Coachella

I have never been to Coachella. I finally sucked it up, and despite the fact of not really being able to afford it, I went. I actually didnt go all 3 days, just Saturday and Sunday. I stayed in an RV with Terri, Jenny and Roy. What a blast!!!!!
I arrive hot, sweaty and out of it Saturday morning. The trio is just getting up, happy, hungover and reminising about Day 1 of Coachella. I felt like the outcast who didnt get to go to the cool kids party, but I'm getting excited because today is my Day 1. Terri hands me my coconut and Jenny proceeds to make cocktails. Its 11am. Scott and Charis stop by on thier way to Ryan's spot. We say hi. Ryan comes by and brings me my tickets. "We'll party!" We actually never ran into each other again! Our little group rolls out about noon-noon thirty. We pull in, we tailgate. Its hot. I'm ready tho. I've mentally prepared myself for this desert heat. We sit in the parking lot for awhile, drinking, laughing, chatting, people watching. On our way in a group is grilling hot dogs - 3 for $5 - we all grab a dog and proceed into the festival.
Upon entering, I'm already blown away. The place is huge. I mean - HUGE. Photos are taken of my virgin entrance into my first Coachella experience. I buy my Coachella tank top. We head in. The massive art. All the stages. What people are wearing/look like/doing. Its all so overwhelming and I want to see it all. Terri is rattling off what some of the tents contain, whats here whats there. I'm like a little kid. So excited. We start to wonder around. Now...its already getting fuzzy of the order of things that were done, so I'm just going to reminisce what I can....
The E-Tard Tent. This is what we lovingly call it. Its full of little E kids. Its actually called the Do-Lab. There are performers there called Lucent Dossier. They're all made up in crazy costumes, make-up, some on stilts, etc. They had a band or they'd DJ or they'd have a silk dancer or dancers or would just bounce around on the stage covered in water and blast you with these water blasters. Loved loved loved them! I found myself in there often to get a nice blast of water to cool off and to watch this wacked out tribe of peformers.
At some point we ended up in the Heineken dome. This was air conditioned and a crazy DJ was spinnin some heavy drum/bass. Fun images and lights played across the top of the dome as we relaxed and zoned out for a while. This is also the time some fellow hit on me - giving me his phone number and promising if we hook up with him later he'll be throwing the best after party around.
The people watching was an experience in itself. Most were like me, shorts, tank, hat. Others in cute sundresses. Some in bathing suits. You had the goths, the emos, the rockers, the e kids, the ravers, the hip hoppers, the stoners, the meth heads, tree huggers, hippies, we had a fellow in the lime green borat bathing suit thing, a group of brits dressed as Indians, folks in kilts, people in huge space boots, there were quite a few asses hanging out of shorts, people in netting, a dude in a tie-die onsie, crazy colored hair, one guy was walkin around in tightie whities with a belt - carrying his clothes, there was an interesting group of larger rounder fellows in tights and bathing suit looking things. I could go on and on and on.
Some of the bands....Kavinsky- this DJ was off the hook. We'd actually arrived to see a different one and Kavinsky was finishing up his set so we saw the last bit. Rockin. In fact, we didnt like the one we'd come to see since Kavinsky was so kickin. We stopped at the stage where Man Man was playing. I want to see them again. This group of crazy guys with 2 drum sets, jumpin around, shakin thier heads. So much fun! DeVochka - silk dancers down the sides - very cool. We then saw Death Cab for Cutie. I enjoyed them for sure, they gave me what I expected. A surprise for me was Kraftwerk. I know they've been around forever from what I've been told, but I'd never seen them. They were killer. 4 guys standed up there makin it rock. The screens behind them portraying all kinds of wacky machine/robots/signs/etc. Then they dissappeared and had actual robots on the stage replacing them. Roy's face was priceless...so confused...."Wasnt it real guys?!" "Its robots!" "I dont understand!". The little E-tard kid behind us flippin out the entire show was also somewhat entertaining as well. After Kraftwerk was Portishead. My group wasnt too thrilled but I really did dig it. She's great. Emotional, chill, beautiful voice. She played 2 of my favorite songs. I found myself movin to the sway of the music and getting lost in it a few times. Then of course we finished the night with Prince. My God. He truly lived up to his reputation. I've never seen Prince perform live. Morris Day shows up - they danced. I screamed. Shelia E shows up. She drums. I'm in awe. She's looking hotter then ever. Kickin MAJOR ass on those drums. He sang Creep. As much as I loved his cover, I think my favorite was Terri's reaction when she realized it was Creep. He sang Purple Rain. I wanted to die. His backup singers were amazing. The one gal singin Angel with her melodic sweet beautiful voice floating up to the heavens. Then the other gal tearin the shit up. Goosebumps ran up and down my arms when both these women sang thier hearts out. Prince did not dissappoint. He played until 1am. I couldnt have been more thrilled. Terri had tears in her eyes. The rest of us agreed - DA BOMB.
Since we stayed for Prince's entire set, we then had to leave with the masses. I cant remember the last time I walked out with thousands and thousands of people. My back ached, I was beat from the sun, my knee was stinging, my feet were barking but damn was I thrilled. We sat in the parking lot for god knows how long, I actually had this vision that there was no way we'd ever get back. But some time after 2am we all rolled into our RV and passed right out.
Day 3 (2 for me). Happy, hot, worn out we got up to go. We all moved much slower this morning. Baby steps to get there....we actually made it outside the RV then sat for another 45 min or so before we finally got in the truck to head over. Poor Brett Dennen - we wanted to check him out but just couldnt get there. So Sunday - here we are again - ready for the day.
We camped out this time in the beer garden - a bit to the side of the main stage, figuring we could try to catch a bit of shade and still see the bands play. At the begining of Gogol's set we see something coming towards us..."What is that!" Terri shouts. We begin to realize its a swarm of something. WTF? We watch. It gets closer. The people are now starting to grab thier gear and run, screaming from the swarm of now we realize - BEES! The swarm moves our way....we start to slowly gather our stuff along with the people around us ready to run...the swarm just swarms. All right above us....then starts to fade away. Where are they going??? "Look!!!" Terri shreaks - and points to a hat that was hanging on the fence...all the bees - and I mean hundreds and hundreds of bees - decided to take home on this hat. The damn thing actually started bending and bowing from the weight of the bees. The poor fellow who owns it is slowly pulling the rest of his belongings away from the now hat/hive. "What was on the hat!" someone asks. "Just water" says the confused fellow. People are surrounding taking photos - no one has seen anything like this! The security arrives. They too taking pictures - fascinated. A truck pulls up - KILLER BEE TRUCK painted on the side - they put in a bag and move on...like it was nothing. WTF!
The music: First up we saw the Shout Out Louds - so fun! So young! Next was Stars - this was a band that R had told me she loved after seeing them in Denver - I can see why. Amazing. I would have to say my highlight of the day was Gogol Bordello. They were so much fun! Crazy! Jumping around! I fell in love. I'm a new fan and cant wait to check out all thier stuff. Terri and I have decided too that we want to join the band. We want to be the hot gals who play drums and scream and have so much damn fun up there! They put a base drum into the crowd and it crowd surfed with the gal standing on top of it!!! So awesome! Jenny's must see was Sia. I had no idea who this person was, but she was absolutley adorable! A ridiculously amazing voice. They came out at first in all blacklight in crazy smiley face costumes then stripped down to a normal set. She sang her heart out and was so grateful and thrilled when the fans roared. Roger Waters - I've seen him perform quite a few times, I've seen Pink Floyd perform a few times. We only stayed for a few of his songs - but damn. As usual phenominal. They played one of my favorite songs. I got lost in it, I started flashing back to all my years of listening to Floyd albums over and over and over again. My heart swelled. The trio got a taste of the side of me they've never seen. We headed out before they could see that side in its entirety.
As we're walking out the lights glow looking like something out of a dream. Roger Waters music filling the sky. I was so happy, hot and exhausted as we trekked towards the parking lots. The vibe in the air was full of excitement and wonder. I felt like I was walking out of a fantasy world.
Back to camp, drinking, hot tub, excitedly chatting about our experiences, what we liked, disliked, loved, laughed at etc etc etc. Monday morning I thank my gracious hosts Terri and Roy. Give Jenny a squeeze and drive off into the desert towards home, humming different tunes I'd heard over the weekend. Excited to look up all these new bands I'm now a fan of and wondering whose on the bill for next year!