Coachella Trip Day 2 (The festival begins)

The Snail creeps it's way across the festival grounds

Welcome to Coachella Festival 2013! I planon putting up a more comprehensive post on all the bands that I saw the "Destinations" page, so for now I think that I'll just touch on a couple highlights from yesterday then scurry off to the shuttle bus for Day 2.

Metric

The middle of the day act that I was excited to see and did not disappoint was Metric who put on an awesome performance on the main stage. It was interesting that the band that preceded them was a good example of how a band could be very good on a smaller stage but looks very pedestrian on a larger stage. So after one disappointment, Metric took the stage and went in the exact opposite direction and positively owned the stage and the crowd putting on an exceptionable mid day performance.

The Palma Violets

After that I made my way back to the Mojave Tent (which had a stellar lineup all day long, and is where I spent most of my time) and caught a band that I had sorely underestimated, The Palma Violets who proceeded to unleash one of the best performances of the day! Their bass player thundered through their set like a pissed off Matt Smith and drug the crowd in with an unstoppable intensity. An unexpected and fantastic show.

Nick Caves performs with Grinderman

Both of the headliners on the Mojave Stage were also a better option than either of the main stages (which were featuring either Blur or Jurassic 5). The first was Grinderman. The promoters that booked the festival, in their infinite wisdom, decided to bless us with a Nick Caves double feature. His band Nick Caves and the Bad Seeds will be headlining on the main stage on day 3, but his other project came out to rock the smaller venue last night which was incredible. Nick Caves is a legendary showman and thrilled the crowd with his rawkus performance.

How To Destroy Angels

The final show of the night was one that I have been looking forward to for some time. Trent Reznor's side project, How To Destroy Angels has been much anticipated around the country, and this would be their third performance. Their stage show featured the band performing most of the set behind a semi-transparent screen, which added a mysterious and beautiful component to the performance. The audience was only able to see the artists as a series of silhouettes which focused more attention to the music. The final product was less a rock concert and more of a performance art project which once again places Trent Reznor firmly in the category of "genius".
There was much more to see and describe but I've got to hop my shuttle bus and get back to the festival. One thing to look forward to is that I got some excellent video to also post up so get ready for that as well. See you all tomorrow!