Survived another year of Coachella. This time it was three days long. Yikes. Pretty f'in hot too. There were more art installations, which while cool, really impeded the flow of people. As result (or maybe in combination with the fact that they sold more tickets), it felt a lot more crowded than in years past.

This was also the first year my girlfriend came along. I learned acouple things over the weekend:

• my girlfriend melts rather easily and doesn't like festivals.
• I should probably come by myself in future years because I tend to be an obsessive freak about concerts/festivals.

Still, I had a good time, though it may be my last time. Many of the bands were repeats from the past and/or bands I'd already seen before.
I also think it was too crowded and that the main stage was too loud. It overpowered the other stages to the point of annoyance/distraction.

Here are my faves from the weekend:

Bjork — she always brings a fresh perspective to her music. This time, in addition to a full ladies choir/horn section, she had these crazy visual building block synths. They are nuts. Check 'em out here and here.

The Jesus and Mary Chain — Last saw them many years ago (where I inhaled way too much smoke machine smoke than a person ought) and they were really strong here. "Just Like Honey" (with backing vocals by Scarlett Johansson, though I didn't know it at the time) was a particularly nice moment.

LCD Soundsystem — Short set, but "Yeah" was amazing.

Hot Chip — Fantastic. They had the crowd rocking.

MSTRKRFT — caught the middle of their set and it didn't disappoint, though I hear they lamed out with some cheesy stuff toward the end. Hoppin' while I was viewing them though.

Cornelius — wish I caught their whole set. Great synch of music and video. Very dynamic and mesmorizing. Definitely check their live show if you get the chance.

CocoRosie — They had some audio problems, but managed to play a very strong set anyway, including an amazing beatbox performance by a brother of the band. I want to check out more of them.

Willie Nelson — Finally saw the legend in the flesh.

Richie Hawtin — Insane knob twiddling action.

Soul Wax Nite Versions — Probably the surprise of the festival for me. They laid down some amazingly sick grooves. Need more.

Teddybears — Another highlight. These guys are great. Eclectic mix of rock, electro, dub with a tasty campy, cuddly teddybear coating.

Saw a bunch more, but these were the highlights. Rage was a vacuum that sucked the breath out of all of others surrounding it. I couldn't begin to count or estimate how many friggin' Rage backpacks/hats/t-shirts I saw over the course of the weekend. I don't know if it's fair to hate on a band for being popular, but with a name like "Rage Against the Machine," you are kind of asking for it. Anyway, heard a few songs from a distance. Not surprisingly, they all sounded pretty much the same. I'm kind of too old to really appreciate the un-channeled rage that seems to still afflict Zack et al, so the whole thing was pretty lost on me.

You can check out my fotos here.