Posts by Drew Barrett4

jonsi, tea, and the whole crew... Look, NOBODY—and I mean absolutely nobody—is forcing you to show up at a festival... It’s entirely voluntary, mind you, and you actually have to shell out for a ticket too :P — if it doesn't suit you, then don't come, simple as that!

And one more thing: take a look at what žednouhi wrote in those two posts on the last page and maybe try to pull yourselves together a bit.

Amanda Barrett4 said:I don't know—I trust her.
And why would he suddenly turn bad? 🤷 He wouldn't...

Sorry, honey, but your logic is—to put it mildly—completely bizarre.

First off, I never for a second thought that Coachella would book Kings of Leon. Why?

Because they are one of the most expensive and sought-after bands on the planet right now—and our festival simply doesn't have the budget for that. Besides, they wouldn't even show up; their schedule is absolutely packed, and they're being extremely picky about where they play.

Second—you say they'll be in New York City at that time, but unless we've discovered teleportation, a band can't exactly be in two places at once, wouldn't you agree?

Third—take a look at this:
http://www.kingsofleon.com/pages/tour

So, go ahead—decide for yourself whether you'd rather believe a friend or the official data right there on the artist's own website.

OMG! I honestly don't know why I even bothered typing this out. I must be losing my mind. 😁

Mark Cox15 said:Honestly, if they just keep the Budweiser Stage lineup similar to what we saw this year, I'm happy—that’s really all there is to it. The energy over there was easily the peak of the whole festival. My only real gripe—and it's a massive one—was the unbearable stench of the mud; honestly, it was just poorly planned. But that's the gist of it: the location and the stage setup were total garbage. No video wall, and then you've got punk, reggae, and drum 'n' bass... maybe next year they should move it over to where the Motorola stage is. In my opinion, that stage was a complete miss—hardly anyone hung out there.

That’s a fair point—this so-called "third stage" (if you can even call it that) completely overshadowed the second one—not just in terms of crowds, but in terms of artist quality as well, if I dare say so. Because of how things were laid out, people definitely stuck to the Motorola stage less. Looking back, I actually think that worked out fine; the Budweiser Stage was killing it with the massive crowds, whereas that second stage is more of a "pass-through" spot where you glance at a set if you happen to be walking by (I barely caught anything there this year because everything overlapped too much, and frankly, it wasn't even my cup of tea). If that crowd had been moved to the end, the turnout would have been even worse. I suspect the Budweiser Stage could become a real staple of the festival, provided the organizers actually want it to be.😉

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the sheer absurdity of the current scene—it’s all noise and no substance lately. Everyone seems to be chasing the same tired trends, running in circles like they’ve forgotten what actual music feels like. It’s exhausting, frankly. You see these crowds at festivals like Coachella, acting like they’ve discovered something profound, when really they’re just following a script written by some marketing firm in Los Angeles. There’s no grit left. No soul. Just a polished, sanitized version of what used to be a movement. It’s all very predictable, and quite honestly, a bit insulting to anyone who actually cares about the art form. kaže:
I don't know what kind of official numbers they're throwing around for last year's festival, but let me tell you—this year felt like half the crowd. Fifty thousand people? Yeah, right. My ass. 🤣🤣

A few people have already chimed in regarding how they’re crunching the numbers—and by that logic, we’re looking at a total of maybe 50,000 over three days, which honestly feels spot on. You probably had around 10,000 on day one, followed by two days where things hovered around the 20,000 mark—which is pretty much what I witnessed. Last year saw similar crowds, though there was a key difference: this year, all three stages were pulling serious numbers and staying busy, whereas last year the Budweiser Stage felt relatively thin most of the time. Of course, estimating attendance is a messy business—people wander off, find a spot to lounge, show up late, or head out early—it's never an exact science. But hey, if the organizers are happy with the turnout, more power to them. Personally, I’m perfectly satisfied. It’s that sweet spot where the crowd is large enough to build a great atmosphere, yet not so overwhelming that you can actually see the performers without fighting for your life. Last year, the headliners basically sucked in the entire audience toward the main stage—partially due to how the set times were laid out—but that wasn't really the case this time around. Just look at the final day: while Massive Attack had the lawn nearly packed, the Dropkick Murphys set was absolutely slammed. 😉

We’re just sitting here waiting for next year. 🙂

Full sets watched:

Alice in Chains. - 🙂 Top-tier, professional, and absolutely relentless—it was pure satisfaction.

LCD Soundsystem. - 🙂 At first, they were a bit too modest—maybe even a little too cautious—and honestly, the setlist was a bit of a miss. The crowd wasn't exactly primed for them either. But once things finally started heating up and everyone caught the vibe? They were actually incredible.

Broken Social Scene - 🙂 It was an incredibly solid set—exactly what I was looking forward to, honestly. There were about five hundred people packed right up against the stage, mostly die-hard fans and regulars, creating this really great, high-energy atmosphere.

The Flaming Lips. Just thinking about them—it’s hard to pin down exactly what they represent in the landscape of American rock, isn't it? They aren't just a band; they're more like a psychedelic sensory experience that happens to involve loud guitars and Wayne Coyne’s relentless optimism. Some people find the spectacle overwhelming, perhaps even a bit much, but I’ve always maintained that their ability to blend high-concept art with genuine, raw emotion is something you simply don't see anymore in the mainstream scene. It’s a deliberate, calculated kind of chaos, yet it feels entirely unforced. - 🙂 It was almost perfect—the only thing that really threw me off was how he tried way too hard to manufacture that atmosphere right at the start, combined with those damn long-winded speeches.

Flogging Molly. - 🙂 I haven't actually sat through a single set by Massive or Molly before—honestly, I'd avoided them—but for the finale, I decided to stop being a killjoy and just go for it. And man... what a total knockout. It was an absolute blast, a night for the books, killer performances, great sound quality, and easily the best energy of the entire festival.

Bands I’ve only caught for maybe thirty minutes or less:

Massive Attack - 🙂 Total bores—though, if I’d actually stayed focused from the jump, maybe things wouldn't have felt so lackluster. Instead, after that absolute mess during Flogging Molly, everything just turned into a massive drag.

Kawasaki 3 p, TBF, Dubioza Kolektiv Everyone seemed to have their own way of being good—in their own particular, albeit flawed, fashion.

Pendulum - 😕 I honestly don't get it—it was almost funny how mediocre the whole thing was. It was all just more of the same, really—just repetitive rhythms and that so-called singer who spent more time acting like a hype man than actually performing.

Off-topic:

Billy Idol - 🙂 It was nothing more than a glorified spectacle designed for people who just want something to laugh at—though, to be fair, the sound quality was actually top-tier and their musicianship was solid—but the actual substance? Absolutely abysmal. Please, I’m begging you, stop booking these kinds of pretenders to perform at an otherwise incredible festival like Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

The sound quality at the main stage—it was just... well, there's no polite way to put it without being dishonest. It was subpar. Truly.

The main stage—for the most part—was actually quite solid. My only real gripe? The vocals. It felt like they were dialed back way too low during almost every single set. It’s a bit frustrating, honestly—especially considering how nearly perfect the sound engineering was last year.

Sony Ericsson stage (the second stage)—I barely watched anything there—honestly, the sound quality last year was pretty abysmal.

The sound at the Tuborg stage was actually spot on—just right, honestly. No complaints there.

All things considered, this was a stellar year for the festival. I’ll be blunt—the headliners were a bit of a letdown compared to last year, when Franz Ferdinand and Moby absolutely crushed Billy Idol and Massive Attack—but the rest of the lineup? Phenomenal. Truly top-tier, and honestly, a massive step up from the previous edition. You can tell just by how much buzz there was surrounding the twenty or so different acts on the roster. The final day, in particular, was incredibly dense and high-quality—I’d go as far as to say it was probably the single best day in the entire history of the festival.

Posted: $97Well, I just got this—absolutely priceless. 🙂

To be fair, their bio is actually pretty solid, but I’ve seen them at least ten times now—and I’ll probably see them ten more—so they weren't exactly a revelation for me.

Alice in Chains is just, well, incredibly good. The sound was very solid—it could have been better, sure, but it was perfectly decent. As for the crowd, it was just okay, though I realized after seeing them live for the first time yesterday that I don't quite know how to react to them. Their music doesn't exactly trigger this wild, chaotic energy. Most of it is mid-tempo or even slower. The absolute peak for me had to be Man in the Box. 🙂 The setlist was great. Overall, I’m satisfied. If anyone was worried about who would step up after Layne Staley, then William DuVall is definitely the right choice. He fits in seamlessly; you can tell he has massive respect for Layne, yet he stays relaxed about it all. A genuinely cool guy. I watched some performances on YouTube from a few years back, and back then, it didn't seem to mesh nearly as well.

Regarding those people who don't listen to AIC—I completely get why they might not have been interested. To truly appreciate what they do, you actually have to know the material. 😉

Moving on, the act I'm most hyped for today is LCD Soundsystem, and I'm going to try to catch Pendulum, Rise Against, and Billy Idol.

Rain ponchos$16 — honestly, the quality is top-notch. They come in a decent variety of colors too—yellow, blue, green, and red. 😁

Check out Iglu Sport over on Main Street—it’s right across from the Greyhound Station. I was there yesterday and they still had at least 30 of them in stock.

Gregory Wood41 said:The point is, the Law of Heaven shouldn't align with anything else here.😁

As for the most critical choices—decisions I’ve been weighing—here is my current ranking:

LCD Soundsystem vs. Rise Against
Rise Against is great, don't get me wrong, but it’s LCD Soundsystem all the way for me.

Pendulum vs. Billy Idol
What a mess... though I'm still not entirely certain about Billy Idol's current form. I'll give him the edge simply because I doubt I'll get another chance to see him live, and if he fails to deliver, switching over to Pendulum is an easy pivot.

The Flaming Lips vs. Skindred
I caught Skindred back when they opened for Gogol Bordell at The Fillmore. They're decent enough, but you really only need to hear a song or two. Edge goes to The Flaming Lips.

Massive Attack vs. Flogging Molly
Ugh, this is the toughest one. Flogging Molly is easily the most high-energy, upbeat band on the lineup, and I was genuinely looking forward to them—but passing up Massive Attack just for them? That's a hard call.

I'll have to decide once I see how much energy I actually have left by the final day; I might end up choosing either Massive Attack or Flogging Molly depending on the mood!

Just a few thoughts regarding the schedule—the lineup timing. My gut feeling is that this year everything is going to overlap so much that you'll be forced to pick sides, essentially sacrificing certain bands entirely just to see one act. It brings to mind last year, when the organizers actually made an effort to prevent scheduling conflicts between the two main stages, and for the first day, it worked almost perfectly. For instance, you could catch nearly the entire sets of Kraftwerk (Main Stage), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (second stage), and Franz Ferdinand (Main Stage) with overlaps that never exceeded about 15 minutes—since the third stage was dedicated to Metal last year, those clashes didn't really matter given the massive genre gap.

The second day, however, ran into some issues that resulted in a total technical and organizational meltdown on the second stage, while the Main Stage stayed on track, causing the whole thing to descend into chaos. In any case—I genuinely appreciated the attempt to ensure most sets on the main and secondary stages didn't clash (this year, we're looking at the T-Mobile US stage and the Budweiser Stage—I’m treating the Sony stage as a third tier because the quality of acts there lags significantly behind the other two).

One could argue about the very necessity of the Sony stage; nothing spectacular ever happens over there. If they had just cut out a bunch of those minor, insignificant bands, they could have organized two properly functioning stages instead. I want to highlight a few specific overlaps—where entire sets are clashing—that honestly make my stomach churn. This shouldn't have happened; if it were up to me, I would have scrapped the Sony stage entirely:
LCD Soundsystem vs. Rise Against,
Pendulum vs. Billy Idol (a complete disaster—who on earth put this together!??!??),
The Flaming Lips vs. Skindred
and the absolute peak of the mess: Massive Attack vs. Flogging Molly.

There is a mere 15 damn minutes between the start times, and when you consider that headliner sets usually run between an hour and 15 minutes to a maximum of an hour and 30 minutes—it means there will be dead air on both stages. There will be periods where absolutely nothing is happening on either side. I'm guessing this might happen around 8:30–9:00 PM and again from roughly 10:30–11:00 PM—which, in my opinion, is unacceptable. I don't understand why they didn't schedule the headliners to perform exclusively on the Main Stage. Again, I am ignoring the Sony stage because the real clashes are happening between T-Mobile US and Budweiser—actually, it just occurred to me... please tell me the Budweiser stage isn't tucked away in those mosquito-infested fields like the Metal Stage was last year. If it is, OMG!!!??? Someone said it better somewhere else: there aren't many good acts this year, and they've managed to botch the scheduling of almost all of them. It makes zero sense to me. Those four overlaps I mentioned speak volumes. I realize scheduling a festival is a nightmare, but they could have handled this much more effectively for the sake of the attendees—to allow us to actually see more music. As it stands, by the fourth pair, we’ll be forced to choose one name and miss the other performer almost entirely. Not good! 😢

In conclusion: the third stage (Sony) is unnecessary unless it features a completely different musical vibe (like the Metal stage last year) where scheduling doesn't matter. They should focus on creating a superior schedule for the two primary stages with the heavy hitters (like they did back in 2009), and everything would be much better. As it stands, my impression is that they've crammed too many quality acts into overlapping slots. That's it.

Hopefully, we won't get too much rain. 😉

quietcobra said:So the plan is either show up for just one day because Pendulum is playing, or commit to the whole thing—or just skip it entirely. Interesting approach...
I’ve been sitting here grinding through the rest of the lineup, praying I’ll stumble onto something actually decent, but honestly? Everything feels pretty mid. Just a bunch of "meh" tracks.

Wait, let me get this straight—so Pendulum is the only thing you actually care about, and for everything else, you're just now listening to them and deciding they're all garbage too? Seriously? 🤷

Kenneth Rodriguez58 said:they’re predicting bad weather,but the irony is it’ll still be sweltering. 86 degrees plus rain equals 👎

Honestly, where is this coming from? There is absolutely no way they can accurately predict rain for June 21st right now. If you ask me, the weather is going to be perfect. 🙂 Just look back at last year—it was pouring rain 15 days before the festival and 10 days after, yet during the actual festival dates, we didn't see a single drop... even though the forecast the day before was terrible. 😉

Jeremy Perez4 said:They aren't just going to play songs from this specific immersion—the mosh pit is better than an orgasm!

Look... just take a look at the setlist from a few days ago. They don't just stick to the recent stuff; they'll play all the big hits: Slam, Tarantula, Voodoo People (The Prodigy cover)...

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pendul...-53d4c715.html

There are also setlists for the other artists from Coachella here, so a person can actually prepare themselves properly! 😉

Tyler Howard46 said:well, you did bring it up, tbh

that’s basically like mentioning the Fourth of July—it's just part of the landscape at this point.

Exactly—spot on, Einstein! 🤣

So, I’m sitting here listening to the new album right now, and honestly—I haven't even figured out what to make of it yet. All I know for certain is that "Z" was an incredibly tough act to follow, so this one really needs to be something special if it's going to surpass it.
Just a quick side note—someone brought up Band of Horses earlier. I have to say, that vocal style they've got going with James is unlike anything I've heard before, but personally? It just didn't do it for me.
My Morning Jacket rocks! 🙂😁
I was checking out their US tour dates for the year today, and the closest show is way up in Seattle, which is definitely not a quick trip from here. 😢