Coachella Day One roundup -- what you missed
INDIO -- The first day of Coachella has come and gone, and thanks to the mild weather (for Palm Springs) it was a fashion show of ironic T-shirts by the men, short skirts and hippie wear by the women and a collage of diverse sounds from the dozens of bands (from the wild Les Savy Fav, above, to the soulful Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings).
Day One featured some long-awaited reunions, most notably the UK pop group The Verve, best known for its bittersweet No. 1 hit and controversial legal battle with the Rolling Stones. Kevin Bronson wrote: "Bathing the healthy crowd in bright colors and psychedelia, Richard Ashcroft and crew played a set of old favorites such as 'The Drugs Don’t Work,' 'This Is Music' and 'Bittersweet Symphony' (the latter dirtied up nicely) and a couple of enticing new songs.
The other main stage reunion was delivered by The Breeders, led by former Pixies bassist Kim Deal, who doled out the old faves ("Divine Hammer," "Cannonball") as well as several cuts from their new CD.
More pictures and notes from Day One after the jump...
One of the more convenient upgrades to this year's Coachella was the Coachella Express, a special Amtrak charter that picked up festival-goers at Union Station and dropped them off in Indio, where they either caught cabs to their hotels or boarded free shuttle buses to the Coachella campground.
Chris Lee and Geoff Boucher reported:
As train rides go, it was definitely a trip. Fashionably scruffy L.A. music fans, many scanning their text messages more than the view out their windows, chugged Coronas, ate free ice cream and bobbed to the thumping beats of four disc jockeys set up in corners of the six-car express train. It was a decidedly 21st century remix of the classic concert road trip and, more than that, a symbol of the gathering new momentum of the festival as a pop-culture force.
The party train was decidedly international, the Times reported: Japan, Ireland, Australia, England, Canada, the Netherlands and Brazil.
The only real downers of the day was Jack Johnson's "clambake" guitarwork, and the fact that Fatboy Slim was nearly a half-hour late. Other than that, this reporter's favorite group was The Raconteurs, who truly rocked out, giving the crowd heaps of bluesy slide guitar with a hint of Led Zeppelin.
All photos by Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times from the Coachella Day One photo essay, except top photo of Les Savy Fav by Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times from the Down in Front photo essay
