The SoundLogik Coachella 2011 Review

To start, Coachella was, once again, everything we wanted and more. We’d highly recommend everybody make it to this Music and Arts festival at the very least once in their life. It’s beautiful in every way imaginable, amazing in every sense of the word, complete and utter satisfaction. It’d honestly take a short novel to recap the ENTIRE weekend, so we’re going to highlight each day with our absolute favorite set, honorable mention, and “surprise” performance that exceeded expectations.

Friday

The first day of anything always sets the tone, and Friday did just that. With an early lineup of heavy dubstep, afternoon of A-Trak and Afrojack, and night belonging to Magnetic Man, Boys Noize, and Sasha, the Sahara Tent was the place to be. Surprisingly though, only one of our choices made it from the Sahara Tent, as the Chemical Brothers and Beardyman stole the night.

Logikal Choice: the Chemical Brothers

Somehow writing that this was the most epic set we’ve ever witnessed doesn’t even come close to the reality. After giving us an extra twenty minutes to enjoy the beginning of Boys Noise, the  Chemical Brothers finally took the stage.  Some had doubts whether leaving the sahara tent was going to be worth it, all of which were squashed as soon as the the set started. They began the night with Galvanize followed by Do It Again which lead into Get Yourself High. As if starting the set with three of their best songs wasn’t enough, their crazy visuals proceeded to blow every single mind on the polo fields. Accentuating all of that was the crowd’s massive glow stick eruptions at each drop which filled the night sky with clouds of neon. Definitely the most well rounded set we’ve experienced in life when it comes to music, visuals and overall crowd feel. A story told through music and mind blowing visuals – WOW.

The Chemical Brothers – Do It Again

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Logikal Mention: Beardyman

Mr.Y’s Take – Beardyman got downright silly during his hour set, dropping beats which in turn dropped jaws. He threw down everything from hip-hop to dubstep to drum n bass and even disco, all of which was produced and improvised on the spot, layer by layer, with nothing other than his voice and a couple Korg Kaoss pads. Controlling every single sound from the funky basslines to the buildups and drops, it was clear that a hundred and ten percent of his focus and energy at all times was invested in putting on the best raw live show anyone had seen. All in all, though Beardyman may have been one of the more underrated acts going into Coachella, he easily snagged the top spot in my book for the weekend. BEARDYMAN FTW!

Surprisingly Logikal: 12th Planet

Friday in the Sahara tent was stacked with huge names, but 12th Planet gets our nod for being surprisingly logikal. Not because we didn’t expect the dude to throw down, but more of a “thank you” to him for setting the weekend off on a ragetastic note. He was as hyped as anybody, doing multiple stage dives throughout his set, and dubsteppers were out in full force early on as the Sahara Tent was as packed as it was all day – at 1:30pm! He brought out Little Jinder for Youth Blood, which was pretty cool, but the top tracks of his set were definitely Doctor P‘s Watch Out along with Needed Change, which he brought out Skrillex for.

Skrillex & 12th Planet – Needed Change

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Logikal Moment: Magnetic Man Sahara Tent Sit-Down

I’d seen youtube videos of sit-downs in clubs, but this took it to a WHOLE NUVA LEVEL. Skream, Benga, and Artwork had the entire Sahara Tent sit down and then simultaneously jump up in the spirit of community and unity during the middle of their set, resulting in one of the cooler musical experiences we’ve ever witnessed.

Saturday

After absolutely raging face on Friday we took Saturday a little slower. Early on we grooved with The Twelves, fit a little Chuckie in, then pretty much spent the night at the outdoor stages, while checking out a little bit of Fedde in between. Let’s just say, REAL instruments stole the show this day.

Logikal Choice: Mumford and Sons

Don’t you just love witnessing a performance that you knew was going to be good and it turns out absolutely astonishing? That’s what happened during the Mumford and Sons performance Saturday night. Maybe it was the mood, maybe it was their music, but it was probably a combination of both that made their set truly special. They executed each song superbly, tickling our emotions with their lyrics, and enticing our souls with perfected acoustic buildups. They put everybody in attendance on the same musical level, and carried us away into the night. They’re just amazing musicians and their music translated perfectly onto the Coachella main stage, simple as that. Plus they have a badass banjo player. Never thought I’d say that.

Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page

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Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

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Logikal Mention: Empire of the Sun

As far as actual stage presence goes Empire of the Sun definitely stole the show. With their costumes and stage setup it really felt like they had their own empire with frontman Luke Steele playing the emperor, as well as the guitar.  The tribal beats and narration they threw in between their classics was just unreal. These guys know how to put on an entertaining show which was almost as mind blowing as the Chemical Brothers’ set.

Empire Of The Sun – Standing On The Shore

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Surprisingly Logikal: The Twelves

Feeling the effects of raging nonstop on Friday we were unsure whether to head into the festival early enough to catch The Twelves. SO happy we decided to catch their set. The two Brazilians played the most upbeat, feel good, groovy dance set of the entire weekend. The sahara was sparsely packed with more than ample room to get your two step on. I’m pretty sure every single person at the set had a silly smirk on their face that just wouldn’t come off.

Metric – Help I’m Alive (The Twelves Remix)

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Logikal Moment: Mumford and Sons closing with The Cave

No words.. just watch. and listen to the crowd singing along. beautiful I tell you, beautiful.

Sunday

After taking Saturday to semi-recuperate, we gave Sunday an early start, making our way to Riva Starr, Green Velvet, Caspa, and Jack Beats to start the day. Nas & Damian put on a heckuva show, albeit a little short-lived, and we ended the night with some Sauce, Funk, and probably the most regrettable performance, Kanye. Fuck that guy.

Logikal Choice: Nas & Damian Marley

The only bad thing about the Nas & Damian Marley set was that it was shorter than we wished! Seriously, these dudes are so damn gangster. We’ve been waiting to see Nas live for years now, and to have him accompanied by a Marley in the southern Cali sun, at Coachella of all places?! Talk about heaven on earth. We put a fat one in the air and did what the rest of the crowd was doing – grooving and singing along. Road To Zion, If I Ruled The World, Welcome To Jamrock.. man we want to go back.

Damian Marley feat. Nas – Road To Zion

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Damian Marley & Nas – Nah Mean

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Logikal Mention: Duck Sauce

Our quacky friends did it again! We’ve been touring forums and such, and alot of people enjoyed the saucy EDC 2010 set more than this years Coachella, which is understandable. The EDC set was full of disco funk, while at Coachella their set was infused with some techno along with 4×4 bangers, surprisingly. Why surprisingly? BECAUSE THEIR ENTIRE SET WAS ALL ORIGINAL DUCK SAUCE MATERIAL. Confirmed by A-Trak on twitter. Ya, all that stuff you’d never heard before was unreleased goodness, and it wasn’t all happy-go-lucky disco-house. The Sahara Tent was overflowing for the Kings of Quack and the set didn’t disappoint. Can’t wait for Big Bad Wolf. Peep it below.

Surprisingly Logikal: Chromeo

Why was Chromeo our surprise? Because we didn’t know how they would handle the outdoor stage. Our doubts were quickly put aside as the masters of modern funk kicked us in the ass with every single Chromeo track we wanted to hear. The outdoor stage actually suited Chromeo perfectly, as the entire area turned into a massive outdoor dance party, and everyone had their own space to two-step. Well played sirs.

Chromeo – Fancy Footwork

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All in all – we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. We hope to see every single logikian there next year. Our homeboy Nick made this video of us and for us. Unreal.

SoundLogik