This pilgrimage to Coachella would be our fifth. Things have changed somewhat since the first, but as always, the music was profound. And that, my friends, is what this music festival is all about. Putting aside the fact that the promoters are seriously getting greedy by overselling tickets (up 15,000 from the year before and up a total of 30,000 from the year before that), the music is what always stands out above all else. After we returned from the festival, a friend sent us a Funny or Die summary of the “7 Types of People at Coachella”. We definitely fall into the last category.

DAY 1 in photos:

Upon arrival to the festival grounds, we already renamed the festival to “Coldchella”. Weekend No. 1 brought the bleakest weather this festival has ever seen, including extreme wind, rain and temperatures that dipped well into the 40s at night. The same cannot be said of Weekend 2, as those temperatures reached a high reached 105 degrees on the following Saturday. This author is inclined to just attribute it to the fact that it was Friday the 13th and leave it at that. As usual, unless you got your ass out by 11am, you couldn’t realistically expect to make it to the grounds on the first day anytime before 2. So, sadly, we ended up missing Abe Vigoda, Other Lives and GIVERS. We took comfort in the fact that we had just seen Other Lives open for Radiohead in Miami.

Day 1: Our first set was Yuck at the Outdoor Stage. The weather became bleaker by the moment during the set, but hardly mattered because they put on such a fantastic set. Catch one one of our favorite’s, ‘The Wall’. Yuck was followed by a less than emerging band we have loved for quite some time, James on the Coachella stage. Check out a few of their tunes from the set, ‘Out to Get You’ and ‘Stutter’. These guys put on such a great performance, allowing some audience members to join them onstage during the final song, ‘Laid’. A clothing change was required, but shortly after, we hurried over to see Girls on the Outdoor stage for what we would consider one of the greatest performances at Coachella 2012 Weekend 1. Here’s a snippet of ‘My Ma’ with the lovely ladies providing back-up. Thankfully, there were a few great performances, but this set really blew us away. There were flowers on the stage, great back-up singers and so much more! Immediately following Girls, it was time for retro MADNESS on the Outdoor stage. Playing all our favorite tunes, the energy was not wasted upon us. They opened with ‘One Step Beyond’ and followed with several other great hits, including ‘House of Fun’ and ‘The Prince’ only to close with ‘Our House’. We did overhear one bloke state that he loved all their “song,” but we know there is much more to them than ‘Our House’.

Day 1 rolled into Night 1 as we made our way to M. Ward at the Mojave tent. Previously, we had seen M. Ward as She & Him, but only briefly. M. Ward commanded the stage and various intruments with the greatest of ease. Immediately following M. Ward was The Rapture, a band we have been following for some time and very much looking forward to seeing live.  Great fun to watch this band play our favorite tunes, including ‘How Deep is Your Love.’ Unfortunately, we couldn’t stick around for M83, another band we truly wanted to see live, but the Black Angels were calling and we wanted to be up close and personal for this experience. Check out M83′s performance of ‘Intro.’ and ‘Midnight City.’ Between sets, we were able to hear the Black Keys and heard that their set was rather sparsely attended. Would have made for a nice intimate experience, but there was just way too many other bands we hadn’t seen performing at the same time. Friends were made, Chandler, a fine nice gal from San Jose and Taylor, a guy that kept forgetting that he had already introduced himself to me and offered to smoke pot with us, but didn’t have anything to smoke. The moment couldn’t come too soon, as the Black Angels finally took to the stage. They played an unbelievably psychedelic set that included a favorite of ours, ‘Black Grease.’ Yes, we scored a set list, but it wasn’t easy and you’ll notice it’s slightly torn. And there you have it, Day 1 came to a close.

DAY 2 in photos:

Day 2: As we make our way into the festival grounds, we notice a graveyard of canopies that failed to make it through the strong winds and rain from the night before. Entry into the festival goes more smoothly then the first day and the weather is gorgeous. Crispy cool air and slight winds prevail. We kick off the day with The Black Lips at the Mojave tent, a band we have previously seen live a few times before. Here’s ‘O Katrina’, ‘Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah’ and ‘Modern Art’. Always fun, always good and always crazy. Onward to the next set by reunion band, fireHOSE. This would be our first time seeing this band live and seeing this author’s personal idol on the bass, Mike Watt. Watt’s got mad skills on the bass. We stayed up front for another great band reunion with the Buzzcocks. It was great to see that moshing was alive and well, as they performed one of our favorites, ‘Homosapien’. Check out their performance of ‘I Believe’, ‘Ever Fallen in Love’ and everyone’s favorite, ‘What Do I Get’.

We didn’t get to catch tUnE-yArDs or St. Vincent’s set, However, but for the conflicts, we would have seen ‘Bizness’, ‘Powa’, ‘Cruel’ and ‘Year of the Tiger,’ among many other great tunes.

It was a quick run from one stage to the next, but before heading back to the Coachella stage to catch a bit of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, we managed to see a bit of Laura Marling at the Gobi tent. One of the songs from her set included ‘I Speak Because I Can’. Moving on, we manage to catch a few songs from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. This is the brother without the attitude and while we can’t catch the entire set, we manage to catch the cover of ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. Other songs in the set include, ‘If I Had a Gun’, ‘AKA…What a Life’, and ‘Mucky Fingers‘.

Day 2 shifts into night and although our visit with Noel Gallahger was short, it was sweet. Our sights were set upon catching the entire set by Squeeze, another band we had never seen up until this day. They put on a fabulous set, performing all our favorites, including, ‘Tempted’ and ‘Cool for Cats’. While The Shins were a much anticipated set, unless you were up close hours before, all bets were off that you could get very close. The sound sucked, but we made the very best of a crappy situation and enjoyed the entire set. Here’s a favorite, ‘New Slang’, their newest single ‘Simple Song’ and their cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Breathe’. Time to make another run to the Outdoor stage for a glimpse of Feist. This is one set we would certainly have regretted not catching, if even for a few songs.  Feist managed to gather a large group of very talented musicians together for this set.  Check out ‘How Come You Never Go There’ and ‘The Bad in Each Other’. So what was the price of catching Feist? Missing Bon Iver, but it was worth it. Check out Bon Iver’s performance of ‘Skinny Love’. Our night would wrap up with Miike Snow and Radiohead. We met up with a group of friends that were on their fourth trip to Coachella from Arizona. They were extremely pumped for Miike Snow and we had to admit, so were we. We missed Miike Snow the last time they performed at Coachella and were determined not to miss it this year. There were visuals, great sounds and even a surprise appearance by Lykke Li. Check out Miike Snow perform ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Paddling Out’. Without getting too wordy, we’ll just say that we enjoyed Radiohead from the side stage, didn’t see a thing and enjoyed the set. Since we had already seen them on this tour in Miami, seeing them again was not such a priority. We saw it as another chance to make new friends.

DAY 3 in photos:

DAY 3: Sunday finally rears it’s ugly head. It’s a day we find that is usually stacked with a majority of mellow bands at the start, but pumped up acts to close the festival. It’s a day that’s nostalgically gleeful, as it is sad. As with every festival, we like to be exposed to bands we may have missed along the way. This was the case with the first set of our day, Housse de Racket, pronounced “Who’s the racquet”. This French duo kicked some serious ass and really blew us away live. Check out ‘Roman’ and see for yourself. Onto to the Mojave tent, we catch a band we planned on seeing, Oberhofer. The only exposure we had to this band before today was their single, ‘Heart,’ but they proved to be a tight band with good tunes, like ‘Dead Girls Dance’ and ‘Gold’.

Here’s another much anticipated band we couldn’t wait to feast our eyes and ears upon, First Aid Kit. These Swedish sisters are the female Fleet Foxes with vocals like buttah. Get a listen to their popular tune, ‘Emmylou’ and their cover of homeland sister band, Fever Ray’s tune, ‘When I Grow Up.’

After 4 years of attending Coachella, we finally make plans to get on the ferris wheel, but before we got on the ferris wheel, we get to see a bit of Santigold’s set, hearing ‘Disperate Youth’ off her new album. After the exciting ride, we make our way over to Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 over at the Outdoor stage. This was an extremely energetic set led by the very talented Seun Kuti.

Finally, we make our way to the Gobi tent for Real Estate and getting up close for this band was imperative. Again, it was an opportunity to make new friends and listen to some really great live music at the same time. Check out the entire performance of Real Estate. In addition to Girls, this was a highlight performance for Rock Cousteau. The band was affable, connected with the audience and really put on great performance.

Onto the Outdoor Stage for a band we have supported since their first single was released a long while ago, Wild Flag. Typically, a band composed of entirely all women has not appealed to us in the past, but this band has found its way into our hearts and it just can’t get out. After seeing them live at CMJ in NYC back in October, 2011, seeing them again was a priority. These ladies can rock and roll.

Due to conflicts, we couldn’t catch The Weeknd, but check out The Weeknd’s entire performance. Our intention was to see Gotye at the Mojave tent, but due to extremely poor planning on the part of Coachella, the band was improperly placed on the wrong stage and sounds were bleeding in from other stages. The only redeeming part of the entire set was the sing along during the finale of ‘Someone That I Used to Know’. By this time, the number of bodies on the festival grounds exceeded acceptable limits and our patience had worn extremely thin. We wanted to see Beirut badly, but the crowds were just unbearable. Check out Beirut’s performance of ‘A Sunday Smile‘ and ‘Santa Fe’. At least we didn’t miss those.

Day 3 had drifted into night and our night would come to a close with Justice. After appearing 20 minutes late, they finally took the stage and performed an extremely fun set. We truly enjoyed the entire set. Unfortunately, other commitments prevented us from staying any longer and while we would have enjoyed the reunion of At the Drive In and the novelty of seeing Tupac’s hologram during Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s set, it would not come to pass. It’d be easy to lie and say we saw them both, but that’s not how we roll.

*Click on the arrows to play videos throughout the post.

4/24/2012 Update: Watch the entire Refused set from Weekend 1 here.