Coachella Saturday: Tame Impala, Billie Eilish, Aphex Twin, Kid Cudi | Festival review

"TAAAAAAAME"

As Tame Impala came on stage for her performance of Coachella on Saturday night, a dizzying sense of anticipation was sweeping the scene. The Australian psychopop training is universally praised for its vast visual configuration, and all would be the fourth time they play against Coachella in a decade, passing tiny festival fonts to a 2015 ACDC star at their imminent graduation to the head last night.

See how Parker is something perfectionist (agree, he is perfectionist), it was not surprising that everything was perfectly executed in the performance. The visuals! The donut-shaped bench vibrating with energy! The lush voice of Parker! The entire support cast! Everything was sharp laser, no pun intended. However, what was surprising was the little new music they brought to the table.

Just two new singles: "Patience" and "Borderline".

Otherwise, the decor itself was filled with the same material that had flooded their decor in the years since the Currents 2015. So it was a little disappointing to see that there was not a lot of advantage in this regard. However, to their credit, they more or less became the de facto head of the Saturday night list when two of Coachella's big fat guns disappeared at the last minute in December, leaving the festival hands tied.

In this regard, Tame Impala has done more than just fill the void by soaking up the visual crowd soaked in LSD and even more crowd work than usual. (During one of their last songs, Parker slipped on the spotlight of the festival with five eyeballs.) Despite this, one can not help but think that the festival has overtaken the graduates of this group, leaving us more hungry than satiated.

That's good news for Tame, though.

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Kid Cudi

The bar was high for the screening of Kid Cudi in the Sahara tent on Saturday night. After Solange retired from the festival just one week before the doors opened, Tame Impala moved to an earlier position, which means that Kid Cudi and Bassnectar had the unique opportunity to separate an audience from the late festival in the night after the head of the poster.

What could have been a dynamic performance was stifled by Cudi's lack of momentum. Although an interpretation of "Father stretching my hands" and a triumphant rendition of "Reborn" turned out to be highlights of the set, Cudi felt scattered throughout much of his set, never being able to fully hold the attention a crowd.

The notable omission of "Soundtrack 2 My Life" seemed to be a missed opportunity to take his fans into the open space of his performance and "In My Dreams," the iconic intro anthem of Man on the moon, would have served him well of intro-grandeur. Neither were used. Instead, Cudi chose to focus his focus on Kids See Ghosts tracks and EDM remixes of his most popular songs.

Everything seemed cheap, even carefree. Admittedly, there were redemptive aspects, such as the saccharine images projected onto the huge searchlights of the Sahara tent, and the universal appeal of Cudi's singalong tracks, but in the end, the whole thing did not succeed. Cudi felt the need to bow to his audience, giving them what he thought they were waiting for, rather than shamelessly showing that they were so desperately needed.

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Billie Eilish

At 17, Billie Eilish is one of the youngest artists to occupy such a prestigious stage and niche in Coachella. The late-night open-air theater crowd stretched out as Eilish crumbled frantically at the "Bad Guy" live debut. Entering another beginning with "Strange Addiction", his energy was quickly matched with the gyrations of thousands of frenzied spectators.

As she struggled on the stage, Eilish cast a bad spell on the Californian youth, plunging them into her scary sound universe. Tarantulas and cockroaches appeared on large screens, Eilish posed in a floating bed Exorcist style, and a group of dancers writhing in beds as if trapped in a schizophrenic episode. It was Rob Zombie's horror dynamics with bubblegum pop effects … and everyone chewed on him.

At such a young age, it's disheartening to think about Billie Eilish's future.

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Tet & Aphex Twin oven

Tet Oven did not use any ounce of lighting for his hour-long dance music exhibited in the Mojave tent. The pioneer of the IDM has developed a constant and specific energy, never weakening in its commitment to specificity. The turntablism gave way to catchy dance moves, heart-throbing synths invaded a vulnerable crowd, and modified interpretations of its stellar originals resulted in a cathartic release.

Shortly after, Aphex Twin hit the game with a set defined by its binary division of chaos and fluidity. Richard D. James went back and forth between discordant, almost epileptic images, juxtaposed with periods of well-focused luminescent zeal. It was annoying as often as it was inspiring, while being an intensive course in dance music, as the Berlin techno gave way to the infectious groove of the jungle, which gave way to acid house breaks, then to the industrialist, in synth and genres continued to spin.

TL; DR? Until the Chemical Brothers are booked two by two with Boards of Canada, Coachella will probably not see a duo as unique in a while.

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J. Balvin

The most remarkable aspect of Coachella's training this year has been her sudden adoption of various musical genres. Some of the biggest names in Latin music sat next to the pillars of K-Pop and American pop. J Balvin did not lose this notion. «Cela nous a pris 15 ans pour arriver ici», a proclamé la superstar du reggaeton acclamant, après l'avoir rejointe par Rosalia pour une interprétation incendiaire de leur collaboration, «Con Altura».

En tant que tel, il s’agissait d’une introduction triomphale de la musique latine dans la vaste plate-forme du festival de Coachella, et les plaisanteries de Balvin étaient presque exclusivement versées en espagnol. Très peu de choses ont été perdues en traduction, grâce à l'aide du collectif d'art FriendsWithYou, dont la mise en scène ressemblait à une série de déclenchements sensoriels joviaux: des personnages de dessins animés en montgolfière, un canard à la taille d'un cheval que Balvin a parcouru sur scène. Les danseurs d’arrière-plan ont tous animé l’ambition de la culture pop.

C'était une joie totale.

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Bob Moses

Canadian electronic duo Bob Moses performed their slow, prodding grooves during the coveted golden hour slot. The set, mainly filled with the methodical builds of their originals, took a rather chaotic turn, however, when the group busted into The Prodigy’s seminal track “Breathe”. The rendition was an unexpected, albeit totally welcome, homage to the iconic electronic outfit’s late frontman Keith Flint, who passed away in his Essex home this past March.

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Ty Segall and White Fence

As hungover festival goers roamed on the scalding hot grass of the Outdoor Theatre, Ty Segall and White Fence thrashed through a set of aggressive punk ballads with a sense of humor and wit about them. “Alright, we should be warmed up now”, joked Tim Presley nearly 20 minutes into their set. Despite the punishing midday heat beating down from above, jocks and punks alike coalesced to form a mosh pit at the front of the band’s sparse crowd. It was a rare sight to see at Coachella this year, but it was proof that there’s always still room for a bit thrash.

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