Coachella Recap: Heineken Wishes And Chicken Finger Dreams

Jaded Insider is regretfully back and sitting at the computer after soaking in the 2007 edition of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival just outside Palm Springs, Calif. What can we say, other than, this was one of the best Coachellas yet. The three-day schedule (a first this year) and 102-degree heat on Saturday and Sunday could have been recipes for disaster, but kudos to everybody involved behind-the-scenes for keeping everything on track and 180,000 people rocking out as if their lives depended on it.

Coachella has a magic recipe, and probably always will. The natural setting (an expansive grassy field encircled by palm trees) is a wonder to behold, especially at twilight, and rarely do you wander into a tent and see an artist that makes you scratch your head and go, why them? Indeed, this year, J.I.'s crack team of reporters enjoyed at least parts of everything we watched and heard, which is a testament to the impeccable tastes of festival co-creator Paul Tollett and his staff at Goldenvoice.

One trend we noticed this year was the proliferation of Pro Tools bands -- groups with some live instrumentation but also a healthy reliance on computers and/or pre-recorded backing elements. The most successful ones (Hot Chip, LCD Soundystem) have great music to offer, but also something visual or performance-wise that listeners can connect with. In the latter case, Teddybears shined; the relentlessly uptempo music worked the crowd into a lather, but the musicians' giant bear headpieces and the film clips behind the stage (the Teddybear head superimposed into films like "The Shining, "Deliverance" and "Spinal Tap") kept the mood light and festive.

But it also comes back to plain old good songs. That's why the day one set from Jarvis Cocker (pictured) was such a revelation. When he sings about sad sacks who stay home, eat baked potatoes and look at Internet porn, you can immediately conjure these characters in your head. Same with the Arcade Fire, whose Saturday performance on the main stage was like a flashback to U2 at Red Rocks in the early '80s. It was a grand coming out moment for the guy "working for the church" while his "family dies" or shunning taking a dead-end job in a "building downtown" just because his father did. Coachella propels these things onto the biggest possible stages and makes them seem, rightfully or not, important.

On the other hand, Coachella is all about having a Very Good Time™, and groups like Hot Chip, !!!, Girl Talk and MSTKRFT were there for that very purpose. Sure, the dance-leaning Sahara tent smelled absolutely terrible by day three -- an unholy mix of sweat, pot smoke and manure from the nearby horse stables. But it would have been nearly impossible not to enjoy yourself in there, even if you just popped in for 15 minutes of Paul Van Dyk (who was fantastic) or the Happy Mondays (whose "24 Hour Party People" still moves the crowd, even if frontman Shaun Ryder himself seems incapable of moving at all).

A few other stray highlights from throughout the three days (earlier day recaps here and here):

-- The Comedians of Comedy was a genius booking and a perfect place to avoid the deadly afternoon sun on day one. Go see Zach Galifianakis live or Netflix his new DVD; he can transition from raunchy sex jokes to Steven Wright-esque observations ("At what age do you tell a highway it's adopted? It's going to start to realize, hey! I don't look like the Kiwanis Club...") with ease.

-- Amy Winehouse may not become a superstar here like she has in England, and her retro/soul thing borders on parody. But there's enough of a twist (she's the drunk, not the man; the band is full of men, including backing singers) to keep things interesting, and Winehouse herself has a marvelous voice. Her Friday performance in the Mojave tent was the first great one of the festival.

-- Sure, Bob Marley's sons have rested on their dad's classic catalog long enough. Yet, who can resist hearing them play "Could You Be Loved," "Exodus" and "Buffalo Soldier" just as the sun is beginning to set? Not us. Same goes for Ghostface Killah, who went to the Wu-Tang Clan well a few too many times during his set. We're a sucker for "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" or anything relating to the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, so we gave him a free pass.

-- Rage Against The Machine was the definition of a festival headliner with its Sunday night set. We'd estimate 85% of the 60,000 people were at the main stage for the foursome's first show in seven years, and they didn't go home disappointed. The sound was muddy for the first couple of tunes, but Rage quickly began laying waste to songs such as "Bombtrack," "Renegades of Funk," "Know Your Enemy" and "Guerrilla Radio." A rhetorical question though: was it in poor taste to perform "Bullet in the Head" (the title phrase of which was screamed repeatedly by Zack de la Rocha) so soon after the shootings at Virginia Tech?

-- The Black Keys routinely play to bigger crowds than they did in the Mojave tent on Saturday night, so the Akron, Ohio-based duo took the opportunity to stretch things out and jam on tracks like "Stack Shot Billy," "Busted" and "Girl Is on My Mind." Click here for a brief snippet of "Thickfreakness" shot by J.I. from side-stage during the Keys' set.

Aah, Coachella. We're already daydreaming about returning to your welcoming arms in 2008. Until then, keep the Heineken chilled for us and the chicken finger basket under the heat lamp, and we'll see you next year.