Cynics might say that a Coachella crowd needs to listen to Nottingham, England, band the Sleaford Mods. They might say that this is the perfect crowd to be faced with the Mods’ tunes mocking bands that try too hard (“DIWhy”) and trendy culture (“So Trendy”). Sadly, they didn’t play the former on Sunday but they did play the latter.
They were superb. Anti-tory, pro-labor, and swimming in punk poetry, the Mods’ set was a resounding success. There are elements of a contemporary John Cooper Clarke about the vocal delivery and lyrics, and that’s no bad thing.
After the glory of Angele on Friday, we were happy to hear some more French-language music. Christine & the Queens‘ style is very different — far darker and introspective — but no less memorable. The songs are half and half-ish French/English, and that works too.
“[My] first Coachella was very impressive, quite a milestone for a French artist like me at the time,” Chris told us last week. “Got me dreaming a bit bigger but you also know as a performer, a stage is a stage, I remember the sand in my nose and my dancers so thrilled to be there and our white t-shirts in the desert, and my big stilts cause I did ‘Saint Claude’ perched on them, theatrics as always. The second Coachella was a deep performance at night, then my whole life changed so I remember less the festival than the city where my world shifted forever.”
There were no stilts this time, but there was “Saint Claude,” and some killer dance moves, Plus, a cover of the Chilis’ “Under the Bridge.”
My god though, Belgian electronic act 2manydjs were incredible. The Soulwax boys blasted in with the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” and before the end we’d heard some Wet Leg and New Order mashed together with all manner of dance brilliance.
Honorable mentions for Sunday go to indie rockers Momma, Neo soul star Kali Uchis, Brit DJ paring Sasha & John Digweed, LA band Cannons, blossoming starlet WILLOW, and of course the orchestral, drone-enhanced sounds of Bjork.
But never has a festival needed a bit of metal more than this year’s Coachella, and it came in the form of Kentucky hardcore crossover troupe Knocked Loose. Unrelenting and uncompromising, the band threw themselves into songs such as “God Knows” and “Billy No Mates” with impressive fury, and the Sonora Stage crowd whipped itself into a wild frenzy. It was like everyone was waiting for this band like a coiled spring, and the release was glorious.
