DIGITAL JOURNALIST
VHS or Beta has jumpstarted the hot, hot, hot day two of Coachella with some ignitable dance rock. I know it’s too hot too boogie, but I just might have to, like in “Footloose” when Kevin Bacon just has to dance, dance, dance it out because he’s so angry, so very angry.
I’m not angry, I just want to dance.
I knew my luck was too good to be true.
Last year at Coachella, I only got stuck in traffic leaving for one night and that was for only 45 minutes or so and I’ve never been stuck in traffic going into the festival.
I even thought I hit the jackpot yesterday because I got a decent parking space where I could pull out and was closer to the exit, or so I thought.
I ended up sitting in traffic for two hours trying to leave, along with everyone else in lot 3. And by sitting in traffic I mean, not moving, and it got to the point where it was like the R.E.M. video for “Everybody Hurts” and getting out of their cars.
“I can’t believe this,” lamented Sean Rocca, of Newport Beach, incredulous at the jam since the festival is in its ninth run.
“They don’t have the logistics down?” he asked.
He figured it would have been quicker to walk the 3.5 miles to his parents’ house in La Quinta.
Others were annoyed, but said it wasn’t unexpected.
“This is typical. I think you accept it when you come here,” said Matt Hooker, of San Francisco, who was attending his second Coachella.
His friend, David Taylor, also of San Francisco, suggested that since the festival spends money on production of the shows, “they could afford to build a better road out here.”
The pair then amused themselves by making up rumors about why the traffic was so jammed, including an elaborate story which included a shattered gas tank (that part was true, the vehicle ran over something and cracked the tank, it was next to my car) and an alien being born out of it and getting revenge.
The real reason?
An officer from Indio PD said that departure traffic from three major lots were being put into one lane and much bottlenecking ensued.
Here’s a special treat for you. Amanda Lucidon, just one of the fine photo staff at The Press-Enterprise, went on the Coachella Express Thursday afternoon from Los Angeles to Indio. Oh yeah, and Junkie XL was on the train DJ-ing. How cool is that?
Read her take on the train below:
It was different than any train I’ve ever been on. The Coachella Express was a party on rails. Live electronic DJs in several railroad cars, a 2ft by 4 ft. makeshift dance floor, VIP passes to Coachella Music and Arts festival, ice cream sandwiches, magazines-the perks kept on coming on this 3 hour train ride from L.A. to Indio. And did I mention it was all free?
Goldenvoice, the festival’s producer, and Amtrak partnered to provide transportation for 300 campers from Los Angeles’ Union Station to Indio for the three day music festival in efforts to reduce the event’s carbon footprint.
“What’s the catch?” Several passengers from around the globe asked themselves the same question when they received information about the free train via e-mail.
“I thought it was a great service because until a week ago I didn’t know how I would get down to Coachella. I just assumed it was near L.A. and it’s really not,” said Alex Moore, 18, of Bristol, England.
He said that considering most festivals are trying to add extra costs onto the price of a ticket, a free train ride was a generous offer.
The Coachella Express couldn’t be found on the Union Station departure marquee, but a stream of music fans seemed to know exactly where they were going.
Platforms 11 and 12 marked the passageway to the desert’s largest music festival.
“It was like Harry Potter going to Hogwart’s and we were all going to disappear and go to this special festival,” said Jordan Fulawka , 23 of Manatoba.
Serj Tankian’s Coachella set started with the sound of gunfire and explosions, while the stage lights mimiced flashes.
He called his music “romantic music for the end of a civilization.”
Note to self: Buy “Elect the Dead” as soon as possible.
Serj Tankian’s work with System of a Down and on his solo album speaks out very clearly about political issues.
So it seemed natural that his Coachella audience would include deep thinkers.
Todd Newkirk, 21, of San Diego, wore a modified military shirt that had an anarchy symbol spray-painted over the stripes on the chest and the phrase, “Art is resistance.” He said he thinks the mix of politics and music is important.
“It’s not necessary; you can have good music without the politics,” he said. “But you’re using music as a way to bring issues to people who might not hear them.”
And he thinks that’s necessary.
“I think we’re in a situation that demands more attention.”
The audience is “ready, willing and needs to hear these messages.”
Glen Hansard also spoke about performing at last year’s Coachella festival with his band, The Frames.
He said there was a big difference between this year’s set, which started at 8:25 p.m., and last year’s, which he said was at noon.
“Us Irishmen, we fall apart” under bright sunlight.
And he wins the award for best analogy while trying to explain how he felt about the success of “Falling Slowly.”
“You know when you’re playing with a ball? And you hope you kick it and it goes far?
“This is like you kick the ball and it goes over the wall, and you think to yourself, ‘Did I really kick the ball that hard?’ ”
Later he gave away a man’s secret to trying to pull one over on women: “Sidestep, guffaw and slip into nonsense.”
OK, I’ve seen a lot of music today, but my favorite has been Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. I loved them before, but the live show just knocked it out of the park for me.
The scene, with lights and matching suits and Sharon wailing and strutting in a way that should make Tina Turner feel slightly threatened, still boggles me because on my way there, I got sidetracked by crazy disco rock made my guys in matching red tracksuits and wearing sunglasses at night.
No, no, it wasn’t Corey Hart, it was Datarock. They looked like so much fun in the Gobi tent that I had to stop and watch and dare I say it, dance. That’s right, I danced on the first night of Coachella and there were no cowbells involved, although they did remind me a little bit of the Rapture. But this is why I love Coachella–two drastically different acts playing side by side.
Anyway, back to Sharon Jones and the fabulous Dap-Kings, the highlight was when they played “100 Days, 100 Nights.” And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, they break it down and incorporate the best tambourine line EVER.
And rumor has it that one of the Dap-Kings is from Riverside.
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, the lovely Oscar-winning stars of “Once,” performed as The Swell Season at Coachella on Friday evening to an audience comprised mostly of, it would seem based on my observation, canoodlers.
And rightly so.
The music is low-key, a big difference from the music thumping from the Dolab.
And Hansgard knew that, too.
“Realistically, we’re too quiet for this festival, but I hope we’re not.”
I think Vampire Weekend might have one of my favorite band names ever, although they can’t be vampires because I saw them in the sunlight today and nobody turned into a pile of ashes, because that’s what happened in “Interview Wth the Vampire.”
OK, but anyway, they were fun, as I expected them to be.
When they played “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” singer Ezra Koenig admitted they hadn’t ever played it in Cape Cod, but they’ve played it plenty of times in SoCal.
“This might be its spiritual home,” he said.
They were fun and they played hit “A-Punk” midway through the set.
Koenig tried to get people to dance, but told the crowd it was okay to refrain if it was too hot. That didn’t stop people from chanting “Hey! Hey! Hey!” along with the chorus, though.
An event with the pure heft of Coachella with some 50,000 to 60,000 people hanging out in the desert is bound to have a few medical or unlawful incidents. So far, year nine of Coachella is about as lawless as Disneyland’s Main Street. And most people haven’t succumbed to the hot, hot, heat.
Only five arrests were made as of Friday evening for drug- and alcohol-related incidents, said Indio Public Information Officer Ben Guitron.
By sunset, Riverside County Fire had to send just three people to the hospital for minor to moderate injuries. Only one person was considered in moderate to serious condition, said incident commander Raymond Paiz.
The only accident occured when a worker fell from a stage Friday while it was being set up, he said. The other injuries were heat-related.
Paiz said the department mobilized more of its crew in the venue itself, positioned in front of and in back of the stages, with ambulances parked inside.
“You learn as you go,” Paiz said. “We learned that we had more staff than we needed last year.”
While equipment and crews were lined in full force behind the VIP area last year, just Riverside County Fire’s communication’s headquarters remained this year. Paiz was pleased with the new strategy and said they expect to be more effecient with less people (25 total in the venue consisting of fire marshalls, one fire engine company and three medics)