Coachella 2010

Guest Post: Alex M. Back

There is something spiritual about Coachella. Don´t misunderstand. It is not a religious experience per se, although one imagines there would have been a few hallelujah experiences, of minds lost in bubbles of unadulterated bliss...bodies bathed in the most ethereal of glowing lights (and epilepsy inducing lasers).

It is also not political. This claim that one associates with the archetypal music festival Woodstock, that collective generation turning around and giving the finger to their war mongering Mums and Dads, and then getting nude and wasted, just to piss them off.
No, it´s not nearly as serious as all that. Coachella is first and foremost an occasion, kindly prepared for us common folk, over two hundred thousand of us, 99.8 percent of us strangers to one another, to gather together, get delirious, get down and get dirty.

I mean really filthy. Obscene shower queues dictated that most campers bathed with shower wash and a bottle of water. Admittedly desert heat and dust made bathing nearly useless, a half hearted grasp at human decency, just before one traipsed into the dusty whirlpool of sound that were the festival grounds, already clothed in garments that were unrecognizable after three days of dancing. Sleeves scissored off, dirt smudged in the creases of shorts and singlets practically melted on to backs, you can forget the merest hint of trend or fashion. The occasional flannel shirt and black jean combination was briefly acknowledged more as "you're-gonna-faint-mister" than, "wow-you're-such-a-hipster". It's the desert fer cryin' out loud.

Ah and the music, so much to say, yet so difficult to fully comunicate the elaborate sounds and beats one one experiences for a near constant seventy two hours...beginning with morning bass throbbing through your air mattress which, combined with the greenhouse like heat your tent has accumulated after two minutes in the Californian sunrise forces you out of your tent and into your coffee...or your first beer. Hell, it´s hot. But allow me to attempt to explain

Tiesto orchestrated an arms up heads down open air RAVE with the population of a not too small city on the Saturday night. I imagine there were many thousands of aching biceps in the morning as a painful result of several hours of fist pumping to his beat dropping. Epic.

Tiesto-Feel It In My Bones (feat. Tegan and Sara) (mp3)


Miike Snow revved up their entire tracklist to put the sun to bed and was the perfect transition from chilled out day to electric evening.

It felt like Fever Ray was melting the air with her voice only to have it frozen again by her bands pounding jungle beats. Way cool.

Deadmau5 was confined to a tent that unfortunately couldn´t contain him or the crowd he was puppeteering. Such a shame would have been something else on the main stage. Doesn´t change the fact he makes some tunes that are perfect for throwing shapes on the dance floor slash dance field slash whichever patch of Earth you happen to be standing on. Yeah and a glowing mouse head bouncing to the tunes. Yes.

Calvin Harris-I'm Not Alone (Deadmau5 Remix) (mp3)


I'd love to expel more detailed accounts of each and every band and DJ I witnessed. I discovered new ones simply by following friends and following up with a sober listen test. There were stages for every mood. The sun set slowly whilst watching bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros through the haze and once night descended glow sticks circled heads like halos, floating and bopping happily across the grounds. World class tunes beaming from every speaker, every face in the crowd beaming back.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros-40 Day Dream (mp3)

Picking up minds and faces and various accouterments from around the campsite, the absent early bass thumping was actually missed even through the fog of a three day hangover hovering quietly over the camp...thoughts of ¨but i could do another day¨ pierced that fog like shards of sunshine.

On this morning of departure, I acknowledged that I had learned two extremely important, life-recalibrating things from Coachella.

One, getting dirty is both fun and liberating and a way to blend with the environment and people and intensify the musical experience. With the shield of cleanliness smashed to smithereens nothing stands between your enjoyment of the music and your dancing ability and your neighbours and music really does sound better.

Secondly, and careful, this will really fuck you up, I learned that Disneyworld is definitely not the happiest place on Earth, Indio is.

Peace kids.