Coachella 2006: Reloaded

Okay, I actually, gasp, have shit to do right now but I had to give just a QUICK rundown of the 'chella.

The Event*:

The Good
*I love Maynard. I love Tool. I'm so glad they are back. I lost my shit during the set. My inner angry white boy was pleased.
*Depeche Mode doing "Personal Jesus" in the desert. Bitch, that is called sublime. And Dave Gahan--that 76 year old ex junkie son of gun is still on fire. I would totally rock an co-dependent relationship with him. Sigh.
*Massive Attack. Is there a reason why NO one is mentioning that Elizabeth Fraser of the most ethereal band of all time, The Cocteau Twins, performed "Teardrop" WITH the Massive Attack. There. Live? People Elizabeth Fraser of the THE GODDAMN COCTEAU TWINS! For real, I had to have my friend Chris stop talking to me so I could focus. I love her. The only thing that would have taken me completely over the edge is if Tracy Thorn had shown up to do "Protection". This was totally tits.
*Amadou & Mariam. Blind Africans know how to get their boom shake click-click on. And dammit if white kids don't love that. David Byrne would have been proud.
*Daft Punk had me getting my dance on. French dudes dressed as robots is what life is about. America, the terrorists have not won.
*Ted Leo & The Pharmacists=Erika & The Happy. Never saw them before. Heard great shit about the live performances. My expectations were fulfilled.
*Gnarls Barkley. Just fun. I love roly poly Cee-Lo. And yeah, a Violent Femmes cover ("Gone Daddy Gone") in 2006 is kinda cute.
*Madonna. That trick came on 20 minute late (Jackhole, we in the desert, it's hot...with the amount of "bears" out there for MissTang she knows that is NOT right) and played 6 damn songs but...she KILLED it. I'm not mad.
*Wolfmother. They have thrown down the hammer of the gods. Feel free to sound just like Sabbath and Zeppelin if you are going to be bring it live. It was brought.
*Damien Marley. Your daddy would be proud. Oh and having a guy twirl a Jamaican flag for a full 50 minute set--and that be his ONLY job--is jahtastic!
*Lady Sovereign. This lil' hussy had flow--and was about to start a beef with a girl in the crowd. Lub that. Um, I was ALL about hearing "Random". I got "Random" and I was stoked. It also was fresh that my girl Liane got me a lemonade slushie to rock during her set. That totally took it to about 9.
*Eagles of Death Metal. You know what is cool? That Josh Homme was hometown bound and actually drummed for the live show. Even cooler? The Samantha Maloney--she drummed on the last tour I saw--was there too. Duel drummers. RAWK!
*Did I mention how rad Tool was? Oh let me do it again. THE GOODNESS. And let me tell you they closed the set with Aenima. Tear. I need to go shiver in a corner cause I know that I can't get that moment back.

The Bad & The Ugly
*There were TOO many people there this year. Shit was hectic. There was one point where I was standing on the bleachers during the Marley set, turned away from the stage, and just saw a sea of heads, not a patch of grass to be seen. Thank you lord for letting me not have a fear of crowds. Oh and the crowd was kind beat this year. More rude people and sweaty dudes that had no business being THAT drunk and topless. Don't come back next year, thanks. Yep, I said it and I don't give a fuck.


*Getting off the polo field was a goddamn NIGHTMARE. They have one, count em, one exit for about 1 billion people to get out and it was not cute. See, I can deal with being pressed up with dank people after a full day of being stank but guess what? That shit is a firehazard. Just let a melee bust out and this it will be fugly. Like junkies at an "all you can base" buffet fugly. Someone needs to look into that. Oh, and by the way when you have big ballons up to let people know where their cars are DON'T take them before the masses have left. Jackholes. Anyways, I still love this game!

The Condo:

*Same spot, different heads. Still fierce. I love the La Quinta Resort. Gotta give a shout out to my co-organizer Shari "Drop and Get Your Eagle On" Scorca and the awesome occupants this year: Lawrence, Liane, Chris, Inga, Jeff, Suzie and Shaun. We were on fire. What was even more on fire...
*Grilling in the desert and having vodka cocktails while preparing for the rawk is how you live life. Don't be jealous, it makes you look bloated. Oh yeah, and then we went into the hot tub. It gets chilly at night folks.
*Being cute in the pool with good people and getting all African refugee black is a good weekend for me. Having Babyface come out to the pool where we were congregating to say hey to his ladies friend gives you an idea of how gangsta it really got.

The Aftermath:

*Going to Denny's on the drive to LAX and rocking not only a Grand Slam breakfast but sharing mini-cheeseburgers with the kids brought me some Anita Baker joy.
*Seeing that the Strokes had to fly economy on my flight back (they were all Rosa Parked) really tell you how ridiculous these gas prices have gotten. See when rock stars have to cut back you realize we need to really explore alternative resources of energy.
*Hulk Hogan being outside the baggage claim area of JFK at 12:50 am...for real, it was time to go home.

See ya next year!

Your friend,
Erika

*If you want to check out some lovely pics and other (not as fabulous but pretty good) recaps go here:
http://www.calendarlive.com/events/

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=events17