It’s been a minute since I last blogged and this past weekend I was lucky enough to get to go to Coachella. For anyone who does not live in California or is not that into music, it is a 3-day music festival near Palm Springs in a town called Indio. I was planning on going to it since the lineup was announced but as of last Monday, tickets were sold out. Because I love to procrastinate, it got me into trouble this time. The tickets were already fairly expensive at $345 a pop but as soon as it sold out, trying to find a ticket for under $500 was near impossible. I still wanted to go and on Thursday I started talking to another poker player, Michael Benvonuti, who was just as gung-ho about wanting to go to Coachella. So we did some searching on Craigs List and most of the ads looked like straight up scams until 10PM at night when he found two 19 year old kids who wanted to make a quick buck rather than go to Coachella. They had 2 tickets at $500 each. Michael, who conveniently lived close to them, was there with $1000 in cold hard cash within ten minutes. And just like that we were both going to Coachella. Boom! Now, came the hard part: getting a place to stay, finding a place to put my car, etc etc. Also, I had to get my girl a ticket.
Friday morning we drove up and got there around 3PM. There was a traffic line that was about 5 miles long to enter the venue and I later heard some people had to wait 3 hours just to get in. Luckily, my trusty GPS hooked it up with tons of side roads I could take instead and we were there in less than 30 minutes. We had to wait on line for another hour in 90-degree weather which was not fun but was way better than having to wait in the car for 3 hours and then wait in that line. Also, my girlfriend had to pick up her ticket that she bought off of Craig’s List from will call. So we had to split up and I later found out it took her 2 hours to find the right will call. But enough of all the crap we had to go through, on to the music!
There were so many bands we got to see that I either wanted to see or was extremely surprised that I got to see them. The people who ran Coachella did a really good job of handpicking all these artists. It seemed like every single band was really good. Instead of going through every band I saw, I’m going to go over my favorite bands of the weekend.
My favorite band I saw was LCD Soundsystem. I’m sitting here trying to put into words the type of music they are. I even googled it for help but many different things came up. It’s hard to categorize such a unique sounding band. They have 7 members all playing different instruments on stage. I think the best answer I saw was indie-dance. It’s just a fun, upbeat vibe they give off. For anyone looking for a band to get into, this is it. And conveniently enough they have a new album coming out in the middle of May.
Right after LCD, Jay Z came out and killed it but what’s new? I’ve never had the chance to see him live so I was happy to check it out. As soon as he burst on stage he was flowing with an intensity I had never seen before. The first couple minutes he came out it seemed like he had been saving up energy for months for this Coachella show. He played all the hits, the crowd was hype, and Jay-Z knew how to throw a good show especially when he was by far the biggest artist there. At the end of his set as the first night was wrapping up and everyone was leaving, Beyonce came out to sing “Young Forever” with J. It was a real treat. There were rumors that Dr. Dre would be the one coming out and singing with Jay=Z but Beyonce exceeded all expectations. It was really cool.
Another artist I enjoyed was Z-Trip. He is a d.j. who unlike most djs out there, has an eclectic style. He was mashing up tons of songs ranging from Rush to Bon Jovi to M.I.A. At one point he started mixing Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy”. I mean, that song is from like 1983 or some shit and isn’t even remotely one of their mainstream songs. So when I heard him remixing it with whatever else it was I was floored. He had such range with his entire set. What made it even better was I wasn’t planning on being at his set but I ended up chilling with my girlfriend right outside of the stage and once I started realizing what he was doing we got up and starting dancing to it. He’ll be spinning live at Rain this summer at the Palms in Vegas and I’ll be sure to check him out. I’m sure it will be amazing.
The last band I thoroughly enjoyed was Die Antwoord, a South African electro-rap group that was a late addition to the Coachella lineup. They had just gotten signed to Interscope no more than a month ago and were given a 20 minute set before the last act of the night. Most sets at Coachella were 50 minutes but 20 minutes was all they needed to make me a fan. Just like Jay-Z they rapped with so much intensity and the beats the songs were so sick. They are so unique. They’re style is so different too. The lead singer has a high top fade and that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary except for the fact that he’s white and it looks like Vanilla Ice’s hair except somehow way fresher. Mark my words they will be huge within the next year.
Overall, I had a memorable time although next year I will not go through all the bs I went through this year due to not organizing things early and trying to get everything together on the fly. For a festival like this, it’s just not smart. Regardless, if you are into music, Coachella has great music coming out it’s pores. And even if you aren’t that into it, by the end of the festival you will be a fan of music period.
Sorry if this was longwinded but I could talk about music forever. Oh, as far as poker goes, I’ve been doing pretty well lately. Nothing huge but putting together wins here and there and lately it seems just about any day I play I’m going deep in something which is a great confidence boost. That’s all for now. Peeeace.
