Another Coachella lineup has been announced and this year it got me by surprise, I was not even expecting it this early…. May be it is because I have decided I will never go to Coachella, I will never spend $435 for a weekend in the desert where I will have to fight a hipster crowd, burn under a full bright sun and freeze to the bones at night, yep these desert nights can be really cold in April. But you’re gonna say it’s about the experience, the people wearing offensive headdresses and neon costumes, the drugs and the gourmet food, and the more and more impressive number of businesses around the festival? Well I pass on all of the above.
But seriously, what about this year line-up? AC/DC, Jack White, Drake? Are they good headliners? Jack White was playing the Fonda a while ago, I didn’t get a ticket fast enough, but honestly, I wasn’t too disappointed. He certainly would have been all right in the Fonda, but Coachella is another story. AC/DC were probably killing it live in the 80’s but now? As for Drake, I never had the slightest envy to see him live, but that’s just me.
Sure, there is a humongous list of artists beside the headliners, some I have never heard of, and others that I have seen at many local festivals, like the FYF fest, or at regular concerts: Let’s see, Interpol, Tame Impala, Sylvan Esso, Cloud Nothings, Lykke Li, Belle and Sebastian, Ratatat, Alt-J, Flying Lotus, Allah Las, Bad Religion, Ghost of the Saber Tooth Tiger, Run the Jewels, Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis, Desaparecidos, Mac DeMarco, Built to Spill, Perfume Genius, Panda Bear, OFF! Charles Bradley, Touché Amor, Joyce Manor, Angel Olsen, Chicano Batman, Odesza, … Plus, I have even seen Saint Motel, the Orwells, Fitz and the Tantrums, Night Terrors of 1927 and War on Drugs years ago, in very small clubs before they became more famous. Would I want to see any of these bands again? Sure, some of them, but for far less than 400 bucks and in better conditions.
I can’t say the same for all the Alesso-Weeknd-Axwell Ingrosso-Nero and other unfamiliar names, which are probably either rap or EDM acts and in this case a total bore for me… So what’s left? I wouldn’t mind seeing Alabama Shakes, Father John Misty and Hozier, but I will probably be able to see them solo anyway, and beside all this, I would say that the lineup is rather disappointing.
Do you really want my opinion? They got Steely Dan instead of Sleater Kinney! (Isn’t it their year?) they got Azelia Banks (or is that Iggy Azalea, I always mix them up like everybody else) instead of Laura Marling, and they got David Guetta (again) instead of Lana del Rey… yes give more girl power to that thing!
So Friday, is the grand-pa day because AC/DC and Steely Dan are playing the same night (if the kids who listened to Kanye West’s collaboration, didn’t know who Paul McCartney was, I can’t imagine what they will make of Steely Dan) or it could be the Australian night because Tame Impala is also an Aussie band. Saturday is the 90’s nostalgic-hipster day because of Jack White and Belle and Sebastian, and did you notice that Sunday was the good-buddy day? Forget about Drake, there are Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst (Desaparecidos) and Blake Sennett (ex-Rilo Kiley, Night Terrors of 1927) playing the same day! But I see these people all the time…
So when I read some ‘I’d sell my soul to attend Coachella’ or ‘I would kill for Coachella tickets’ on Twitter, I tend to think that these people are just interested by the idea of the festival and don’t really care about the line-up, they could just have a series of holograms and these people would come by thousands. But may be I am too old and too spoiled!
Coachella weekends are happening on April 10-12 and 17-19 and the tickets are on sale starting January 7th through the festival’s website,… and they may well be already sold out. In comparison, the Burgerama lineup does look much better for its $90.