Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10148
LIVEMAGS.NET MAY>>10 41 COACHELLA 2010, A Look Back… and Forward and Side to Side By Marvin Johnson / Photography by Lily Stein S unrise. The list of things to complete before take-off is excessive. The day runs long. Time disappears from the clock like a picture fading that once held the image of realty but now is a distant memory of the past. It was hot. It was crowded and aggravating, and that was just the 241 freeway on the drive over. Any prior Coachella wielding fool from past years knew what to expect. The time goes by quick and the drive feels short though your body tells you that you've been commuting for three hours. And the clocks do not lie. It will be dark before you see any music. For weeks leading up to Coachella, everyone was saying, "How can it be sold out?", "It sucks that you have to buy three day passes." "Maybe it's just a marketing ploy." "How do you sell out a general admission venue?" Anyone who has been to Coachella in past years knows that you can fit 200,000 people in the polo field. Memories of the Woodstock 99 gone wrong flush into your mind. The greedy corporate system had once again ruined what was once great. The consensus: I was there to see it again and this is how it went down. We got there late but from the mouth of my constitutes, I can tell you that Deadmau5, Them Crooked Vultures and Yeasayer killed it. Everyone would continue to talk about these performances for the rest of the weekend. I saw Ra Ra Riot and they did not disappoint. LCD Soundsystem pleased the masses although Vampire Weekend were lack-luster. So, I won't dance around it. It's the elephant in the room! For those that know, how was Jay-Z? Sick, he was awesome. He played a many many from his library of greats from the Original BluePrint to The Blue Print 3 and The Black Album. The Jigga ran the gamut from Hard Knock Life, to Izzo to Encore and Can I Get A... Then it came. One hour and forty-five minutes into the set, the pinnacle 2010 Coachella moment. The moment when you say to yourself, Yes, I just drove 3 hours into the desert. Yes, I took off work and paid $300 coordinating weeks in advance. Jay-Z doing "Empire State of Mind" in front of what felt like fifty thousand people that feel the same passion as you do for any excuse to go hundreds of miles outside the city for a weekend of music and art. The moment you realize that it was all worth it. This is what you came here for. This is what spring once again dragged your ass to Palm Springs for again and yes this is why you would be back next year. And could it be? Is that the voice of Alicia Keys? Yes it is, it has to be. The crowd loved it. The energy went from level 9 to level 18 almost instantly, we appreciated it. We would later find out that was in fact, Bridget Kelly as Jay-Z would announce after the performance. Slight disappointment, but then it happened. Out comes Beyonce' to finish the set singing Forever Young and all of a sudden everything is magical again. The night draws long and continues into the morning like a train on a time schedule. Dawn approaches as we lay our heavy heads down. A long day. A good day. The sounds and songs of our perennial presence still resonate as we fade into our eventual and surely hibernative slumber. Continued on Following Page >>