A daddy break...

So occasionally, we do pop a little something on here that is a bit unrelated to the kids. I'm taking this opportunity to talk about a trip I was able to take to Indio, California last week to attend the Coachella Music and Art Festival with our mutual best friend Kerry. Holly thought that this would be a great chance for me to recharge and do something special midway through my leave. I love my wife.

I had a really good time. I got to see about 20 or so bands play, some of which were absolute favourites that were not coming to Canada any time soon. I was able to soak up the sun - all 38+ degrees of it. I got to see a part of North America that I'd never visited before. And of course I got to sleep long, uninterrupted hours every night for a week. OK, so maybe not that last part. But I suppose I could have . . . :)

The trip lasted from the 13th (travel day: Ottawa - Montreal - Chicago - Palm Springs) to the 19th (travel day: Palm Springs - L.A. - Chicago - ...oops, flight cancelled due to lightning and hail - night in Chicago airport - Washington D.C. - Ottawa) so I was actually on the ground from the 14th to the 18th. Literally, as the first four of those nights were spent tenting at the Coachella site. Mornings were spent relaxing/recuperating/preparing to beat the heat. Acts starting hitting the stage around noon and each day's headliner typically played until 1 am or so. Here are a bunch of pictures from the adventure.


Our jazzy and high-tech Coachella wristbands...the keys to the kingdom!

A self-portrait of the intrepid adventurers, front row for Broken Social Scene.

A view of the crazy throng of people as they milled into the concert venue at the start of each day.

Here's an aerial view of half of the car-camping area: about a 2-football-field-sized space filled with spots where a vehicle could back in and pitch a tent behind the vehicle. Obviously, lots of people camping this way. At the far back of the lot, there are a couple of white tents - this was the general store for the campers while the concert venue was closed. About a football field further behind those white tents are where we camped. So, lots of walking.

An aerial view of the Mojave Tent. This was one of the smaller places to catch a concert, believe it or not.

The al fresco food court by the general store - where we ate before the concert venue opened for the day...well, until we discovered the grocery shuttles that took us to stores where we could get comparable food for 65% cheaper :)

Lineups for the showers. Actually, they were a lot longer at peak times in the morning.

One of the dumbest things I've ever seen. These folks decided that the best thing to do in the narrow walkway between rows of cars in the car camping area would be to set up a horseshoe pitch. Seriously. You can just see the horseshoe above the tallest white SUV-like vehicle.

These water trucks did laps through the grounds all day, every day. The water sprayed was meant to keep the dust down. It was very dry and the heat got up to 35-38 degrees over the weekend so a lot of staff were wandering around with bandanas over their mouths to keep from breathing it in.

A sunset picture on Sunday. The only day we saw clouds of any kind.

A lemon tree. We also saw grapefruit and orange trees on the side of the road. And a palm tree that seemed to have a bunch of dates clinging to it.

So Kerry and I looked pretty normal. Lots of others, not so much. Here are a couple of people who may look pretty out there, but were not the minority (that would be Kerry and me).

Wow.

Man or muppet?

Yes, kids. There were quite a few kicking around the ground. Not enough wearing appropriate ear protection, if you ask me. But then again there's no way I would have brought kids to Coachella. This was part of a sustainable energy info site where a DJ stage was partly powered by people see-sawing, swinging and running in hamster wheels. This couple decided to entertain their kids while helping power a little Erol Alkan reworking of MGMT's Congratulations. Sweet.

The grounds also featured a number of giant art installations, which all lit up and/or did crazy things at night. Here are photos of what were supposed to be like giant dandelions (in front of Interpol's performance on the Main Stage) and some weird flagella-like things which were solid yet wiggled and shimmied as if the wind were blowing them. Weird AND cool.



In the foreground is a large pagoda-like structure which offered great shade during the day. Behind it is a Giant Wheel that made for a great backdrop to the concert grounds as well as a great way to get an overhead view of everything.

This is not an art installation. A camper left their site in this state after pulling out on the last day. Impressive.

Oh yeah, I suppose I should post some pictures of the artists I actually saw...just to prove I did partake in the music part of things.

Excision at the DJ tent. Didn't really know much about this guy (Albertan industrial dubstepper, as it turned out), but this just shows the electronic tent off a bit. Lots of bass, great light show and packed noon to midnight.

Gogol Bordello on the Main Stage. This shows how big the stage is as well as how easy it is to keep track of the action on the gigantic screens. It was a hyper-energetic show that had the crowd going crazy.

Crystal Castles at the Outdoor Stage (well, the Main Stage was outdoors too, but I suppose they had to call it something). The lead singer had broken her ankle and was performing in a stabilizing boot and with a crutch. Didn't stop her from stage diving though. I believe someone got clocked on this manoeuvre and needed attending to afterward. One of the shows I enjoyed the most.

Leftfield in the Mojave Tent. I was reasonably excited to see these house/dub legends but nobody else was (the tent was really empty). I had plans to bounce around and see some other shows, but then these guys blew me away and I pretty much stayed for the whole thing. Awesome.

Kanye West on the Main Stage. This picture was taken from quite a distance away and it was solid people between me and the stage. Scads of hits, bombastic performance, elaborate choreography and a great way to close the festival.

Thanks again Holly. I can't wait to see what you end up doing for your next big solo adventure! Thanks also to everyone who helped make Holly's time easier while I was away :)

P.S. I should also mention that I'm very proud of my t-shirt collection and that I carefully selected which shirts to wear in order to elicit a response from my fellow concert-goers. My picks from days 1-3 scored two comments and one extended discussion, one per shirt. On day 4, though, my "Keepin' it Riel" Louis Riel number scored a discussion, three high-fives and scores of "Louis!!!" chants. Well, at least from the Canadians. Americans gave me an endless string of puzzled "That ain't Che. I don't get it" looks. Thanks for the shirt, mom:)

Addendum: I've been asked a few times what my favourite shows were and I completely forgot to address that in this post. Here are my top 10, in grade order:

A+ : Crystal Castles, Mumford & Sons (just found out they're NOT playing Bluesfest...BOOO!

A : Leftfield, Arcade Fire, Robyn, Kanye West

A- : Brandon Flowers, Erykah Badu, NAS & Damian Marley

B+ : Lauryn Hill