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Firstly, have a look at Michelle’s Help! Bats! Everywhere! for a humourous and detailed account of our weekend at Coachella. If you’re just here for the music, read on!

Day 1: Saturday

Buck 65, Coachella Stage (pictured): ‘Twas a joy to have a familiar face open the festival on the main stage, and Buck was in fine form too. He was dressed all in white, clean shaven with a cheeky smile, just him and a set of turntables. As his main goal these days is to break in the States, he played a set of trademark hick hop songs from his This Right Here Is Buck 65 disc, which is primarily a compilation of tracks from his four or five indie CDs. As a casual fan, this meant every decent Buck 65 song I know was included, my favourites being “Wicked and Weird” and “Craftsmanship,” his closer. Buck shone, cracking jokes between songs and doing this freaky young Mick Jagger-style dancing. Great storytelling and beats, as expected. Overall a rousing set to kick things off.

k-os, Gobi Tent: Peeked in on my favourite T.O. hip hop artist for just a few songs before a scheduled interview with Buck 65. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m not really into k-os’s live sets. I saw him once in Vancouver and it was much too mellow for my liking. This time around, I wasn’t feeling his live band, and what he was playing barely resembled k-os songs. A bit disappointing considering how much I love his CDs, but there you have it. Maybe the set got better, but I had to leave.

The Raveonettes, Coachella Stage: Here’s where things started to go a bit south (the fact that we were in southern California notwithstanding). I was supposed to interview Buck 65 for a National Post story, but when I got to the press tent at the appointed time, he was not to be found. As I waited, I was able to catch some of the Raveonettes as their tunes blasted from the main stage. Sounded good to me, but my increasing frustration was distracting. Never did get the Buck 65 interview, but it’s okay: I wrote about another Canadian artist, Sixtoo.

Razorlight, Outdoor Stage: One of about eleventy million UK acts at the festival, Razorlight was said to give good show. They turned out to be a five-piece rock group with a singer who was trying to be Robert Plant. Nothing wrong with that, really, but to be honest it was a pretty forgettable set. Some decent rock songs, as I recall, but you probably needed to be near the front to get the vibe of what they were doing. I probably should have seen The Kills.

Wilco, Coachella Stage: We cut out of the Razorlight show early to get close for Wilco, the band I was most excited to see. Last year Wilco was on the bill but had to back out because frontman Jeff Tweedy was in rehab for a painkiller addiction. Fortunately, he was fine on this day, even going as far as to describe Coachella as “awesome,” adding a quote that appears in most Coachella reviews I’ve read: “I don’t even like festivals. I hate ‘em.” Wilco’s set could also be described as “awesome,” though I would describe it as “too short.” Their alt-country set was heavy on material from A Ghost Is Born, including “Hummingbird,” “The Late Greats,” and the lengthy jam “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” Other highlights were “Jesus, Etc.” and “War On War,” from their breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot disc. Really, the band’s guitar-and-piano jams were the perfect soundtrack for the sunset, and when Tweedy sang about the stars, you could tell he was being sincere. Would have liked to hear one of “I Am The Man Who Loves You,” “Theologians,” “Heavy Metal Drummer,” or, fittingly, “California Stars,” but I guess I’ll just have to see a full show next time instead of a 50-minute festival set.

Weezer, Coachella Stage: Michelle really loved this set, and I’m a freakin’ Platinum Weezer fan myself, so I have to say it was pretty damn good, with lots of singalong faves such as “Say It Ain’t So” (their opener), “Island In The Sun” and “Buddy Holly.” They played a number of songs from their upcoming release, including a catchy one called “We Are All On Drugs” and the new single, “Beverly Hills.” Having seen Weezer several times before, I wasn’t blown away by how true their sound is live, and knew to expect band leader Rivers Cuomo to stand there kind of stiffly and shyly throughout the set. For sheer entertainment value, this ranks lower on the scale than other acts, plus they disappointed me by playing not one song from the Pinkerton album. Still, it’s hard to leave a Weezer show without a smile on your face.

Four Tet, Gobi Tent: On our way to see Bloc Party we stopped for a rest in the Gobi tent while Four Tet, a DJ/producer, laid down some ambient beats. We only caught the last 15 minutes or so, but it was a good change from all that rockrockrock!

Bloc Party, Mojave Tent: A major buzz band at the festival, as evidenced by all the interviews I saw frontman Kele Okereke doing earlier in the day. Bloc Party brought to the stage the same riot-inducing energy you hear on their recordings, tearing through “Like Eating Glass,” “Pioneers,” “She’s Hearing Voices” and Michelle’s favourite, “This Modern Love.” We stood near the back, but we still felt the energy coming from the stage, and it was great. Rock music as it should be played, with dancing at its heart and a desire to break stuff in its soul. Yeah.

Chemical Brothers, Sahara Tent: After a day of walking around in the hot sun, we were pretty tired by the time we went to catch the Chemical Brothers, who played a 90-minute set at the main electronica tent. But even with Michelle’s sore feet we managed to dance at the back for the half-hour we stayed. “Block Rocking Beats” and “Galvanize” were among the melodies we heard, since the Chems do everything on the fly when they play live, mixing and mashing new sounds into familiar hooks. Impossible not to groove to these guys, but when you take a break they have some of the most entertaining visuals around as well.

Spoon, Outdoor Stage: We headed over to the secondary stage while Coldplay played ballads on the main stage, and were rewarded with a tight indie-pop set from Spoon, a group I clearly don’t know enough about. Playing hook-laden songs to a small-ish but happy audience, Spoon delivered on the accolades they’ve been receiving lately.

Coldplay, Coachella Stage: I like Coldplay, but with the Chems and Spoon taking most of my time in the final slot, they weren’t a priority. That and Michelle doesn’t like them. We left Spoon a bit early to catch the end of their set, though, and Chris Martin certainly seemed charming on stage. We heard “In My Place,” in which Martin jumped off the stage and into the sectioned-off area in the middle of the crowd where security stand — a good ten-foot jump. Must have made Gwyneth nervous. After that they played something new from their upcoming disc, and that was that.

Next post I’ll review Day 2 at Coachella, and hopefully get the festival out of my system at last!