Photoblogging Coachella 2006: Part 2

All photos by David Greenwald

After stumbling out of the awesomeness that was Daft Punk on Day 1 – and I mean awesome in the Biblical sense – I made last-minute arrangements to sleep on my friend Mark’s floor, so we had to go back to my other friend’s car (“I think we’re going the wrong way.” “What?!” “I don’t really remember.” “Don’t look at me, you dropped us off.”) to get my stuff, then walk all the way from the balloon 6 lot to the balloon 2 lot, which was a lot farther than either of us was expecting. I rode home in the hatchback trunk of Mark’s Prius.

As Reed pointed out to me today, I was probably the only person at Coachella to ever be too cold during the weekend: I woke up at 5 a.m. because the air conditioning was up all the way and I was sleeping on the floor in pajama pants. I ended up using the bathroom rug for a blanket. Good thing I was in Boy Scouts.

Mark and I scoped out the press tent, which turned out to be a tiny area in the VIP section (by the time the Yeah Yeah Yeahs went on that evening, everybody and their mother was a VIP) that didn’t really have anything special except complimentary water bottles and the chance to ogle Emily Haines and the rest of Metric as they conducted interviews. I mean, hey, I like lollipops and Lifesavers and all but c’mon, guys.

If you didn’t make it into the VIP area, it was exactly like the rest of Coachella – just with shorter lines. Good place to chill out and watch the main stage from long range, though. And meet up with Coachellabot.

Back in Coachella proper, we stumbled upon this MF Doom lookalike:

The first band I saw on the second day was the Magic Numbers, who along with Wolf Parade was one of my two most anticipated acts of the day. The quartet more than delivered, playing a pair of new songs that sounded as good as any of the material from last year’s stellar self-titled release. According to lead singer Romeo, they’re already back in the studio recording a follow-up, so pencil that in to your year-end lists.

While waiting for Wolf Parade, who went on a good 25 minutes late (much like Madonna and Tool, who I ended up skipping), I checked out Jamie Lidell in the tent next door and man, was I glad I did. With his soulful singing and use of vocal tape loops, he struck me as the male equivalent to Feist – just replace the jazz with some straight-up funk.

Speaking of funk, Gnarls Barkley brought it hardcore and were one of the freshest acts of the day. It was great to see Cee-Lo work the crowd (quote of the weekend: “This is a family show, keep those titties to yourself!”) and hear the St. Elsewhere songs with a live band behind them. Yes, they played “Crazy” and it was great, but “Smiley Faces” actually sounded even better.

One of the coolest features of the festival was the free autograph signings. Here’s Brazilian singer/God among men Seu Jorge:

And a very bewildered, very cute Mate(s) of State:

After seeing Jorge play, I was pretty wiped out so I bought a t-shirt and took a seat on the grass to enjoy Massive Attack:

It’s been a while since I listened to their records, but the live set was pretty intriguing. Definitely strong enough to get me to give Mezzanine another spin.

After that, it was time to peace out. So we became silhouettes and went home. See you next year, Coachella.

See/read about Day 1 here.

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