Coachella 2013: Weekend 2, Day 1
We all remember our first time.
Whether it was the first time having sex, your first year in college, experiencing your first kiss, having your first child, or remembering your beloved first love, first time experiences typically shape our lives for the better, or for some individuals, the worse.
If you’re a music lover like I, you probably remember the very first concert you attended or the first time you saw your favorite artist in concert.
Recounting the joy and anticipation of seeing your favorite rapper, singer, artist, or rocker brings blissful memories of sheer pleasure.
For many, the world famous Coachella Music Festival seems like a mythical music desire that millions of music lovers will never experience, but luckily, I made my journey to the mecca of music festivals- the Coachella Valley.
As I pulled into a jampacked parking lot and began to walk in the gates of the unknown, my first observation was that it’s hot.
I know most of you are thinking “duh, it’s the desert, dumb ass,” but as see pictures and watch videos of Coachella year-after-year, you don’t realize that these concert goers seriously endure hazardous conditions to see their favorite rock band rage or dance the night away with their favorite EDM DJ on the 1s and 2s.
Security was tight.
I don’t know if Coachella security was always this rigorous, but after the tragic Boston Marathon bombings earlier this week, Coachella organizers didn’t want to take a chance.
As I made my way through not one, but two security checkpoints I began to hear the booming of multiple mega speakers.
I emerged on the “lobby” of Coachella’s vast grounds and was amazed.
It was movie-like, something similar to a fairy tale or a magical kingdom like Disneyland.
A ferris wheel to my left, a makeshift water park to my right, and a huge slow-moving partying snail directly in front of me, all brought elements of a mesmerizing play land to Coachella’s primarily adult attendees.
My first call of order was to find Coachella’s highly publicized trendy concert goer. But as I looked around, all I saw was bathing suit tops and Daisey Duke-inspired shorts – no trends.
“Maybe, all the trendy people come to Coachella on weekend one ,” I thought.
It took an agonizing 30-minutes to find a concert goer who didn’t look like they came from a mud wrestling event.
When I complimented the concert goer, Annie Wang, on her precisely put together outfit she seemed relieved that someone noticed.
I went on to find a few more trendy concert goers, before I realized I found all the Coachella fashion freaks, which wasn’t many.
The first act I saw was Passion Pit, and it was awesome.
Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos delivered a good, consistent, performance track-by-track.
As the sun began to go down, misery of heat exhaustion began to fade and the painfully piercing desert chill began to set in.
Looking for some warmth, I made my way to the 21 and over Heinken-sponsored Beer Garden to get me a shot of Avion Tequila.
The shot was brutal, but I persevered as my internal body temperature began to rise.
Looking down at my watch, I realized Yeah Yeah Yeahs would be coming out on stage in 20 minutes, and it was going to take every bit of 20 minutes to push my way through the thousands of people walking aimlessly.
After being mistakenly elbowed in the head, pushed, and tripped, I made it to Coachella’s main stage. After surviving the war zone of people under the influence of God knows what, I rested my laurels on the grass.
Before I could stretch out my legs, I heard the sweet, bubbly, voice of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s frontwoman Karen O.
I hopped up quickly as the crowd began to roar.
Karen O was everything.
Rocking a Vegas-inspired shimmery shaw and a perfectly tailored yellow suit that read “Fuzz” on the waistline, Karen looked like the perfect Christmas gift wrapped ever so tightly.
Karen was engaging, exciting, and her vocal performance was nothing short of stellar.
Music critics say that rock and roll is dead, and I must agree, but there’s nothing dead about rock’s influence on artists of every genres performance.
Karen was a rock star.
When she wasn’t spitting water into the air or swinging her microphone like a lasso, Karen took it to the next level and shoved her personalized microphone down her throat as the crowd looked on in amusement and disgust.
Yeah Yeah Yeah’s performance was by far the most energetic and exciting performance of the night.
Leaving the main stage area, I made my way over to the Gobi tent, where smaller artists perform.
Up next was Purity Ring, and they were grooving.
Megan James’ sweet soprano voice rang loudly over Purity Rings’ loud tings of electronic rhythms. Things got hectic when she brought out Detroit rapper Danny Brown to perform their collaborative hit “Belispeak II.”
Despite their collaboration, Danny and Megan’s interactions seemed a little unnatural and awkward, but as time progressed, both Danny and Megan relaxed.
Megan’s performance was good, but her soft voice was being overruled by a DJing set going down in the “Do-Lab” about 100 yards away.
So of course I had to check it out.
The set was dope.
I bopped my head and shuffled my feet for a while, but lost interest, as I quickly grew tired.
By midnight, Coachella was tired, even the kids rolling on ecstacy.
We waited patiently as the once-missing Odd Future member, Earl Sweatshirt came out on stage.
As unorthodox Odd Future has branded itself to be, Earl Sweatshirt’s performance lacked the energy and vigor most Odd Future shows possess.
Besides the fact, that he was the last act to perform in the Gobi tent, most of his fans had endured the hot desert sun for over 12 hours and his mellow rhymes and occasional n-bomb drop wasn’t enough to excite his fans.
It wasn’t until Earl brought out Mac Miller, who he refered to as “Malcolm” (Mac Miller’s real name) and Odd Future’s frontman, Tyler, The Creator, did the audience perk up significantly.
I was expecting some wild sh*t to go down since Tyler emerged on stage, but Tyler was surprisingly chill. So chill that at times the backing track was drowning out his distinctive voice.
As Chris Clancy, Odd Future’s manager, came out on stage and signaled to the rappers that they only have 20 minutes left, I decided it was too, my cue to go.
Day one was exhausting, yet refreshing, and basically nothing I ever expected. Despite not finding the much publicized trendy people by the masses, there was definitely a sufficient population of people who cared about their appearance.
Day one was new and exciting, but with more artists to see on day two, I’m expecting a more intense level of energy day one lacked.
Brittany Lewis is the Music Editor at GlobalGrind and a Howard University Alumna. Brittany considers herself seasoned on all the pop culture ish that matters. Follow her on Twitter @Buttercup_B.
