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Totally Late Coachella Report!

Posted by: Brink | Wednesday, July 4, 2007 | 2 comments

Arto gets trippy

Arto's life of leisure...

Coachella? Personally I was done with it two years ago when New Order played.

It’s dead hot—like an oven. Some people aren’t built for this weather. You don’t see many polar bears on the beach, you get me? You tend to spend most of your time playing “dodge the sweaty tourist.” I would liken the event itself to a buffet, There’s loads of boss variety but you only have one stomach.

Your mates want to go and see some emo shite, when you couldn't live with yourself if you missed the corpse of Shaun Ryder doing his best to look animated.

The Happy Mondays appease the taxman.

For all my griping, I still attend. Me and Arto got free tickets from gorgeous Goldenvoice employees, Lindsey and Natalie, so it was rude not to go. Ta, girls.

Ass!

Arto ventured out on a motorbike to meet cosmic vampire hunter and occasional skate photographer Gabe Freeman, somewhere in the desert for some Easy Rider-style action.

I missed all that malarkey due to grown up commitments.

By the looks of the photos, they had a quality adventure. But that’s a different story. Sod’s law, what you Americans would refer to as Murphy’s law. You get free tickets to a show people are paying a shed load for on eBay and miss all the bands you really wanted to see.

So onto the show. I go there Saturday and meet Arto at the hotel. He has the international playboy routine down. Cocktails by the pool and all that.

We swindled a ride to the show from some Japanese disco rockers by telling them we were in a band called Secret Squirrel. Kids… remember, a lie is the truth if you believe it.

At the event we got jockeyed round backstage by Lindsey on a golf cart and played the quality festival game of “point at the celebrity and laugh.” When was the last time you saw Paris Hilton in a golf cart? I didn't even bother to take a photo of her incase my camera got germs.

I can’t really remember the lineup, and I was sulking after missing the Jesus and Mary Chain reunion. So the rest of the bands that were good live were Placebo, Lilly Allen, Air, Explosions in the Sky, Teddy Bears and Manu Chao.

Arto likes horses

Bands that were rubbish were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine and the Good the Bad and the Queen. So, pretty much the best part of Coachella was lurking round backstage with the baby, trying to get into mischief.

And that’s it. I’ll probably eat my words and go back because the lineup is too good to miss most times. It would just be better if it were hosted over a week’s time in nice cool forest.

So yeah, thanks to Goldenvoice’s stellar employees for the free tickets, golf cart rides and daddy juice!

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