Music Festival Season Begins

Festival season begins today! What a wonderous occassion! Everybody drink a beer...NOW! And one more for good measure.

For those of you who don't know Coachella begins today. I'm pretty sure that nobody I know is going, being that most people I know live east of the Mississippi, and Coachella takes place in So-Cal, but if you are, drop me a line this weekend and let me know when you're going to be sober again.

I consider Coachella as the first MAJOR music festival of the year. Many people would disagree with me and say that South By Southwest is the first big festival of the year, but I don't consider SXSW a festival. It's more an entire city (Austin, TX) that turns into a giant hotel room for bands from all over the world for more than a week in March. SXSW would be awesome to see some day...I would probably die from a brain aneurysm though trying to figure out the schedule and how the hell I was going to see all the bands I wanted to see. SXSW is way too big to be considered a festival. So...let's keep it simple for now.

So anyway...back to Coachella. Lots of great musicians are there this weekend, and you can catch their performance live via webcast here (NOTE: I am not to be held responsible for anyone caught by their boss while wacthing this at work).

Here's what I'm looking forward to hearing this weekend from Coachella (keep in mind I'm only putting the big acts on here, because that's probably all that will be on the webcast) :

FRIDAY NIGHT

Paul McCartney - a living legend, probably the biggest act of the entire weekend.

Franz Ferdinand - never heard them live before. Weird band, but some cool songs.

The Black Keys - also a band I have never heard live.

SATURDAY NIGHT

The Killers - a little too "pop"-y for my taste, but they write some good songs.

M.I.A. - I bet she puts on one hell of a concert. Talented up and comer on the hip-hop scene.

TV on the Radio - they had the album of the year last year hands down. Insane band...can't wait to see them in June.

SUNDAY NIGHT

The Cure - don't like much from them, but never really gave them a chance. Here it is.

My Bloody Valentine - heavy band, lot of history. Will see them in July so might as well get a preview.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - awesome band. Also looking for a preview for when I see them in June.

So, if you're bored have a listen. It's not as good as being there, but you might catch a glimpse of some guest performers.

The main reason I am so excited that the festival season is here is because I have 3 festivals on the slate for this summer: All Points West, Gathering of the Vibes, and of course...BONNAROO!

Some think that Coachella is just as good, if not better than, Bonnaroo. However, look at the lineups and tell me the truth. Really? REALLY?! Coachella's headliners are Paul McCartney, The Killers, and The Cure. Meanwhile, Bonnaroo's headliners are Bruce Springsteen, Phish, and Beastie Boys. Plus, Bonnaroo does have about 3 times the amount of bands...and has night shows which last until 4 sometimes 5 in the morning (thats about 16 hours of live music per day). Let's keep this in mind. All festivals are great, but nothing compares to Bonnaroo (except Rothbury, but we'll save this argument for another occassion).

I'm going to end this post with the following fact:

There are only 52 more days till Bonnaroo!

Let the summer concert season begin...