Last week’s concert was good, but couldn’t really compare to Gogol’s show at Coachella in 2007.

Oddly enough, Eugene Hütz did not do any drum surfing at this show. I thought that was pretty standard at Gogol concerts. Also, the crowd wasn’t as into it as the one at Coachella. They were rather sedate, actually. I think there were a lot of people who had been dragged there by friends and weren’t really into this crazy dude jumping around with a fire bucket, singing in Ukrainian and English, and waving around a copy of Taras Bulba. Near the end, Hütz started singing Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”, which was pretty random.

Overall, Gogol put on a good show despite the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm. If you ever have a chance to see them live, I highly recommend it.

Interview with Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hütz on his experience as a kid living in Ukraine during the Chernobyl accident. I’m seeing Gogol at the 9:30 Club in a few weeks and can’t wait. One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen was their show at Coachella in ‘07.

For many detainees who grew up in Afghanistan — where music was prohibited under Taliban rule — their interrogations by U.S. forces marked their first exposure to the pounding rhythms, played at top volume.

The experience was overwhelming for many. Binyam Mohammed, now a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, said men held with him at the CIA’s “Dark Prison” in Afghanistan wound up screaming and smashing their heads against walls, unable to endure more.

“There was loud music, (Eminem’s) ‘Slim Shady’ and Dr. Dre for 20 days. I heard this nonstop over and over,” he told his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith.

Apparently, on a flight out of Minneapolis, he sat next to Tom Morello, lead guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, which as you all know, is one of my favorite bands that I even flew 3,000 miles to see reunite (although I can’t say that I agree with them on most of their political positions):

Earlier this month I was flying home to Los Angeles from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, which I attended as a pundit, not a politician. Sitting next to me on the flight was a charming young man named Tom Morello. Ruthless questioning elicited the fact that he is the lead guitar for a fabulously successful band called Rage Against the Machine.

This band sings about inequality and oppression in the world, mostly, as far as I can tell, in the Western world, and, these days, mostly in George W. Bush’s world. In the process, all of the band members have become well-heeled indeed. Raging against the machine — which I am morally certain is done by the band with utmost sincerity — pays well sometimes. I must add that Mr. Morello is a gentleman and amazingly talented and that I would be happy if I had his composure.

Wonder if they were sitting in first class?

And honestly, my first reaction is “Meh.” BRING BACK RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE!

This year’s headliners: Jack Johnson, Portishead, and Roger Waters. I listen to Jack Johnson occasionally, like when I want to pretend I’m at the beach instead of this cesspool city, but there is no reason he should be headlining.
Portishead…zzz. And Roger Waters playing Dark Side of the Moon? I guess that would be cool if I was, like, 30 years older (ok, admittedly I do like some of Pink Floyd’s stuff).

Flogging Molly and Gogol Bordello always put on an amazing show, and it would be cool to see DeVotchKa, Cold War Kids, and the Streets, but overall this lineup is very underwhelming. Don’t think I’ll be wasting the vacation days on this one.

I didn’t really take many photos at Coachella due to my laziness, so a majority of these I stole from Kat. And yes, I realize this happened like two months ago.

This one photo pretty much sums up the entire weekend

Jack’s Mannequin

Some beautiful desert scenery

Kat, Danielle, Laila

Willie Nelson

Not really concert-related, but this is my friend Lindsey and her then nine month old son, Hayden. When Kat picked me up from the airport and said that Lindsey, a friend of ours since first grade, was meeting us at In-N-Out, I was stoked because I had never met Hayden. He is seriously the cutest baby ever…and a true SoCal boy at heart, as he kept lunging for our double doubles and fries (sorry dude, you still gotta eat baby food for now).

This is by far the best footage I have come across of RATM’s performance at Coachella. I have no idea who shot it, but it looks like a rough cut of some professional footage. This video includes “Testify”, “Bulls On Parade”, and “People Of The Sun”.

click here to see more videos like this

Tom Morello, no doubt one of the best guitarists of all time. Nice to see a guy who graduated from Harvard with an honors degree in political science make a name for himself, eh?

The reason I never write about concerts is because, in general, I suck at reviewing them. I have to write about Coachella, though, so forgive me if this totally sucks or if I use the word “awesome” way too much. Pictures will be up later. I’m liberally sprinkling YouTube and professional photos throughout this post to give you some eye candy.

Day 1 – I’m not drunk, I just haven’t slept
My flight out of DCA left at 6am. I thought it would be quiet and relaxing – I mean, Jesus, who flies to Houston at 6am besides businessmen? Unfortunately, I was inundated with annoying middle schoolers in matching maroon sweatshirts, all of them on a simultaneous caffeine and candy high. I switched planes in Houston and landed in Palm Springs before noon. Kat picked me up and we met up with Lindsey and Danielle at In-N-Out. It’s a tradition that my first meal upon arrival in the Great State of California has to be a double double – been that way since I was a freshman at GW.

Danielle and I headed out to the Empire Polo Fields in Indio (location of Coachella) shortly thereafter. The traffic was a nightmare, compounded by the fact that my hometown had been inundated with idiotic East Coast drivers. (“New Jersey? WTF are you doing here? Hell no we’re not letting you in our lane!”) By the time we got there, the temperature was hovering around a balmy 100 degrees (oh, trust me, it gets much hotter there). Teenagers roamed the fields and scavenged through recycling bins in search of ten empty water bottles, which they could exchange for a full one. Personally, I opted to spend the $2 per bottle.
That night I saw the Arctic Monkeys, Interpol, and Gogol Bordello. The Arctic Monkeys and Interpol were good…nothing to really write home about. Gogol Bordello, however, put on an amazing show. They were playing opposite Bjork, but the crowd was much larger than I expected. Gogol Bordello, if you have never heard of them, is a punk band composed of immigrants from Eastern Europe. A Slavic Flogging Molly, if you will. The lead singer, Eugene Hütz, is an absolute madman who enjoys crowdsurfing on a large drum. Check out the video below:

If you get a chance to see these guys live, jump on it. The music has a Slavic twist to it with an accordion and violin that will have you dancing around like a fool in no time. They were the last band of the night, which was great, because by then I had been up for 24 hours straight with three hours of sleep the night before, and was subsequently staggering around like a drunk without the benefit of actually being drunk ($7 for a Heineken?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!). Trying to leave the concert was an absolute clusterfuck, as you had thousands of cars trying to get out and no cops directing traffic. It took us TWO hours to get out of the parking lot. WTF?

Day 2 – it’s not hot, you’re just weak
The first band I saw was Jack’s Mannequin, a solo project of Something Corporate’s lead singer Andrew McMahon. Something Corporate, which is now kinda defunct, was one of my favorite bands – nice SoCal rock with some piano thrown in. Jack’s Mannequin’s performance at Coachella was solid, and I loved hearing them perform “Bruised” live (“Vacation’s come and gone too late / There’s so much sun where I’m from”).
Next up was Travis. I had never heard of these guys even though they have apparently been around for quite awhile, but Olga raved about them so I decided to check them out. They were pretty damn good, although I could barely understand a word the lead singer was saying, his Scottish accent was so thick.
Saw the Decemberists next. Gotta love a band that’s kinda named after the boys of 1825, although I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t play 16 Military Wives. In between the Decemberists and Arcade Fire we met up with my friend Kim, who was lucky enough to be covering the concert for WORK. I shoulda been a journalist.

I started listening to Arcade Fire a few months ago at the suggestion of my roommate, Mike, and they put on an amazing show. Definitely a crowd favorite. The final band we saw that night was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. There’s not much to say about the Chili Peppers. As expected, they were awesome live. And yeah, they played “Under the Bridge”, with a crowd of 60,000 singing along.

Flea, with RHCP

Day 3 – THE DAY RAGE REUNITES! “What better place than here? What better time than now?”
First up was Kaiser Chiefs. I became quite familiar with these guys while living in London, as it seemed every third song played on the radio was “Oh My God” ( “Oh my god I can’t believe it / I’ve never been this far away from home”). I love Kaiser Chiefs, but they just didn’t sound that good live. Whatev.

Ryan and headed over to the main stage a few hours early in order to get a decent spot for Rage Against the Machine. We had to stand through Crowded House, some Australian band I’ve never heard of. They were alright, I guess…I wouldn’t buy their CD or anything. No idea why Coachella put them so close to RATM, though. Really effin’ idiotic, as the hardcore RATM fans in the front were throwing bottles at Crowded House and chanting “RAGE RAGE RAGE!” I felt kinda sorry for those poor Aussies.

Manu Chao with Radio Bemba Sound System played after Crowded House. Oh…My…God…these guys were amazing. I’ve never heard any of their music before, but I was impressed with their entire setlist. Intense mix of rock, reggae, ska, a few foreign languages thrown in…these guys really blew me away. I had no idea what they were saying, but they kept screaming California, so that’s gotta be something.

FINALLY, the last band of the night, the last band of Coachella 2007, the only band I would fly 3,000 miles to see reunite…RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE.

Ryan and I had a decent view…we were probably about 30 feet in front in front of the soundbooth. I found myself surrounded by half-naked, sweaty men wearing bright orange “Drive out the Bush regime” bandanas, shouting “RAGE RAGE RAGE!” RATM walked on stage and Zack shouted “Good evening, we’re Rage Against the Machine from Los Angeles, California!” The crowd went nuts. SEVEN LONG YEARS WITHOUT RAGE! Abandoned in our time of need! With everything that has been going on these past seven years, we could have had five new, angry albums!

They opened with “Testify“, the Battle of Los Angeles anthem railing against our runaway oil consumption and subsequent military intervention in the Middle East (“Mister anchor assure me / That Baghdad is burning”).

Yeah, kinda like this

All hell broke loose when Morello started on the main riff. The crowd was packed so tightly where we were that I was literally picked off the ground and moved 10 feet left then 10 feet right, then 5 feet front, and 5 feet back – my feet weren’t even touching the ground. It was like some sort of bizarre tug of war using human bodies. The heat was suffocating, and I managed to take a knee and elbow to the head from some crowdsurfer. A few guys were being carried out, all bloodied up. It was freakin’ intense. After the first two songs, I moved back about 15 feet where it wasn’t as packed, and the air was a bit, uh, fresher. A moshpit formed to the left of me, and to my right, three guys climbed on top of the soundbooth, with security following soon thereafter.

That’s gotta hurt

Setlist:
01 “Testify”
02 “Bulls On Parade”
03 “People Of The Sun”
04 “Bombtrack”
05 “Bullet In The Head”
06 “Down Rodeo”
07 “Guerrilla Radio”
08 “Renegades Of Funk” (my current ringtone, ooooh yeah)
09 “Calm Like A Bomb”
10 “Sleep Now In The Fire”
11 “Wake Up”
12 “Freedom”
13 “Killing In The Name” (with a little improvisation thrown in “Some of those who hold office are the same that burn crosses.”)

At one point, during “Wake Up”, the crowd cheered loudly as Zack called for the Bush administration to be “hung, and tried, and shot”:

“A good friend of ours said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. Presidents as were applied to the Nazi’s after World War II, then every single one of ‘em, every last rich white one of ‘em from Truman on would have been hung to death, and shot. And this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. But the challenges that we face, they go way beyond administrations. Way beyond elections. Way Beyond every four years of pulling levers. Way beyond that, because this whole rotten system has become so vicious and cruel, that in order to sustain itself, it needs to destroy entire countries, and profit from their reconstruction, in order to survive, and that’s not a system that changes every four years, it’s a system that we have to break down generation after generation after generation after generation after generation. Wake up!”

WARNING: Political rant about one minute in

I was like, whoa, did he just say that? And poor Jimmy Carter, what did he ever do to deserve that fate? And aren’t you supposed to try a person BEFORE hanging and/or shooting them?

The last song of the evening was “Killing in the Name.” It was like seven years of pent up anger exploded at the end, with a crowd of 60,000 screaming “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!” over and over.

“Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!”

I was so amped after that set I wanted to put on a bandana and start throwing molotov cocktails at Wal-Mart. The only “raging against the machine” I managed to accomplish that night, however, was pushing my way past a security guard who was yelling “This exit is for wrist bands ONLY!” But that exit was closest to where we had parked, and we were in no mood to walk all the way around the polo fields. Allllll hell can’t stop us now!

The very next morning I was on a plane headed back to DC. Back to reality, working for Big Energy, filling up the 14mpg SUV, and thinking, hmm, business school…maybe I’ll give that a try.

There are very few things I regret not doing, but I have the feeling that if I did not go to this concert I would have really regretted it. I saw one of my favorite bands reunite after a seven year hiatus…and yeah, I’ve got the “Battle of Coachella” shirt to prove it.

In a few hours, actually. My plane leaves DCA at 6 effin’ am. Layover in Houston, and then I should arrive in Palm Springs a little after 11am.

I will probably have a lot to write about when I return on Monday, and maybe even some photos. You know how much I love to take photos.

I need to get some sleep.

It’s yet another rainy and cold day here in our nation’s capital, which translates into canceled Wiffleball games, copious amounts of green tea, avoiding the torrential downpour and flooding streets, and, god help me, watching Billy Joel music videos on YouTube.

You’re soooo hardcore, Billy

This all started when, out of pure boredom, Mike and I started comparing the famous people who we share our birthdays with. I, sadly, have the same birthday (May 9) as former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and the esteemed musical artist and Russophile, Billy Joel. I wonder if everyone born on May 9 has a slight obsession with Russia, due to it also being Den’ Pobedy. Billy, though, seems to put out really sappy Cold War ballads (i.e., “Leningrad”) whereas I tend to pursue useless, and very expensive, academic degrees. I don’t know which is worse, but he does have a lot more money in his bank account than I do.

Anyways, Mike and I discovered that, while in middle school, we both had to do class projects on his famous 1989 song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Even before this sixth grade project, I was quite familiar with this song, as my Dad was (still is?) a huge Billy Joel fan and would often play his tapes in the car (that, along with Toto and Meat Loaf and Boston and Tom Petty and ohmygod I can’t believe I left my Walkman and Pearl Jam tape at home, I’m going to start banging my head against the window now).

The actual “project” consisted of our world history teacher playing the song over and over and over to the point where we had all memorized the lyrics and loved shouting “JFK BLOWN AWAY, WHAT ELSE DO I HAVE TO SAY?” in the hopes that our principal, a Catholic nun, would walk by at that very moment. I don’t remember actually learning anything with this particular assignment, but I did make a kick ass poster by cutting up a few volumes of National Geographic and presenting it to my class:

“This is a photo of some Soviet soldiers. Billy Joel talks about the Soviets in his song.”

“Very good, Lindsay.”

“And this is a photo of a guy in China being run over by a tank.”

“Uh, yes, that is Tienanmen Square.”

“Uh-huh. And here is Coke and Pepsi and a space shuttle.”

“Great, great. Very good.”

I’m pretty sure I got an A on that assignment, even though I obviously spent more time cutting up magazines and gluing photos of Mickey Mantle and crack cocaine to a poster board than I did researching the actual subjects he was singing about. Whatev.

The song has annoyed me ever since, though, because I really effin’ hated the whiney chorus:

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Well, OK, Billy, maybe you have a point in that your generation (the Baby Boomers) didn’t start the fire, but then again I don’t think you put much effort into fighting it, as you claim you “tried” to do. Rather, you and your cohorts just stood around the fire, occasionally dousing it in gasoline while clad in tie-dye and Birkenstocks, dropping acid, and then writing songs about how you played no role whatsoever in the problems plaguing the world, which apparently include the bloody Cola Wars of the 1980s. Hippies.

For those of you who were lucky enough not to have to do a project on this song, here are the lyrics and music video:

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to purge this song from my memory by listening to Something Corporate and Rage Against the Machine. Coachella in 12 days, ooooh yeah.