McDowell Mountain Music Festival

I pretty much attended this just to see the Flaming Lips, it was only 20 bucks anyway. I saw a lot of awesome bands in the time in between but I didn't record much, I had better things to do.

When I saw Matisyahu at Splendour in the Grass in 2006, he played a “meh” set until King Without a Crown when he and his band suddenly became the most fun, loud and tighest machine on the planet. This time it was just meh the whole way.

Matisyahu - McDowell Mountain, Phoenix, 25/04/2009 - 1 hour 1 minutes - 87.9mb

The Flaming Lips were totally and completely amazing. People at home better have their tickets to this already. Confetti, Teletubbie suits (that don’t fit me), gongs, megaphones with smoke machines, awesome covers and huge screens. It was weird that 2 out of the 3 Yoshimi songs they played were basically turned into crowd sing-a-longs minus any instruments.

Wayne played a guitar with two necks, one of the necks being a Guitar Hero guitar, as well as a bugle, appropriate for ANZAC day. Drozd played another double necked guitar, but with one neck broken off. At one point a pink robot costume was thrown at the stage and the band took turns in wearing it.

I did catch a drum stick. Score again. Makes up for trying on a purple Teletubbie outfit and being told it doesn’t fit and to return to the crowd while d-bags like Johnny Knoxville and Steveo get to keep theirs.

Recording is in Mono.

Setlist
Intro
Race for the Prize
Lightning Strikes the Postman
Purple Rain (Partial)
Borderline
Fight Test
2009
The Process
Happy Birthday
Vein of Stars
Mountain Side
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1
Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung
The W.A.N.D.
She Don’t Use Jelly
Encore
Do You Realise???

The Flaming Lips - McDowell Mountain, Phoenix, 25/04/2009 - 1 hour 34 minutes - 79mb

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Day Three

The day that contains all the reasons I went to Coachella. Cured all my technology problems (though the first two bands I taped of the day, No Age and Vivian Girls, fucked up, but that was my fault.)


The Night Marchers? JON REIS! Absolutely amazing. Very similar to Rocket From the Crypt and a few Drive Like Jehu elements to it. The crowd was absolutely tiny, but then again it was 1pm. It was so good to finally see John Reis in the flesh but it was weird to see that he recognised and personally welcomed half the crowd.

The Night Marchers - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 53.2mb - 37 minutes

Fucked Up were one of many bands to start early, I missed the first song but it’s sweet from there on in. Crazy crazy crazy show. I don’t know what he did but he cracked his head open during the second song and spent the entire show bleeding on the crowd. Also played a Black Flag cover with No Age. Really enjoyed this one. Sound is real dodge at the start as I'm putting my mics on but it gets decent a little bit into it.

Fucked Up - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 66.8mb - 44 minutes

Pretty regular Brian Jonestown Massacre fare, no rambling. Features Matt Hollywood and Joel Gion. Also Zia McCabe on Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth. Not a single word was spoken by Anton the entire time.

Setlist
Whoever You Are
Vacuum Boots
Got My Eye on You
Nevertheless
Servo
Not if You Were the Last Dandy on Earth
Anenome
Who?
That Girl Suicide
When Jokers Attack
Oh Lord
Satellite

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 72.9mb - 50 minutes

Antony and the Johnsons were absolutely beautiful. Lots of problems with the PA though. They came on stage 10 minutes early and only played for 30 minutes when they were supposed to play for 50 which was odd, but all of it was fantastic. Pretty sure the set got abandoned due to all the problems and for "trying something different"

The way the music is played live is completely different from what I ever would have expected.

Antony and the Johnsons - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 47.6mb - 33 minutes

Man, Yeah Yeah Yeahs are popular in America. The crowd was huuuuuuuuuge and was the only time I encountered douchebags at Coachella, the rest of the time they were amazing.

Warning time though, this recording is pretty average. Only download if you really want to hear the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, if you’re all uppity about your quality turn away, about half way through I get bored and walk off to buy some water, and then I start pushing my way through the crowd to get a spot for My Bloody Valentine.

Setlist
Runaway
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Honey Bear
Black Tongue
Human Fly
Zero
Cheated Hearts
Skeletons
Soft Shock
Maps
Heads Will Roll
Y Control

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 83mb - 57 minutes

Absolutely bloody amazing. My Bloody Valentine along with the Cure are the two main reasons I came this festival. We were handed ear plugs on the way in, I knew it was going to be loud. They really eased us into it, the first minute or so was actually quite quiet, but then it took a huge step up, then another huge step, and then another huge step and then my ears hurt, they also turned all the speaker stacks on in stages as well, so the sound jumps around a bit in I Only Said. I peaked way to early, I went nuts when they played When You Sleep second. I couldn’t have been happier with this band than I was on Sunday.

And yes, there was 15 minutes of feedback.

Setlist
I Only Said
When You Sleep
You Never Should
Cigarette in Your Bed
Only Shallow
Thorn
Nothing Much to Lose
To Here Knows When
Slow
Soon
Feed Me With Your Kiss
You Made Me Realise

My Bloody Valentine - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 100.9mb - 1 hour 10 minutes


The Cure? Only like my favourite band ever.

Absolutely perfect. Set starts off a bit slow but really picks up. I had several pant shitting moments, when they didn’t open with Plainsong I thought all hopes of hearing Disintegration were gone, I actually dropped my camera when they played the intro, I thought I was imagining things, and I finally got to hear Fire in Cairo.

They played 40 minutes past curfew and had the power cut on them, but they still continued to play with just the stage amps and monitors, I was close enough to be able to capture all this with my mics. The sing-a-long to these songs are probably the highlight of my show attending career. They even had a lady who stood on the wings of the stage facing the crowd that did sign language to every word of every song. So pleased with everything about this show. Pleased abot being fourth row. Pleased with the set list. Pleased with the atmosphere. Pleased with the best ending to a show I’ve ever experienced.

Setlist
Underneath the Stars
Prayers for Rain
A Strange Day
alt.end
The End of the World
Love Song
To Wish Impossible Things
Pictures of You
Lullaby
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
The Perfect Boy
Wrong Number
Push
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Primary
Shake Dog Shake
The Hungry Ghost
Disintegration
One Hundred Years
It’s Over
Encore
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
The Kiss
Encore
At Night
M
Play for Today
A Forest
Encore
Three Imaginary Boys
Fire in Cairo
Power Out
Boys Don’t Cry
Jumping Someone Else’s Train
Grinding Halt (Intro)

The Cure - Coachella, Indio, 19/08/2009 - 246.6mb - 2 hours 50 minutes

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Day Two

Started my day with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, was pretty straight forward but very good. Ariel Pink is honestly a miniature person. This recording is in mono.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 27.6mb - 36minutes


Finally got to see Liars, absolutely killer set and the day was just excessively hot by this point. Left channel screws up a little bit in the first minute or so and is then fine from then on in. Also in a long series of bands to come on stage 10 minutes early but I missed nothing, that’s just him sound checking as I turn my equipment on.

Setlist
To Hold You, Drum
Freak Out
New Song
A Visit From Drum
The Garden Was Crowded and Outside
New Song
Clear Island
New Song
Loose Nuts
Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack!
Plaster Casts of Everything

Liars - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 62mb - 42 minutes


TV on the Radio on the mainstage. Pretty solid performance, nothing on their Metro Show, shat all over Big Day Out. Features Katrina Ford on Wolf Like Me and Staring at the Sun. I also tagged it as the wrong date if you want to fix that.

Setlist
The Wrong Way
Golden Age
Crying
Wolf Like Me
Blues From Down Here
Young Liars
Red Dress
Dancing Choose
Staring at the Sun

TV on the Radio - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 65.4mb - 45 minutes


I don't think Band of Horses really suit festivals, just every they've ever recorded is amazing so you miss out on so much no matter what. Really enjoyed this set.

Setlist
The Great Salt Lake
Is There a Ghost
Weed Party
The General Specific
Marry Song
No One’s Gonna Love You
The Funeral
Wicked Gil
New Song
Ode to LRC
New Song

Band of Horses - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 70mb - 48 minutes

At this point I had a complete technological melt down, my iRiver kept pretending it was full, my camera just mysteriously died and basically there is no documentation for the rest of my night. If I knew what I knew now the full sets I did manage to get before running into the error would have still survived, but alas, no Fleet Foxes, Junior Boys, Glass Candy, Chemical Brothers, Turbonegro or Gang Gang Dance for you guys.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Day One

I'm here! I'm fucken here!

I'll probably skip through all the hoo-haa bout how all amazing this was and skip all the bands I saw and didn't record, because who wants to hear me speak about those?


I’ve always been half-half on Los Campesinos! They make incredibly awesome music but have some of the most cringe worthy lyrics ever. They were the first band I saw at Coachella and they were all kinds of awesome. Gareth jumped into the crowd during a song and managed to try and gouge my eyes out. The entire band crowd surfed to the back of the tent during the last song and then walked off casually. I caught a drumstick and generally had an awesome time. I am no longer half-half on them. Probably like 90-10 now.

Setlist
Ways to Make it Through the Wall
The International Tweexcore Underground
Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1
My Year in Lists
Death to Los Campesinos!
Miserabilia
This is How You Spell “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux Romantics”
Knee Deep at ATP
Box Elder/You! Me! Dancing!
We are Beautiful, We are Doomed
Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

Los Campesinos! - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 68.7mb - 47 minutes



Because I went totally AWOL at Laneway this year I missed Buraka Som Sistema and heard nothing but rave reviews the next day. They were intensely fun. Highlight being when they got the entire crowd to get down on the ground and then just go nuts on the count of 4. The sheer energy of this set actually comes through really well on the recording.

Buraka Som Sistema - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 49.3mb - 35 minutes

How's this for an amateur mistake. Went and saw the wonderful Leonard Cohen, pressed record, didn't flick the hold switch on, dropped it back in my bag and hit the stop button accidentally about 8 minutes into the set. He was amazing though guys.

Finally see Morrissey in the flesh. Left quite disappointed. He just wasn’t into it at all, someone in the crowd said that he was probably bitter about always playing second billing but I don’t know about that. Made a lot of comments about meat and then pretended that he couldn’t sing Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others because he needed to gag over the smell of burning animal flesh.

And you can bet that he for sure as shit took his shirt off. Three times.

Setlist
This Charming Man
First of the Gang to Die
Black Cloud
Girlfriend in a Coma
Irih Blood, English Heart
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
When I Last Spoke to Carol
Some Girls are Bigger than Others
I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Seasick, Yet Still Docked
The Loop
Sorry Doesn’t Help
Ask
Let Me Kiss You
How Soon is Now?

Morrissey - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 85.7mb - 56 minutes

Paul bloody McCartney!

In the Top 5 shows I have ever seen. I cannot fault this performance in anyway. He dedicated My Love to Linda McCartney who died 11 years ago that day, the crowd was completely silent. The pops you hear during Live and Let Die are the sounds of the craziest pyro/fireworks show I’ve ever seen during a performance. He played everything I could of dreamed of hearing and more. The only thing that bummed me out was that he played A Day in the Life as part of a medley but it was a totally insigificant point within the entire performance. Just read the set list for proof of him playing ev.ry.thing.

Another problem with the performance that’s reflected in the recording is that as the set went on it kept getting louder and louder so it starts to distort a bit of the way into it. Not too bad though, kinda dissappointing though.

Setlist
Jet
Drive My Car
Only Mama Knows
Flaming Pie
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
Honey Hush
Highway
The Long and Winding Road
My Love
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Calico Skies
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Sing the Changes
Band on the Run
Back in the USSR
Something
I Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance
Let it Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore
Birthday
Can’t Buy Me Love
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Encore
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End

Paul McCartney - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 218mb - 2 hours 29 minutes