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Coachella 2012: Mazzy Star drifts through the festival

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Anyone who’s ever been to Coachella, or any music festival, understands the idea of ‘the moment,’ that magical, jewel-encrusted feeling you get when everything clicks -- the sound, the lights, the emotion, the music -- and you feel at one with the world.

When Mazzy Star did ‘Fade Into You,’ its languid, drifting love song, one of those moments arrived. The band had just finished an early gem, ‘Ghost on the Highway,’ which was fading out as I arrived from seeing a little bit of the Rapture at the Mojave tent. A touch of silence had seeped into the noise.

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Singer Hope Sandoval broke the quiet by calling for a bartender -- to no avail -- and then guitarist David Roback, whose melancholy guitar lines have oozed across Los Angeles since his early days in the Rain Parade, Clay Allison and Opal, drew one of his lonely notes. Fans on the periphery jogged closer, but from afar you could see not only Sandoval on the video screens, but also the expanse of Coachella, the palm trees, lit red and green, and the clouds drifting above.

COACHELLA 2012 | Full coverage

‘I want to hold the hand inside you,’ sang Sandoval, and her voice seemed to carry for miles, ‘I want to take a breath that’s true.’

I stood for a moment, then started moving toward the impending Black Keys show. The Ferris wheel was glowing, and one colorful sculpture resembled giant cosmic sprouts. The sky seemed low; the breeze was pushing the clouds, which glowed red and blue from the lights below. The whole feeling probably lasted a minute, tops, but it’ll stick for long after.

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-- Randall Roberts @liledit

Times pop critic Randall Roberts experiences a lovely, transcendent moment as the band

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