Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2007

Unlike previous years, the festival started on a Friday rather than Saturday and played host to headliners Interpol and Bjork. My first time seeing Interpol, I was desperate to hear them play live after enjoying their albums for a few years now. Bjork on the other hand I was more 'interested' to see than 'excited' but her eccentricity and her performance were outstanding. Never before have I seen such a small woman cover so much of a stage. I only wish I'd had more energy to stay close to the front and listen to the performance. After only a coule hours sleep the night before I was exhausted and listened to the remaining tracks sitting on the grass at the back.

On Saturday the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tiesto headlined. While I wasn't quite sure why RHCP were playing first it actually worked out quite well as Tiesto's techno cheese played us out for the night. The only thing missing from the RHCP set was Californication and it was slightly disappointing to hear so many new tracks rather than old classics. Yet, this was more than made up for by a spontaneous cover of Blondie's I Feel Love and a short play of Dusty Springfield's Sunny.

On closing night almost the entire capacity of the festival packed into the main stage to witness the reunion of Rage Against the Machine. Now is perhaps the time to confess that besides a couple of tracks, Guerilla Radio and Killing in the Name, I really knew nothing by Rage but it didn't matter. The atmosphere in the air was electric as people crammed together in anticipation. As the first song started the crowd surged and suddenly I was at least fifteen foot forward of where I had been originally standing. Everyone was moshing up and down despite the distance we were from the stage. I could only imagine the pandemonium that was ensuing in the first few rows. Fists surged into the air and Zack de la Rocha made an expected speech about the current administration. Finishing with an encore to play Killing in the Name, Rage Against the Machine thrilled the audience.

Along with the headliners we watched a number of bands, some old, some new that made the weekend an exploration of music to remember. Flitting between stages amongst the palm trees and exceptional art installations we saw Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Regina Spektor, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Arcade Fire, Air, Kings of Leon, The New Pornographers, Hot Chip, Soulwax, Junior Boys, The Feeling, The Kooks, The Klaxons and Mando Diao. Not forgetting the random bits and pieces we enjoyed while passing acts like Placebo and Jose Gonzales. As always with festivals there are some acts that you just don't make it to see, either because you were late into the festival (The Fratellis) or there were clashes (too many to mention), but that always leaves next year, and I would definitely go back!

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