COACHELLA 2010: Day 2
The peak of Coachella bounded upon 75,000 attendees (about 15,000 more than previous years) as day two got underway. Skipping the openers, I showed up just in time for San Francisco band, Girls. Starting off their set by noting “this is our biggest show yet,” they dominated it. Having seen them in a club a few months ago, they played a set that was equally worth catching. After Girls’ set ended, it was a mass migration of their audience over to Beach House‘s set. The stage adorned with dangling silver diamonds, Beach House surprised me with their ability to keep my attention by playing tracks off Teen Dream (one of my albums-of-the-year-so-far) and even a Gucci Mane cover!
There are of course always some letdowns, Day One saw little, Day Two saw a couple. Thanking the crowd  for being a part of their “inaugural humongous stage experience,” Tokyo Police Club played a decent set with a ton of new stuff, however they seemed just downright uncomfortable on such a big stage. Another lackluster set followed with The xx. While they sounded incredible, possibly better than recorded, the notable group fell flat on stage presence. Luckily to ease my boredom after those two sets it was Record Store Day so while waiting for the sweaty dance party that was Hot Chip, I spent all my extra cash on records at the pop up record store.
After a kinetic set from Hot Chip, MGMT was next to chill things out. With the recent release of Congratulations, the band played mostly new songs (which are actually surprisingly okay live) it was only until half way through the set that they played their big singles. Leaving the set I overheard numerous comments of “I can’t believe they didn’t play ‘Kids.’” Proving that the mixed reviews for the new album, are mixed for a reason. While Muse started off their set, I went to go check out the end of Major Lazer’s set and I’m glad I did. Quite possibly one of the best DJ sets I have ever seen, the crowd was insane to match the insanity on stage. The reggae-electro pairing jumped off  a huge ladder onto the  stage where the Chinese lion dancers were, making it for an odd yet electrifying experience that many missed out on.
I ended up catching the end half of Muse’s incredibly long set, now I’m not going to go and rave all about how great their live show is, because chances are you have already witnessed the spectacle that is Muse live, or at the very least read about it everywhere. All I will say is yes, they did indeed do what they do every single time they perform, and yes it was good. The real showstoppers of the night (maybe even the whole festival) were South African cult sensation Zulu rap group Die Antwoord. For a 20-minute set, the bizarre trio went through their most popular songs, a costume change, and some ramblings that nobody of the 40,000+ crowd could understand. It was quite honestly, one of the most bizarre sets I have ever seen, and I can now die a happy person after seeing “Enter the Ninja” off the interwebs and in person.