The Coachella 2011 Dozen

Rather than posting all of my photos from Coachella on my blog, here are 12 photos from all three days.

Art installation made of mirrors and lights up in the dark.

The Black Keys tearing up the stage. They were one of my favorite performances. The Black Keys' album "Brothers" is my favorite from 2010. I love the album from beginning to end but two of my favorite tracks is Sinister Kid and Never Gonna Give You Up. The Black Keys are blues-rock which is a style of music I love and after watching a day of Indie-Rock bands (where some don't even play real instruments and use too much electronic type sound effects) it was great to see and hear actual live instruments. That is what live music is all about for me-- real life musicians.

Transportation. Taking the horrific traffic situation from last year, we decided to bring our bikes to ride into Coachella. We parked in a neighborhood about three miles away and rode into the festival and zoomed passed all of the idle cars. Smart move.

Warpaint. A new band I kind of dug at Coachella. I had never heard of them until I saw them at the festival. They are an all-girl band that plays guitars and drums in cute dresses. 

F-You. Cee-Lo Green showed up on stage 30 minutes late. Performers only get about an hour during the day to play and if you're 30 minutes late, they are going to cut you off when your allotted time is up. That was the case with Cee-Lo Green who showed up confused and presumably drunk. I found it hilarious. He did get his current hit "Forget/F*ck You" song in and told festival organizers to F-off. They cut off his audio during his very last song, singing Journey's "Don't Stop Believing."

There was a competition for garbage bin art and this was my favorite.

The duo called Jenny and Johnny. That is Jenny Lewis and her boyfriend. Can you imagine playing in the same band as your boyfriend and traveling with him all the time... spending every. minute. together? Once the tour is over I'm guessing so will be their relationship. P.S. Jenny Lewis is little Hanah Nefler from the movie Troop Beverly Hills. It took every ounce of me to not yell, "Beverly Hills, what a thrill!" None of the kids at the festival would've gotten it anyway.

Mumford and Sons. My other favorite act at Coachella. I liked them so much I want to see them at their very own show.

Arcade Fire. The lady in the photograph had an 80s perm and wore a figure skater outfit. Her brown curly hair and outfit made her look like Nancy Kerrigan. Anyway, Arcade Fire also rocked the stage.

Kanye West the Drama Queen. That is Kanye West descending on the crowd from a crane during his closing performance. His set had more drama and theatrics but lacked a good performance and guests (which is unusual because most of his songs feature guests like Rihanna or Katy Perry). He had ballet dancers, no live band (just one singer from Bon Iver and a keyboardist) and he had very little interaction with the crowd. He was a lonely man on a very large stage. Kanye is no Jay-Z (who gave an epic performance last Coachella).

As predicted the sun was brutal all three days and life was miserable between the hours of 2-6 p.m. -- but as also predicted, the sunsets were beautiful and every night, Coachella transformed into an incredible place of lights and amazing live performances.



I survived Coachella -- barely. Allergies and a cold are not a good thing to have while you're at a music festival.