TUIW Goes to Coachella: Friday

Grizzly Bear perform at Coachella

UIW spent the past weekend in Indio, CA for this year’s Coachella festival. We just arrived back in our respective homes, so we’re working on our reviews, which will all be up over the next two days. To start though, here’s our recap of Friday.

P.O.S.

A former punk rocker who has since incorporated more rap into his repertoire, Minneapolis’ P.O.S. started Coachella off with a loud and raucous bang. While it’s too easy to call him “rap rock” P.O.S. definitely comes from that mold.

Baroness

Those of us here at TUIW aren’t the biggest of metal fans, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying Baroness. Each of their songs sounds like the epic finale, but there’s always one more. Baroness didn’t have a huge crowd listening, but it’s safe to say that everyone there was having a blast.

Sleigh Bells

It’s not hard to understand why M.I.A. is so smitten with Sleigh Bells, who put on a manic freakout of a show. Internet hits like “Crown on the Ground” sounded even better live, and songs from their forthcoming debut LP were fantastic. Get ready world, here comes Sleigh Bells.

Yeasayer

We only caught a little bit of Yeasayer, but they drew a huge crowd to see them. Making the most of their patented blend of indie styles, Yeasayer put on a somewhat expected show, one without much variety from their records. The highlight though was easily “2080,” with it’s crowd pleasing screaming at the end.

Ra Ra Riot

Both of us were impressed by Ra Ra Riot’s live show, which had so much more energy than their record might have suggested. The songs were all so much more immediate live than they were on the record. A samples of their new record were pretty good, making that one we’re excited for.

Lucero

The best way to describe Lucero is if the Drive-By Truckers played up their Springsteen influence a bit more. With horns filling in the gaps between the Southern Rock riffs, Lucero made the most of the small, but ardent crowd listening.

Grizzly Bear

Clearly the year spent touring behind Veckatimest has improved the live versions of its songs by the band. Playing to an enthusiastic crowd, the band absolutely blew the doors off songs like “Fine for Now,” while playing quieter songs like “Cheerleader” with the perfect amount of frailty. Both of us had seen them play Bonnaroo last year, and easily agreed this was a much better show.

LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy and Co. picked up exactly where they left off with the first show of the This Is Happening tour. The jury’s still out on the new stuff, but classics like ‘Us v Them,’ ‘All My Friends,’ and “Yeah” sounded as good as ever, and Murphy even improvised a hilarious verse on “Losing My Edge.”

Jay-Z

Jay commanded a crowd of 75,000people like no one we’ve ever seen before and clearly had fun doing it. His set was one of the weekend’s most anticipated and Hova didn’t disappoint. He tore through fan favorites like “HOVA” and “99 Problems” and was easily our favorite of the weekend’s three headliners.

Fever Ray

Given how rare a show from Fever Ray (or The Knife, for that matter) is, her set on Friday night was a can’t miss show that didn’t disappoint. Backed by an awesome band and a trippy light show, Karin Andersson played all the key tracks from her solo debut and ended the first day on a high note.