of Le Tigre, they performed a tight set of electro-pop with a heavy, feminist-queer bent. Despite a bit of heavy-handedness, the set was actually a lot of fun.

MEN led into one of the most fun shows, Brazilian band CSS. The singer is just plain crazy, starting out in a toreador costume, and ending up in torn off jeans, half shirt, and her makeup streaming down her face like Tammy Faye Baker. During their blisteringly fun set, she spent the majority of the time crowd surfing. It was a lot of fun and really got my energy back from being drained by Delorean. Thanks to my friend Dan Nero for letting me steal the final shot of them.

Noise terrorists HEALTH followed CSS, and, not pandering to a festival crowd, started their set off with three dark and noisy tracks from their debut album before finally venturing into more audience friendly recent material that draws from shoegaze and dark electronica. I like both facets of the band, but I will admit I lean more towards the more groove based sound. It was a great set and a good way to end the first part of the afternoon.

By this point it was getting near sunset and I was worn out from the five bands I already caught, so I was debated what I wanted to do for the end of the festival. Based on a collective air of exhaustion, most of my group decided to check out Duran Duran and then leave. I had a couple other bands I wanted to see, but by that point, I knew I was just too exhausted. We got into position for Duran Duran by watching Death From Above 1979. This was their reunion tour, though, to be honest, I never cared for them to begin with and didn't miss them. Their set was loud and disjointed, and aside from some die hard fans, there wasn't a very positive crowd response.

Sunset is always my favorite time at Coachella.

Duran Duran put on an amazing set, even though they didn't play anything from Seven and the Ragged Tiger. I was thrilled that they finally played "The Chauffeur," which is one of my favorite songs. The rest of the set was a mixture of classics ("Rio," "Hungry Like The Wolf," and "Ordinary World") and songs from the new album. Even Ana Mantronic of Scissor Sisters came out to sing her part of the new track "Safe." It was a great way to end the festival, and I was glad to leave on a high note.  Thanks again to Dan Nero and Jeremy Brown for letting me steal some of their close-up shots.  They were die hards and went up close to see the show.

Aside from the blistering heat and ridiculous dust, it was a pretty good festival. The crowd seemed better, and the festival organizers did a good job of making it easier to move about the grounds. The only bad things were the usual conflicts between (similar) bands playing at the same time, necessitating brutal choices; the annoying placement of the Oasis Dome in a corner of the festival with no shade and all dirt floor; the lack of great DJs for the Sahara Tent; and the woeful selection of t-shirts at the merchandise tent. But all in all, I had a blast and am already looking forward to Coachella 2012.