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(Click here for the full Coachella 2004 Photo Album)

“Yes I’m jumping like a jumping jack / Dancing screaming itching squealing fevered feeling HOT HOT HOT!!!”
� The Cure “Hot Hot Hot!!!”

If there was ever a weekend that deserved the phrase “hot hot hot!!!”, Coachella would be it. Two days of fantastic music = HOT. Two days of 100+ degree temperatures = HOT. Two 7+ hour drives between the Bay Area and the blast furnace known as Indio, California = decidedly not hot. But two out of three ain’t bad. And now that my sleep patterns have returned to something approaching normal, I can put the weekend into perspective and start counting the days until next year.

Over the past five years, Coachella has become one of the best and most respected music festivals in the country, if not the world. And while the lineups have always been impressive, this year was completely over the top: The Cure. Radiohead. The Pixies (!). Mogwai. Kraftwerk. The Flaming Lips. Basement Jaxx. Crystal Method. Beck. Stereolab. Belle & Sebastian. About two dozen top-level djs. And plenty of other established and up-and-coming bands to fill out the five separate soundsystems.

It’s pretty much impossible to see every act at Coachella. But here are my thoughts on some of the artists I experienced:

��Radiohead: For me, the best show of the entire festival. What really impressed me about their set was their ability to take songs that sound flat on the albums (ie: the bleepy experimental ones) and make them rock out in a live setting. They also seemed to be having a lot of fun, which really rubbed off on the audience. And yes, they did play “Creep” at the end of the set, which surprised pretty much everyone.

��The Pixies: Considering that the Pixies haven’t existed as a band for the past thirteen years or so, it was impossible to know what to expect. And considering that Frank Black now resembles Curley from The Three Stooges and Kim Deal looks like a suburban mom, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if their performance was flat. Thankfully, this was not the case at all. They ripped through an energetic set that included all the big hits (”Debaser”, “Here Comes Your Man”, “Monkey Gone To Heaven”) and concentrated mostly on their earlier albums.

��The Cure: While it was a good set by Robert and company, there were a couple that nagged me about their performance. For one thing, they went on about 25 minutes late. And their setlist was geared very much toward a festival crowd, with a heavy concentration on popular singles (”Just Like Heaven” “Love Song” “Inbetween Days” “Lullaby” etc.). While I was hoping for something a little more esoteric, there were several high points. For one thing, The Cure played at least three new songs from their upcoming album, which will probably be a must-purchase. They also played a fantastic version of 1981’s “Charlotte Sometimes”, which I’ve never heard before in a live setting. So best, to steal a little whatevs.org vernacular.

��Mogwai: Counting Coachella, I’ve seen Mogwai live four times. So their set wasn’t exactly a revelation. But damn, are they a good live act. It’s a shame that their timeslot was right before The Cure; about halfway through their set a LOT of audience members (including us) had to drag themselves away to stake out a claim at the main stage.

��Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: BRMC was cursed with perhaps the worst soundguys of the entire festival; during the course of their first five songs, instruments and vocals were dropping in and out of the mix at an almost comical level. They finally had to resort to pulling out acoustic guitars, which was our cue to check out something else. Let’s face it, on their best days they sound like a cross between The Jesus and Mary Chain and every other rock band anyway…so it wasn’t a huge loss.

� Death Cab For Cutie: A solid band who I would enjoy a lot if I experienced their act in a typical venue. But the incredible heat made it hard to concentrate after a few songs. Sorry guys.

��Dizzee Rascal: I really don’t get the massive amounts of buzz that Dizzee Rascal has gotten. I tried to keep an open mind during his set, but basically it was just unintelligible lyrics yelled over a pre-recorded backing track. Yawn.

There’s more to Coachella than just music and heat, though. I had the opportunity to connect with some other people who populate the (for lack of a better term) “blogosphere”. Massive respect goes out to Jess and the Detroit contingent of Uncle Grambo, Peabs and Damore. If you want some alternate viewpoints of the weekend’s ups-and-downs, you can do no better than visit their sites and revel in the buzz…Obvs. Other well-deserved shout outs: Mitch for being the ace wheelman and toughing out Saturday’s heat while fighting an allergy-induced fever. DJ Karl K for randomly staying at the same hotel as I did. And although I didn’t get the opportunity to hang out with Live 105’s Madden (cellphone reception being pretty much a crapshoot), I owe him a drink for making the weekend possible.

Overall, Coachella was a cracking good time…I wonder who is on the lineup for next year?