Coachella 2014: Weekend 2 recap

Day 1

Photo curtsey of Emmanuel | @stick_e

Weekend two of The Coachella Music & Arts Festival kicked off with a fresh dose of punk-rock and blues from the Preatures on the Main Stage. Sassy lead singer Isabella Manfredi jump-kicked her body all around the stage, giving energy to every corner of the crowd. Everyone entering the festival early got an ear-full since they opened day one. From there, the likes of GOAT, MSMR and Jaguar Ma continued to infect brain waves and funky dance moves. Jagwar Ma changed perceptions on music, as many had never heard this band before. They know how to bring a crowd to its knees begging for more.

Weekend two of The Coachella Arts and Music Festival 2014 started with perfect overcast weather.

After that, it was a hop over to the Sahara Tent, which has never seen a larger crowd. Resembling an airplane hanger in the middle of the desert, equipped with enough lights to power Los Angeles.

The crowd lost control when Glitch Mob performed one of the most memorable sets of the entire weekend. Opening visuals and light that accompanied the stage made everyone feel as if they had seen something special.  Bobbing heads and bodies grooved to the beat until it was time for the bass heads to scatter once again to make their favorite closing acts.

Most stayed in the Sahara for Martin Garrix, Zedd and Michael Brun, while others ran across the polo fields to catch Ellie Goulding, Chromeo and Outkas. It was the first time Outkast had performed in 10 years and it really showed when the crowd had no rhythm or interest in their performance.

Day 2

Thanks to the overcast weather, day two was an easy start. After a few drinks and a nice stroll to the festival gates, walking into the Yuma tent with blasts of air conditioning and a shark disco ball swimming above felt like heaven under water. Aeroplane’s performance had the crowd moon-walking and jiving across the slippery wood floors to his well-known hit, “Reverse Skydiving.” Yuma drew a large crowd over a short period of time. It seemed like everyone had the same idea of cooling down before the heat came. It was finally time for an ice-cold beer in the Heineken beer garden, which went down easy while watching Cage the Elephant at the Coachella stage.

It wasn’t until the funky 80‘s influenced group, Holy Ghost, we really got down in the Gobi. The Catfish Beaver crew jumped and sang every song. We even jammed out to a fan favorite, “Dumb Disco Ideas”, emphasizing the lyrics ‘I need water’, adding to the collection of the weekend’s catch-phrases.

Following Holy Ghost was Washed Out, a more mellow group who showed off their talent. The mesmerizing voices and guitar riffs of Warpaint were heard while walking past the Mojave to be entertained in the Sahara by Dillon Francis. The crowd got hyped to neon visuals of burgers, pizza, and Francis himself. When the graphics turned pixelated, Francis blamed it on poor technology given by Coachella. He demanded the crowd to keep dancing, though.

Martin Garrix came out to finish the set with popular singles, “Without You” and “Get Low.” While a majority of Coachellans were outside jamming out with Capital Cities, MGMT and Future Islands, the real crowd of music lovers returned from their campsites to see the Pixies, Galantis, Queens of the Stone Age and Sleigh Bells. But it was back to push through the sea of excited fans in the Sahara for Empire of the Sun’s performance.

Next door in the Mojave were underrated Pet Shop Boys, who pioneered liquid drum and bass. It was then time to make way back to the Sahara to see Skrillex’s new spaceship and surprise appearance by A$AP Rocky, but after five minutes of trying to stand over the crowd to get a glimpse, it wasn’t worth the struggle. Ob the Outdoor Stage, Pharrell Williams featured a dose of hip-hop with Nelly, Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg as well as DJ Diplo and Gwen Stefani. Day two wrapped up with Arnold Schwarzenegger watching Muse close out the Main Stage, while Nas closed the Outdoor Theatre with megastars Jay Z and Puff Daddy.

Overview of the campsites and festival gates.

Day 3

Sunday morning at the campsite was struggle city for most, but after a breakfast burrito and an iced coffee, it was time to get pumped for what would be the most memorable of Coachella weekend two. Factory Floor, Bombino, Poolside, Flight Facilities, STRFKR and the 1975 were only a handful of performances who opened day three. Classixx shredded the Mojave to pieces, enhancing levels of serotonin, keeping the flow of bodies rocking every which-way. Blood Orange, The Naked and Famous and John Newman kept the momentum moving while the Catfish Beaver crew caught a unique dose of the downtempo, neo-soul group, Little Dragon, in the Mojave. As the beautiful desert sunset painted the sky with shades of orange and purple, it was time to visit Lana Del Rey at the Outdoor Theatre, whose emotional performance amplified to an emotional spectrum of love and heartache. At the Main Stage, Calvin Harris made history with the second largest crowd in Coachella history and the most attended set of the weekend.

Arcade Fire closes out Sunday night on the Main Stage with explosions of confetti and a sea of roaring fans.

Closing out the over-populated Sahara crowd were DJs Adventure Club and Duck Sauce, whose visuals and vibrations drew the young raver crowd. Meanwhile, Disclosure closed the Outdoor Theatre, competing with Beck’s once-in-a-lifetime performance on the Main Stage. It wasn’t long before the roar of thousands of fans screaming for Arcade Fire, intrigued all other Coachellans, leaving those performances high-and-dry.

Daft Punk miraculously fulfilled the wish of every festival goer and spiked their adrenaline when they came out on the main stage performing “Get Lucky.” Arcade Fire made fun of the DJ robot duo, introducing them as Phat Dunk, trolling the entire festival and disappointed hopeful fans. Despite the uncalled for opening, Arcade Fire melted-off faces and engraved themselves in the hearts of die-hard fans to help bring the 2014 festival to a close.

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