Some sweaty and tatted dude in the Gobi Tent

Artists Covered:

Cold War Kids
Interpol
Sleigh Bells
The Black Keys
Crystal Castles

Cold War Kids

Following Odd Future last Friday at Coachella, I headed over to the Outdoor Stage to check out Cold War Kids, whose most recent 2011 album, Mine is Yours, has been on repeat for me. This album, rooted in emphatic, heart-welling choruses and constructed with a more upbeat (but still characteristically sexy) sound than the band’s previous bluesy and relatively unstructured albums Loyalty to Loyalty and Robbers & Cowards, had fans new and old moving and singing. Notable tracks included “Bulldozer” from Mine is Yours (which lead singer Nathan Willet claimed to be one of his favorites from the album) and “Hang Me Up to Dry” from Robbers & Cowards—the latter generating the most excitement from the crowd.

Cold War Kids standing by a wall and stuff

It was great to see the progression of this Long Beach-based band, who emerged in 2004 and played their first Coachella in 2008, come out as a deservedly major act and command the stage before hundreds of adoring fans. As they played for a merciful setting sun, Willet commented on the beauty of the time of day, thanked the crowd humbly, and reminded everyone to check out The Black Keys later. (No duh, Nate. Can I call you Nate? Good.)

Interpol

As I wandered over to get an overpriced churro (5 bucks? Seriously?! But of course I paid it—don’t be stupid. Churros are awesome. I digress…), I caught bits of the Interpol set. It was nothing overwhelmingly special—loud and exciting and well played. I grooved to the songs I recognized (while nom-ing on my churro, naturally), but mostly found myself waiting around anxiously for The Black Keys.

If I may generalize for a moment, my previous statement about “nothing special—loud and exciting and well played” is a summation of a lot of sets as Coachella. Every show is pretty amazing given the immaculate scenery, overwhelmingly huge stage set ups, and gross amounts of wattage booming into your eardrums. What makes a show good or bad, in a lot of cases is your personal connection with the band playing. Cold War Kids? I loved it. I love them. Makes sense. Interpol? I like them, am sort of familiar with them. Same reaction to their set. However, what makes an unreal, kick ass, once in a lifetime show is when you’re wowed and dazzled and left star struck by some band you didn’t really care about.* Every band there is talented (for the most part) and knows how to give a performance, and if they aren’t or don’t, respectively, I’ll let you know. Just wanted to clear up what may seem like reoccurring neutral, for lack of a better word, reviews.

(*See: Crystal Castles review.)

ANYWAYS!

Sleigh Bells

As Interpol finished up and the stage was set for The Black Keys (yesss), I met up with my boyfriend who approached me with starry eyes. He had just come from the Sleigh Bells set (I stayed to watch Cold War Kids), and was speechless. Literally speechless. I was actually worried for a second…was he going to pass out from heat exhaustion? Did he need food? Water? He finally got out, “…Sleigh Bells…was…was SO GOOD.” And so he told me about front woman Alexis Krauss’ devilish antics, about the energy and the injection of a crazed life into familiar recordings, about Krauss’ piercing, memorable screams, and about the totally rad custom jersey she wore to perform: “BELLS” (instead of [Chicago] Bulls) on the front and “SLAY” on the back with the number 23 (Michael Jordan’s number). He was enamored and I was enamored at his enamor-ment.

Sleigh Bells, being all ironic and stuff cause they’re in church pews but are really total rebels

The Black Keys

After I digested that favorable telling of events for a little, The Black Keys took the stage. This set, though highly anticipated by yours truly, was nothing particularly special (like what I imagine Sleigh Bells was like), but, man, was it good. The Black Keys are such a fresh breath of true, honest, blues-inspired rock and freaking roll, and I hope they influence new emerging bands so I will have something new to listen to besides lo-fi beachy/garage indie noise (it’s getting a little out of hand, now). Their set needed no over the top gimmicks to detract from their songs—they spoke for themselves.

The Black Keys, looking sad and stuff

Crystal Castles

I finished off a long, sweaty, gruelingly awesome first day with Crystal Castles. Originally, I was planning on seeing Kings of Leon (Despite my occasional ragging on them, I really do love their older stuff. I haven’t managed to get into Come Around Sundown. Anyways, KOL and I go way back, and they’ll always have a place in my 17-year-old heart.), but had seen them live before and was convinced by Boyfriend to see Crystal Castles. This was good advice.

I’m sorry, but, HOLY CRAP. Crystal Castles blew my mind and literally rocked my face off. Seriously, passerby’s gawk at my exposed flesh and bone (rude). I went in entirely unsure of what to expect, and emerged a bloodied, ever-converted fan.

Crystal Castles, being mysterious and stuff.

First off, front woman Alice Glass is a beast. A machine. A superhuman. She hobbled out with a crutch, and then proceeded to completely ignore the fact that she was injured and throw herself around stage and into the crowd. I felt like I was witnessing an important performance in rock history—like watching Ozzy Ozborne eat the head off a live dove, like Jimi Hendrix spew forth Purple Haze at Woodstock, like Lady Gaga arrive to the Grammys in an embryo. (Wait, what?)

The entire set was laced with energy, and she was bathed in some sort of electric glow. Each and every moment was filled with a Herculean intensity, and I have never felt so alive in my life, especially during “Not In Love” when strobe lights blinded the crowd that jumped and thundered and earthquaked in unison. Even despite a few technical glitches—Glass’ mic went out a few times—the show was an unstoppable freight train of awesome. It ended with a solid three minutes of hot white and yellow light and a primitive drum pounding that went on so long that it went from crazy to uncomfortable to is this going to end soon? to ok this is still pretty crazy to OH MY GOD THIS IS AWESOME to PLEASE NEVER END. And then it ended and I left faceless in a post-Crystal-Castles daze (stopping, of course, to pick up some merch). This was only Friday.