Day 18: Coachella Valley, Weekend 2
Welcome
Yesterday we played at weekend two of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Our Friday began the same way it had a week earlier, bodies sleepily emerging from bedrooms and forcing themselves into a state of readiness. The coffee machine went on and the shower was put to work. Some of us had a light breakfast, and mine was a bowl of granola with yoghurt, milk, banana, blueberries, and deluxe salted mixed nuts. I accompanied this with a mug of freshly brewed black coffee, the perfect thing to ready myself for an early soundcheck.
At 7:15am we were in the van making our way through quiet Palm Springs suburbs on our way to the Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway. The day was already very much alive with the sun a couple of fingers above the horizon and making itself known. The weather was clear and warm, and it was shaping up to be a much hotter weekend than the last.
As we cruised along Indian Canyon Drive, right before making the turn onto the highway the unexpected happened. A unicorn was sighted. Or perhaps more accurately a bicorn. We ticked off one of the items on our tour bingo list that has taunted us for years. Countless times we have driven through the turbine fields of the world and excitedly pointed at a pair of idle blades atop a tall tower, only for seconds later the invisible third blade to appear as it catches a glint of light or rotates into view. We knew better than to grasp at false hope, but this was it. This was the real deal and as the turbine was photographed and the box was ticked there were handshakes and pats on the back and grins of satisfaction spread across the faces of our touring party.
The vaunted tour bingo item: Wind turbine missing a blade. Captured by an attentive Gabriel Nardin.
The festival grounds were looking spotless again, thousands of discarded cans and cups picked up, the grass scrupulously vacuumed, everything as tidy and pristine as it had looked before a hundred thousand people came through. For us everything felt a little easier on weekend two. Knowing what to expect at soundcheck, how the stage was going to feel, how long we had to get comfortable, and how the show would play out – all these things made for an easy and relaxing day for the most part. Gabe started his stopwatch when we were given the stage and it took us six minutes before we were ready to begin checking microphones and making noise; this was turning into a smooth operation.
We headed to get lunch once the catering tent opened, queueing up with hundreds of other artists and festival staff to try our luck at a richly stocked buffet, confusing and overwhelming in its layout and magnitude. Gabe began feeling the heat of the day at this point, so Paul and I commandeered a cart to take him to the medical tent before any fainting occurred. The Riverside County paramedics were first class; calm and professional and well equipped. He had his heart rate and blood pressure taken and was confined to a stretcher with a cold bottle of water to recuperate. An hour later we were given the all clear – our man would live. We headed back to our trailer to escape the heat of the afternoon.
The gates opened at 1pm and the festival grounds began to fill up. The balloon wrangling team began their work, raising their airborne helium-filled sculpture and walking it around the open spaces, a dangerous and challenging pursuit. I walked around to watch a few of the early acts. Houston Nu-Metal band Narrow Head were the highlight of the afternoon for me, a crushingly loud set, three electric guitars, and a constant stream of audience members climbing up onto the stage only to jump straight back off in injury-defying stage dives.
Staying cool in our trailer.
No one stage dived during our set, but we didn’t take that as a bad omen, only a sign that perhaps members of our own fan base have brittle bones or are scared of heights. What our fans lacked in courage or physical prowess though they made up for by attending in great numbers and singing along loudly and tunefully; you always notice when an audience are capable singers because they overpower our in-ear monitors. Our week two Coachella performance definitely went up a grade from week one thanks to a little more confidence and a few technical tweaks. We felt more comfortable on the boomy stage and were able to loosen up and enjoy the music.
Afterwards we packed our equipment up quickly like the professional equipment packers that we are. The rest of the evening was ours and we headed out to enjoy another beautiful Sonoran sunset while the festival bustled on around us. The grounds continued to fill up even into the middle of the evening and we swam through the crowds, fighting the currents of bodies that seem to flow in all directions at once. The winds began to pick up and the balloon wranglers were having a tough job keeping the string line held above the sea of moving heads constantly passing through the central festival junction.
I enjoyed wandering between the stages and trying to see all the acts I hadn’t heard of. There was a crushingly good set from R&B singer Tinashe, a beautiful cameo from Norah Jones with pop star Sabrina Carpenter, and I made it across to the colossal hanger that houses the Sahara Stage to watch the one of the world’s most in-demand DJs/influencers Peggy Gou. We didn’t stay to the end of the festival. Feet were sore and we were tired after an early morning, so we drove back to Palm Springs and enjoyed watching Lana Del Rey on our huge television from the comfort of our couch.
Please take the time to enjoy a wonderful piece of media from video creator Tristan Deck.