The second day of the Coach brought hotter heats and a less ram-packed schedule, so we were a little sluggish-ruggish getting to the Empire Polo Field. Regrettably, and despite our best intentions, we missed Phoenix due to parking lot hassles. This was probably one of our biggest bummers of the weekend, as Phoenix were near the top of our list of bands to see this weekend and we felt like we kept letting the French down. Don't worry homies, we're going to make it up to you in a major way.
Instead, the first act we caught was Montreal's Wolf Parade. Despite a delay caused by technical difficulties with a rented guitar that ran on virgin blood (we don't know, that's what co-frontman Dan Boeckner said caused the problem), the crew turned in a solid set. In recorded form we prefer keyboardist Spencer Krug's songs, but live we're siding with Dan's jams.
Heading over to hear Bloc Party (pulling off the rare "two-years running" performance) we were greeted with the sounds of "Banquet" for the ten thousandth time in our life. It felt good, like Kele himself was giving us a hug. The band stuck mainly to tracks from Silent Alarm, but did play a new song called "Uniform" — the first half sounded kind of like "Blue Light" and the second was similar to "Helicopter".
We were able to catch the last few songs from Sleater-Kinney on the mainstage. We still maintain a little bit of a thing for them because of Dig Me Out and The Hot Rock, even if they don't really throw down like that anymore.
Since we last saw them about two months ago, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs's setlist has shifted from half new material/half old material to three quarters new/one quarter old. This move is expected, but means there are fewer opportunities to go all goofy like you can when they play "Y Control". Also, "Warrior" isn't really stepping to "Maps" at all.
All weekend (fuck it, all month) we'd been considering whether we were going try and watch Madonna is the dance tent. The promise of the spectacle was enticing, but what about all those people? And would we even be able to see her? Should we just try and catch what we can of Seu Jorge instead? In the end, we went for it, and headed deep into heart of the jungle and got sweaty with the natives. It was the right call. The set was short, with opener "Hung Up" and "Ray Of Light" (featuring Madonna on guitar) as the highlights. Madonna made a joke about drugs, put her hand down her crotch and took off her pants.
Things were getting blurry by this point and unfortunately we don't have photographic evidence of the experience — except for pictures of us climbing on each other's shoulders to get a better view or shouting and pointing at each other, and you probably don't want to see those.
After the exodus from the far side of the grounds we found a spot on the grass in the VIP area. From there we listened to Massive Attack and the massively loud Mogwai as best as we could. Then we scrammed before we'd have to deal with Tool.
It was a blast and we're already thinking about next year, so let the Smiths and My Bloody Valentine reunion rumors begin!