Coachella 2009: Crystal Castles get rowdy, Paul McCartney unleashes the rock cannon

Day 1, April 17, 2009, in Indio, California

By Soumeya Bendimerad
Published: April 18th, 2009 | 3:50pm

As much as it can be anticipated, it’s still impressive to see masses of people at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival congregating like ants to an anthill to the expanse of green in the middle of the dry desert. Between the three tents named after different global deserts and two large outdoor stages, people wandered between acts that ran the gamut of genre and age group and took time in between to explore the large-scale art projects like the giant twin Tesla coils that cracked white lightning through the night

At the Gobi stage, the energy was palpably energetic as Buraka Som Sistema set up. The group’s set was running about 10 minutes late when the crowd started chanting the familiar soccer chant in anticipation. Once the beat started, all was forgiven as the Portuguese group burst into its set. The entire audience was shaking it hard; at some point fans were encouraged to crouch down as the music built up and the whole tent exploded as the MCs gave the signal to jump as high as possible.

The energy was different on the outdoor stage where Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band were performing their Gram Parsons–esque brand of country-folk rock. In a wide-brimmed, flat-topped black hat, Oberst’s signature voice rose emotionally over his band’s rhythms. After Buraka Som Sistema, though, the energy was too mellow, so I turned to Crystal Castles for a remedy.

Alice Glass, with her tiny body dressed in all black and her eyes rimmed with black eyeliner, was an unlikely specimen to find in the middle of the Coachella desert. Over Ethan Kath’s shattered ’80s arcade beats, Glass whipped around the stage and shrieked into her microphone, jumped into the ecstatic crowd, and literally climbed the rafters. Kids were dancing along with wild abandon, caught up in her turbulent energy. Although there were no guitars in sight, Glass definitely will go down as a legendary rocknroll frontwoman in the tradition of Chrissie Hynde, Kim Deal, Patti Smith, or PJ Harvey.

As the sun began to set, the lights came on to spotlight a few singers in their sunset years. Looking every inch a gentleman in his black suit and bolo tie, Leonard Cohen played a dignified and warm set to a rapt crowd, which included favorites such as “Dance Me to the End of Love” and “Hallelujah.” While his three back-up singers provided depth to the familiar and less-than-familiar songs with their sweet harmonies, Cohen displayed his deep and still-strong voice, despite his age, and addressed the crowd as friends.

On the main stage, Morrissey warmed the huge audience. He played several Smiths songs, including “Some Girls are Bigger than Others” and “Ask,” as well as his latest single, “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris.” Never one to keep his opinions to himself, he opined that he hoped the smell of burning flesh around him — smells from the barbeques that were going in the backstage areas — were human flesh. He displayed some of his own flesh halfway through the song as he took off his shirt and strutted around stage.

The crowd swelled as people tried to get as close as possible for the appearance of the nearly mythical creature who is Paul McCartney. It was hard to believe that after a full day of seeing bands, we were privy to a performance by a former Beatle. Macca seemed unaware of the enormity: He was casual and even personal on stage, despite the enormous crowd cheering itself raw as he played an epic two-hour, two-encore set of some of the rock cannon’s most beloved songs, including “Drive My Car,” “Let Me Roll It,” “Band on the Run,” and the Beatles’ “Back In the USSR.” He played several instruments, at one point picking up a ukulele to play “Something,” and he gave the audience personal stories of John Lennon, George Harrison, and his late wife Linda, who passed away on the same night several years before. Going far beyond what could be hoped for, playing until nearly 1 a.m., McCartney gave Coachella the perfect end to its first night.
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For more photos from day one of Coachella, visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page