Well, another Coachella festival has come and gone (this is the 4th time I've had the pleasure of going) and once again I must say it lived up to all the hype. If you've never been, I'm telling you, you've gotta do it at least once in your life, it's the best live music festival going on in the United States right now. This year, (just like the previous three years) I was accompanied by film critic and music junkie Adam Mast. This year, however was the first time I had the honor of hanging out with punk-metal bruh Tyson Cantrell, and I have to say that he's much smarter, funnier, and uglier than people had lead me to believe.

This is also the first year that Adam and I have traveled in style, seeing as how he let us all ride in his swanky new Honda Odyssey, equipped with built in DVD player. All the way to Indio we quoted word for word from such film masterpieces as Blues Brothers, Weird Science, Total Recall, and Student Bodies (the greatest film no one has ever heard of). Not once but twice Adam made us eat at his beloved Shakey's Pizza, but that's okay, because I forced those two to eat at Popeye's fried chicken, the greatest fast food chain in all the land (please build one in Utah for the love of God!) If you happened to be in Palm Springs, and you were driving down North Palm Canyon on Friday night, you may have witnessed an older gentlemen with two younger lads carrying two cases of beer, and other assorted alcoholic goodies back to their Motel 6 room. That would be us.

Now let me give you people out there a word of advice: DON'T drink excessively the night before then go to a twelve hour concert in the friggin' desert the next day! It's not smart, I paid the price, and lets just say I learned from it. Even while massively hung over on Saturday, I still started the day off right with The Ravonettes. Even though they just missed my top five, their new material sounded great, and their cover of "My Boyfriend's Back" eased the nausea and headaches a bit. I also witnessed French instrumental group M83 in one of the tents, and even though they were great, having them play during the day in a tent is stupid. It should have been at an outside stage under the stars. If a scheduler would have pulled their head out and thought about that, it could have been a top five set for sure. Wilco were good as always, as was Spoon, even though they got stuck in an awful time slot at the same time as Coldplay on a smaller stage. The Kills and Weezer were mediocre at best, and MF Doom was actually better this year than last.

Sunday I was feeling much better, and I witnessed the much hyped M.I.A, and Fiery Furnaces. They were decent, but both were put to shame by the reunited Gang Of Four and an amazing set by Nine Inch Nails. All of these bands however were upstaged in my opinion by these top five:

5. The Futureheads - I didn't think there was any way a band with only one album could entertain the main stage at a 5:00 PM time slot, but boy was I wrong. Apparently touring with Franz Ferdinand all of last year taught them a thing or two about putting on a show. I certainly won't be missing them on their solo tour that starts next month.

4. The Arcade Fire - The fact that these guys weren't on the main stage was a crime. The fact that drew about as many fans as Nine Inch Nails should secure them a spot there next year. It also helps that they are every bit as good as all the hype.

3. Bauhaus - The goth legends return for a one off performance (their first in seven years), and they did not disappoint. Peter Murphy came out at the beginning dangling from a rope upside down looking like a vampire and they ripped through "Bela Lugosi's Dead," "In The Flat Field" and "God In An Alcove" in that order. Kick ass indeed.

2. Coldplay - Say what you will haters, but Coldplay are going to take U2's crown as biggest rock group in world one day, and they will do it because they put on the greatest live rock performances since U2, it's just that simple. New songs such as "Speed Of Sound" and "Square One" will be big hits just like all of their other ones you wait and see.
1. Black Star - Mos Def must be on top of the world right now. Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy is finally released, and a Black Star reunion with old mate Talib Kweli that was mind blowing to say the least all on the same weekend. Common was a surprise guest, and they had the honor of being the first hip-hop group to ever close out Coachella on the main stage. Simply amazing.

Biggest Disappointment (By Far!): New Order - It's bad enough that their new album is the pits, but it's even worse when half of their hour long set consisted of it. The other half was three piss weak Joy Division covers ("Atmosphere," "Transmission" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in case you were curious) and only four older tunes. Oh, and Bernard Sumner has to be the worst live performer of all time. I'd heard rumors, but Jesus how awful! Half the time he was reading the lyrics to the songs on monitors from down below, and while he was doing it, he was missing the microphone while trying to sing! Utterly embarrassing.

Well that's it for 2005. I'm certain Adam and I (and maybe even Tyson) will do this again next year, and so should you. See ya in 2006!