Prince, Portishead, Hot Chip

Posted Sunday, April 27, 2008 @ 02:58 in Events by Joshua Glazer

Ok, so just to get it out of the way, how good was Prince depends on where you stood (in more ways than one). First there is the physical realities of the Polo Field. Physics—electricity travels fasterthan air. So posted up in the VIP area, the mini-speakers meant to reinforce the sound actually run a split second faster than the main sound coming from the stage. In other words, The whole thing ends up sounding like shoes in the hairdryer. I'm 99% certain they make a little black box that can fix this problem. Coachella should invest in one.

But as Coachella head dude Paul Tollet once told me, "Sometimes someone is telling me about their Coachella experience, and I'm thinking 'What concert were you at?'" In other words, while we were griping about audio (eventually moving to the back of the field where things sounded adequate), our friends were 20 yards back from the stage losing their minds. The Purple one broke all Coachella records by playing until 1 AM, throwing down a well rehearsed set that opened with Morris Day and the Time and Sheila E. Prince finally got into some of his own hits, a rather limp "1999" and a fare more sultry and inspired "Little Red Corvette." Things stayed slow and steamy through a cover of Radiohead's "Creep" and a version of The Beatles "Come Together" so long that you have listened to all of Abby Road side one. It was a heater to be sure. But by the time the inevitable "Purple Rain" and "Let's Go Crazy" kicked things up, we were kicking up dirt in the parking lot.

Portishead had no such sound problems. Worth noting due to Geaff Barrows resent gripes about sound check. The Bristol threesome brought the field to it's knees with an hour long set of their one-of-a-kind gothic guitars and turntables. And speaking of one-of-a-kind, Beth Gibbons voice was elevated from it's usual haunting to utterly spine tingling in the hot and dark desert night. Some were concerned that the ultra moody and personal nature of Portishead's music might not translate to a crowd of 40,000. But if it's possible for that many strangers to be in the same place but completely in their own world, then Portishead made isolation a group sport.

 

This we nothing isolating about Hot Chip. Blessed with a set time that only overlapped with Dwight Yokam on the main stage, the dance-poppers were the obvious choice for what seemed like the whole Coachella crowd packed in the dance tent. Hot Chip has been honing thier live show for a good while now, the cart finally leading the horse with their new album obviously built upon their stage energy. With both the front and back of stage rammed completely, there was only on way to go. Up and down. Prince had everyone jump up and down. He called it "the quake." Inventing a new dance in 2008? That is something only the Purple One could pull off.

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