It’s that time of the year. Festival season begins to awaken from its four-month hibernation, like a grizzly bear rolling out of a cave, and roars out its lineups like mating calls. Of course, these calls tend to bring out fertile and bored males more than fertile females, but I digress. Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona announced its lineup Wednesday, and we had nothing to say, simply because Spain is pretty far away.*
Now comes the first big one here in this dysfunctional, disenfranchising union of ours: Coachella. A better name would be Burning Man for Hipsters and Brahs, because it is equally idiotic in setting, and thus so weirdly American. The lineup was announced this morning with the bravura of an Internet troll, and brought curt nods and ho-hums to most of the staff here on the Floating Platform. Red Hot Chili Peppers? Without Frusciante, our apathy turns into dull oblivion. Blur, we’re still waiting out on an actual album before giving you back “Britain’s Most Mis-hyped Import” from Muse. The Stone Roses? Why are we supposed to care about them again? And Phoenix are French. We’re American™.**
Reading down the lineup actually brings up some decent choices, including the appearance of the shapeshifting Nick Cave in two different forms (The Bad Seeds and a reunited Grinderman) on four different days, a reunited Jurassic 5 (which isn’t surprising, but we’ll let it slide), and appearances by The Evens, 2 Chainz, and Rodriguez (riding off that Sugar Man high). But what caught our eye and actually brought joy to the Floating Platform was the appearance of one band in the tiny print on the third day: The Three O’Clock. One of the main figures of LA’s Paisley Underground, a prominent part of the pre-MJ days of MTV, and a band whose biggest fan boi happened to be none other than Prince, are playing for the first time since 1988. For what reasons, we do not know. For what reasons, we do not care. To some of us, vinyl copies of Arrive without Travelling and Ever After remain our greatest treasures. Some of us were too young to understand their greatness, and now have a chance to truly appreciate it. That alone might just merit a visit to the desert.
Maybe.
* Confession/Disclosure: We attempted to report this fest in 2011, but this reporter only received his credentials after every hotel/hostel room in the city was booked for both that and some football game. waves fist to the sky Barçaaaaaaaaaaaa
** With some Australians, a Brazilian or two, and some guy in China. We Here At TMT Promote Diversity™
• Coachella: http://coachella.com