The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, California’s signature music festival, has unveiled their 2010 lineup at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA. Abandoning the baby-boomer pandering of yesteryear, organizers have landed a much younger lineup that includes Gorillaz, Muse, Jay-Z, Thom Yorke, MGMT, Them Crooked Vultures and LCD Soundsystem, among many many others, for the three-day concert that begins April 16 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio.
Not everybody on the lineup qualifies as a spring chicken, however; Woodstock icon Sly And The Family Stone, never-say-die outfit Devo and 1980s alt-rock outfit Echo And The Bunnymen will make their mark, as well as revived college-rock outfit Pavement and the resurrection of Public Image Limited, making their first appearance in 15 years.
The tubes are already a’buzz with the announcement of Jay-Z as a Day One headliner, but the surprise is undue; plenty of hip-hop stars have played in the past, and there’s been a marked push in getting some higher profile rap acts on the bill for several years now. That, and the fact that Jay’s been flirting with the Hipster Nation for quite some time now. You didn’t think those shots of him at the Grizzly Bear shows last year that made the rounds were by chance, did you?
Saturday will be headlined by Muse, Faith No More, DJs Tiesto and David Guetta and our beloved Dead Weather, and will also feature appearances by Portugal. The Man, Rx Bandits and Dirty Souls.
Sunday will close with Gorillaz, Yorke, Spoon, Parisian electro-rockers Phoenix and Gary Numan, who may or may not be working with Trent Reznor on a new project. Emo pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate, a personal soft spot of mine, will make an appearance as well.
Before jumping to any counterfeit conclusions, those question marks on Sunday’s text in the concert poster below just happens to be the way that Thom Yorke presents himself as a solo performer; the marquee at his Los Angeles shows last year had the same little punctuation fit (and you’ll remember that Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco were his backing band…). Wouldn’t it be funny if Muse started doing that too?
Gary Bongiovanni, the editor in chief of Pollstar, attempted to put the lineup into perspective: “Pavement was never an arena headliner, but it lends some excellent buzz to the lineup,” he said. “In a way, it’s like looking at what the Super Bowl had to do. They have The Who this year, and if you stop and think about it, ‘What’s the biggest act we can get that we haven’t already done?’ — it’s a tough question to answer. If you take all these little things and put them together it becomes a compelling bill. There’s not a reliance on one name.” Yeah, except Soundgarden, who many had hoped would find their way onto the lineup, headliner or no. Their lack of inclusion, along with the much-rumored Beastie Boys, do leave a bit to be desired, but there’s still plenty of goodness on the bill.
Of course, we can look forward to an unprecedented hipster presence this year, what with everybody pretending to like Pavement again and MGMT coming forth with a new album and all. The usual offenders will appear as well: Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, Dirty Projectors… hell, outside of Them Crooked Vultures, Jay-Z and precious few others, Friday night’s going to look a lot like Silverlake on any given weeknight. Piss in any direction and you’ll hit a crew of snooty, stick-legged hipsters, guaranteed. So be ready for that.
Coachella also wised up to the hardening times, offering fans the opportunity to purchase tickets on layaway (but can they be bought at K-Mart? That would really be something). Three-day packages are $269, not including Ticketmaster surcharges, which will likely be another $1500 or so. By the way, fuck Ticketmaster.
The jury’s out on whether Antiquiet will make a presence there. We’ve got more than enough skinny jeans, unfunny ironic t-shirts and whiny bands right here in Los Angeles… but we’ll keep you posted.
was hoping for the stones… that would be worth the adventure. if faith no more plays anywhere else, that’ll make coachella less compelling. wonder if there’s a proximity clause for them.
but now i’m being one of those guys i used to talk shit on. the wimps who would gripe at the lineup, when the lineup was never what made coachella cool. but i haven’t been so judgmental since it went to three days.
Definitely a bummer re: Soundgarden, but that is a wickedly stacked line-up of bands I’m dying to see: MGMT, Them Crooked Vultures, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gary Numan, Faith No More… And Gil-Scott Heron, what the fuck? That’s awesome… Now, what’s worth Yorke doing this solo? Is the Flea-collabo thing?
The only real drawback is Muse. I don’t know… Maybe I haven’t given these dudes their chance?
sly and the family stone playing is pretty huge, this is stones first appearance in almost 30 years, not counting half a song on the grammys a few years back, isnt it? I would love to see them, even if theyre not quite the rnb and funk gods of the 60s and 70s anymore
I’m going. This line up makes me very happy:
Them Crooked Vultures
Thom Yorke
Muse
Sly and the Family Stone
Grizzly Bear
Devo
Public Image Limited
Pavement
Spoon
Gorillaz
Charlotte Gainsbourg (hopefully with Beck :)
Gary Numan
I’m happy with all of this.
Muse is amazing live by the way…one of my top performances I’ve had the chance to see.
They had 4 very solid and progressively better albums. Then this new album they put out is shit. Their live show will undoubtedly rock your world though. Their melodic theatrics really break through when you see them live.
A friend of mine said that the line up is underwhelming and that she’s definitely not going. At which point I looked at like she was…well, not stupid but “Really?”. I think that so many think that Coachella should be stacked with all of the names that you know and love crammed into one day to a 3-day weekend. No “home run act”. Jay Z? Muse? Told her that the line up is full of talent ESPECIALLY the under-the-radar kind which are sometimes more fulfilling and worthwhile than the superstars. Or am I off on this?
i used to say only poseurs decide whether or not to go to coachella based on the lineup. but as i’ve said here, since it went to three days, the lineup has become that little something extra that puts it over the line or not.
yes, its full of talent, but how many of those acts won’t play la anytime soon? hence faith no more being the main draw for me. the rest will surely be around sooner or later (maybe fnm too, but less certainly).
@stu, sly has backed prince i believe… i know he did the rave un2 the year 2000 thing. not sure if that was a one-off or what. still, definitely a rare appearance.
also, @paul, thom will be playing with flea and company.
First off, you’re not French. Secondly, I don’t give a pair of Ray-Bans what kind of bells and whistles are at a festival when the lineup is questionable – if that makes me a poser then hand me my sign, cause I’m not driving 3-5 hours through the desert mountains for a party unless some awesome goddamn bands are playing. I went to the first 7 Coachella festivals, and sure, “the experience” (you fucking hippie) is awesome, but the lineup needs to be crackin’ for me not to skip it and catch one of the 300 other festivals making their mark this year, preferably one that doesn’t require being stranded in the middle of nowhere for an entire weekend.
And damn, didn’t I just read something about Sly living in a motel and being totally broke? This is a pleasant turn of events for him.
When Sly played the Grammy’s a few years back he looked fucked right up.
I’m in it to win i this year. Gorillaz = Win. Never been to Coachella and am looking forward to the experience. Especially if I get to see a naked wizard get tazed by the cops. http://boingboing.net/2009/04/23/naked-man-tasered-at.html
Good memories. People are idiots naturally and alcohol just makes them more so. I said good for the cops then, still say so now.
Faith No More?!?! That in and of itself is worth the price of admission.
man… just costs so much to head there in the first place!! Im’ confused need more time to see if anymore acts will be added.
soundgarden FTW THO!
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