Posting up what is in my opinion the weakest line-up in years, the legendary Coachella Music and Arts Festival has just announced the 2011 line-up, walking forward into the new decade with a parade of limp-wristed nonsense.
I have to admit though, amongst what is an otherwise uninteresting and expected list of bands there are a few surprises that have me very excited. Ms. Lauryn Hill, PJ Harvey, Death From Above 1979 are all great acts and the sort of acts you expect to get announced at Coachella, acts you’ve been dieing to see for years, even Duran Duran is at least a somewhat interesting choice. Also, it’s great to see locals bands like Cut Copy, Tame Impala and The Presets doing well (even if I shudder to consider that that is what the world thinks Australian music is like, the fact Empire of the Sun is on the line-up in my mind being to me the most worrying cultural issue in recent history, …ahem… wikileaks) and for the nerds out there OFWGKTA are on the bill, as are Tokimonsta and Lightning Bolt, so there is some stuff to get excited about, but overall compared to the line-ups of previous years there is a marked lack of that “oh my fucking god!” quality the festival is famous for.
I mean, in 2010 they had Faith No More, Public Image Limited, Pavement, Sly & The Family Stone, Devo, Echo & The Bunnymen, Orbital and Gary Numan. In 2009 they had Paul McCartney, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Morrissey, Leonard Cohen and Throbbing Gristle, not to mention other years where headliners have included Bjork, Rage Against The Machine, Prince, The Pixies and Tool? To follow-up such a track record with Kings Of Leon, Arcade Fire and Kanye West just seems a little lazy, like they couldn’t find anyone better. Don’t get me wrong though, while I might not be the biggest fans of these bands I acknowledge the fact that they make music that appeals to a lot of people, they are very successful and popular and definitely deserve high billing. I mean who am I to say they shouldn’t be headlining? But looking across the whole line-up and comparing it to those of years past, it seems to me to be overly peppered with bands who we will have forgotten about in five years time once the trends pass them by, and seems to me to be yet another symptom that the festival has gotten too popular for its own good.
Anyway enough of me ranting at you here’s the line-up day by day/
Friday April 15
Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, Interpol, The Chemical Brothers, Caifanes, Robyn, Sasha, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Brandon Flowers, Crystal Castles, Magnetic Man, Erik Morilla, Cee Loo Green, Cut Copy, Cold War Kids, Sleigh Bells, Boys Noize, Afrojack, Flogging Molly, Warpaint, Ozomatli, Tame Impala, Nosaj Thing, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, A-Trak, !!!, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Kele, Marina and the Diamonds, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Monarchy, Here We Go Magic, Klaxons, Titus Andronichus, Cold Cave, The Drums, The Morning Benders, Sander Kleinenberg, Glasser, Moving Units, Excision, OFWGKTA, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, The Aquabats, Skrillex, Brandt Brauer Frick, Scala & Kolacny Bros, Gypsy and the Cat, 12th Planet, Breakage, Hurts, Clare Maguire, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Beardyman, Mount Kimbie, Jakes, Kyle Hall, Emicida
Saturday April 16
Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Mumford & Sons, Bright Eyes, Empire of the Sun, Big Audio Dynamite, Steve Angello, The Kills, The London Suede, Broken Social Scene, One Day as a Lion, Erykah Badu, Paul van Dyk, Fedde Le Grand, Scissor Sisters, The New Pornographers, Gogol Bordello, Cage the Elephant, The Swell Season, Schpongle, Laidback Luke, Elbow, Daedelus, Delta Spirit, Two Door Cinema Club, Jenny and Johnny, Foals, Fat Freddy’s Drop, The Tallest Man On Earth, Cults, The Radio Dept, Chuckie, Raphael Saadiq, Lil’ B, Yacht, Wire, Electric Touch, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Joy Formidable, Phosphorescent, Francis and the Lights, The Love Language, Gayngs, DJ Hype, DJ Marky, Joachim Garraud, The Henry Clay People, Freelance Whales, Mariachi El Bronx, The Twelves, EE, Bomba Estereo, Andy C, SBTRKT, The Felice Brothers, Trampled By Turtles, Mary Anne Hobbs, Alf Alpha
Sunday April 17th
Kanye West, The Strokes, Duran Duran, The National, PJ Harvey, Death From Above 1979, Wiz Khalifa, Ratatat, Nas & Damian Marley, Jimmy Eat World, Axwell, Sven Vath, Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, Chromeo, Duck Sauce, Neon Trees, The Presets, Leftfield, Best Coast, Lightning Bolt, She Wants Revenge, Jack’s Mannequin, Green Velvet, Fistful of Mercy, HEALTH, Jack Beats, CSS, MEN, City and Colour, Foster the People, Angus and Julia Stone, Yelle, Delorean, Trentmoller, Phantogram, Twin Shadow, OFF!, Tinie Tempah, Plan B, Caspa, Riva Starr, Joy Orbison, Menomena, fun., Good Old War, Ellie Goulding, Rye Rye, Eliza Doolittle, Bunkers, High Contrast, DJ Zinc, New Pants, Thunderball, Gord Downie, Tokimonsta
