COACHELLA 2012 day 2: Saturday April 14

Day 2 of Coachella began with KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS. They were the perfect blend of downtempo to begin the day. I enjoyed their set and they seemed genuinely pleased to be there. Next up the pulse quickened with DRAGONETTE who were way better than I expected them to be. After that I had to go out in the sun for WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS who were excellent! So, pumping with the adrenaline from that set, I head back into a tent to see THE VACCINES. They didn't disappoint either and I have to say they had the sexiest guitar player of the weekend. Super hot. They were better than I thought they would be live and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. After that I caught some of the BLACK LIPS and they were great too. Apparently I missed the penis playing the guitar at the end, which may be a bad thing since I had my first disappointment of the day seeing a highly anticipated set by DESTROYER. I know Dan Bejar is known for not being the greatest frontman but geez could you put something into it? I was extremely disappointed. My favorite song from last year was "Chinatown" and it was the second song they played and it just felt so empty. I stayed for most of the set but I still can't believe that he was more interested in his bottle of (continuous) beer than the fact that he was fronting a band. How does someone get to that stage? Not cool. I'm still a fan because the albums especially the last one are excellent but perhaps he should skip performing live altogether because it does nothing for a fan like me to see something as detached and pointless as that. So after that I saw some of THE BIG PINK who were better than I thought they would be so that was a good thing. Next up was another highlight of the day and it was the reunion of FIREHOSE!! They tore it up from beginning to end and I couldn't have been more pleased. They showed any young band how to do it. My only complaint was M. Watt spending most of the set staring at the drummer. ??? What's up with that? Their was a tent full of people to play to! Weird stuff I'll never understand. Anyway, after that I saw THE HEAD AND THE HEART and then TUNE-YARDS who were both good sets. Not amazing but good. After that was another highlight reunion and it was the mighty BUZZCOCKS and they were mighty! They killed it from beginning to end. With a set list like that how could you go wrong? They also showed young bands how it's supposed to be done. The band was tight and perfect. I was thrilled and very impressed. Back outside to see ANDREW BIRD. He's so great and talented but I couldn't get into him in a festival setting. It just didn't work for me. He needs to be in a more intimate environment. Still, he's great but the set didn't engage me a lot. LAURA MARLING was wonderful! She played a great set and showed why she's so talked about now. JEFF MAGNUM and then SQUEEZE after that. Jeff was alright. Again another person who'd be better in a small venue but still nice to see him. SQUEEZE had a few moments but that's about it. Now it's nighttime and ST. VINCENT was excellent and even threw in some crowd surfing herself 3/4 through her set. She was fantastic. Next were a few boring non impressive sets by: THE SHINS, KASABIAN, FEIST + FLYING LOTUS. After that BON IVER on the big stage was good but again not really a festival attraction but I was glad to see them live. My night ended with a reunion of GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR! Ok, I sort of got what I expected but I didn't think they would hide sideways facing each other instead of the audience and barely lit. That, to me was unacceptable. I could have stayed home and put one of their albums on. It was cold and windy so I skipped RADIOHEAD since I've seen them before and they would have been 1/2 a mile away anyway with that crowd. But still what a day! Next up is Day 3.