There are some flashback acts, including Woodstock icon Sly Stone and the Family Stone, 1980s alt-rock group Echo and the Bunnymen and reconstituted college-rock outfit Pavement, but they’re not leading the bill as Paul McCartney, Prince and Roger Waters did in past years.
The presence of rap superstar Jay-Z will raise the eyebrows of those fans who like to think of Coachella as an indie oasis on today’s live-music landscape; hip-hop stars such as Kanye West, the Beastie Boys, Lupe Fiasco and Kool Keith have performed at Coachella in the past but none of them tap into the same street imagery and conspicuous consumption ethos that defines the $150-million mogul.
Jay-Z is also a somewhat unexpected booking because he has a performance — for which tickets are still available — at the Staples Center on March 26. The hip-hop star will close out the opening night of the fest on Friday, when other performers will be LCD Soundsystem, rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Specials and John Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols experimental outfit Public Image Ltd.
Saturday night will be headlined by Muse, Faith No More, DJs Tiesto and David Guetta, MGMT, Hot Chip and Jack White’s The Dead Weather. Sunday will close with Gorillaz, Yorke, Spoon, Parisian electronic rockers Phoenix and dance veterans Orbital.
The desert event has won a reputation among fans for showcasing artists on the comeback trail, and rock acts such as the Pixies and Iggy & the Stooges made splashy returns at Coachella. Pavement, a staple of the ’90s alt-rock scene, has been an expected Coachella headliner since announcing its reunion at the end of 2009.
Gary Bongiovanni, the editor in chief of Pollstar, the concert-industry trade publication, believes Coachella doesn’t need a boomer-friendly headliner such as McCartney, who performed last year, or Waters, who closed the event in 2008. A package built around Pavement, Public Image Ltd. and hipper acts, he believes, might even hold greater appeal for Coachella’s target young audience….” – www.latimesblogs.latimes.com
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and, please people, let’s not forget the BEST thing about the concert
– THE ART!!!