Morgan Liggera
If music pumps through your veins, sustaining you just as the oxygen in your blood does, you must have been at the recent Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The three-day event featured more than 130 bands on five stages. A one-day pass to the event was $90 and a three-day pass was about $270, but it was easy to get your money’s worth. Every band took the opportunity to express their excitement about being part of the festival. The cries of Canadian band Metric’s vocalist Emily Haines still rings in my ears: “Coa-chel-LA! Coa-chel-LA! Coa-chel-LA!”If anything, it made the desert sun more bearable knowing the bands were fighting the same heat, but with a harder task at hand than those in the crowds – to keep people entertained. Daily temperatures exceeded 100 degrees, but by nightfall it cooled down enough to wish for a sweater. All in all, I saw around 30 bands, the highlights for me being Architecture in Helsinki, Sons and Daughters, Death Cab for Cutie and Metric.This all-ages event wasn’t necessarily a family atmosphere, as indicated by the ever-present smell of marijuana and the occasional display of drunkenness. CBS reported 85 arrests, most involving drugs, and 37 injuries over the three-day event. The L.A. Times reported that a 21-year-old man who attended the festival died April 28, after he was found at his campsite. The cause of death is unknown, pending toxicology results, and is the first death involving the festival since its start in 1999.Headliners Jack Johnson, Prince and Roger Waters seemed ill-fit compared to the rest of the lineup, which included Death Cab for Cutie, The Raconteurs, Portishead, The Verve, Serj Tankian, My Morning Jacket and many other lesser-known bands.Johnson seemed to cater to a different audience than most of the festival’s attendants, and I watched very little of his set. Prince, who headlined Saturday, was 20 minutes late, but he performed with nothing less than his usual fanfare and showmanship, backed by a number of musicians including Sheila E. and Morris Day. “You are at the coolest place on Earth tonight,” Prince said. On Sunday, Pink Floyd die-hards were everywhere as Roger Waters, bassist and lyricist, would be performing a two-and-a-half hour set. I watched for about five minutes total, and happened to see his giant inflatable pig fly into the night sky from across the field. It seemed odd, and it was later reported to be an accident, with a $10,000 reward and four life-time Coachella tickets offered for its return.By the end of the festival, I was filled with a feeling that I had just experienced something completely unlike anything I could remember, and I had: Coachella.