Clap Your Hands! COACHELLA 2006 (DAY 1) Review

Saturday, the first day of Coachella, we were in heavy traffic, but we still made it up to the front row for one of the first bands to play, The Like. I was hoping to see Head Automatica, who played first on the outdoor stage right before The Like, but we didn't make it there for their set. Since I always missed Head Automatica when coming to town, it made no difference. The Like was good live as was expected. They sounded beautiful. They're such sweet girls when I met them at the Virgin signing and people should definitely not pay attention to the opinions of some haters becuase they're just jealous that they're not as talented as them. Matt Costa was wonderful, but there isn't much to say about him since I was never a huge fan. I haven't heard enough from him and I still haven't heard enough from him.

Z Berg of The Like

Matt Costa

The next band that I went to see were The Walkmen. They were decent live. It was hard to enjoy their show from afar so I went straight for The Zutons. They're very very lively onstage presence and their saxophonist is awesome, but I only watched the first two or three songs from them because I was dieing of heat exhaustion so I decided to head over to the tents early to squeeze my way to the front for TV on the Radio later in the day.

The Walkmen


The Zutons

First band I saw in the Mojave Tent was Wolfmother. I've heard one song from them before, but I didn't think much of them until seeing them live. They are incredible. Probably one of my favorite performances I've seen at Coachella. It's hard not to rock out to them. I wasn't surprised to find that Danny Masterson was a fan as he was watching Wolfmother as well.

Wolfmother

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was another band that I wanted to watch, but didn't feel too excited for it. I was surprised. I was never a big fan of their album especially since I never had the interest in listening to it in its entirety and I only liked one of their songs, but I've had a change of heart after their performance. Their set included "Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away", "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth", and the favorite "In This Home On Ice". Their live performances are so much better than their recordings. I think the album has grown on me since then and I'm starting to appreciate it more.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

The band that I've looked forward to all day was TV on the Radio. I've always been a fan of their music and I've been interested in seeing how their live shows were. They have a unique way of blending rock, blues, soul, and they're very experimental I should say. They played old and new songs including favorites like "Staring at the Sun", "Dreams", and "Ambulance". I've heard from people that TV on the Radio are horrible live and some would rather listen to their recordings, but I must say that they are incredible live and their live sound is so much better than their recordings. Actually, live IS always better unless you're Ashlee Simpson.

TV on the Radio

So I saw a bit of Sigur Ros, Ladytron, Cat Power, Devendra Banhart, Franz Ferdinand (until the screen went blank), and Depeche Mode. Sigur Ros played my favorite song "Hoppipolla". Ladytron was interesting, but it bored me. Cat Power opened up with "The Greatest", which was fitting. Devendra Banhart was, well Devendra Banhart. I'm not really a fan of his so there's nothing to say. Franz Ferdinand was enjoyable, but seeing them before already and being front row I didn't want to waste my time. Between one of those sets I was in the SBC tent resting my ass off. And then I went into the next tent with the fake snow, which stunk like hell. I saw Depeche Mode, but for a brief moment. Afterwards, I watched a little bit of The Juan Maclean and then headed over to Atmosphere. Great great group! And then saw She Wants Revenge right after that, who are pretty good. I only remembered later that night that I wanted to see Daft Punk, but I forgot about their performance and my lazy ass wanted to sit down so I missed their spectacular, most talked about performance of Coachella.