i just had a crazy, amazing whirlwind trip to coachella festival in the desert near palm springs, then a random tour-bus hitch to tucson, arizona with the kills...i’ve been lucky enough to go to coachella three times now, the first few times were as tour manager for hot chip, and were incredible & exciting in all the ways that they are for a band whose star is on the rise. i was proud mum on that occasion.
this time round, i was hitchin’ a ride in los campesinos’ tour van, a-visiting my fiance tom. i flew into la, caught another plane to san francisco & then we promptly turned around and drove south again, stopping to eat strawberries by the roadside & wander around a reservoir. travelodge cathedral city was our home for the night - did you know frank sinatra was buried in the cemetery there? cathedral city that is, not the travelodge. they also have a female major and voted for obama. tom & i ate disgusting pizza & drank delicious corona in the desert night. oh sweet strip malls of california.
friday was the day, so los campesinos & i dressed in our desert sun finery and took coachella on baby! the kids played a killer show and catering was delicious. i jostled in the pit with all the professionals to take a million photos on ollies lovely camera. what a laugh! m. ward rocked the house. morrissey sounded awful and leonard cohen made me cry. i even got tom to slow dance with me to “i’m your man”! paul mccartney played “live and let die”! there were pyrotechnics! they played “jets!” it was macca! i saw max tundra hanging out with the junior boys, and caught the last 5 minutes of a crackin’ show from the presets.
WE SAW PAUL MCCARTNEY! AND LEONARD COHEN!
saturday passed in a blur of fish tacos, white wine in the palm springs sunshine and expensive taxi rides. and then came the evening & tv on the radio. holy. shit. i adore that band. such an explosive combination of groove, politics, intellect and sex. i can’t get enough of dear science, especially “dancing choose” ... he’s a what? he’s a what? he’s a newspaper man! and he gets his ideas from a newspaper stand... tom had been waiting years to see them live and now we are both counting down the days until the brixton academy show in july. m.i.a was a carcrash, just awful. band of horses were lovely and fleet foxes so perfect in the cooling evening. calexico never fail to make me unquaveringly happy. i got to hang out and drink whisky with my dear friend zoe who looks after tvotr, it’s always ace to see her for sure. the killers sucked. are we dancers my arse.
sunday was breakfast at ihop, as we’d fallen asleep talking of pancakes. yum yum, fatty crispy bacon and maple syrup and an entire litre of syrupy coca cola. and hours in the pool, surrounded by the desert and mountains and explosive pink bouganvillea trees. we arrived on site to the sounds of lupe fiasco, peter bjorn and john. tom and i lay in the grass backstage just being as we ain’t gonna see each other for about 8 fucking weeks. harumph. so after he left, i hit the ice cold beer backstage and ate taquitas. yum. oh, and a vege corn dog and a slice of delicious spicy pizza. and drank hand-shaken margaritas. and more yummy beer. sunset in the desert is ace. the yeah yeah yeahs were entertaining enough, THE MURDER CITY DEVILS WERE FUCKING AWESOME! my bloody valentine blew my mind (and eardrums) in the light of burning serpent mothers & a giant tesla coil and the kills raised the roof with their bare-boned raw sexy rock.
sunday evening was a blur of the surreal outside the kills trailor. kirstin drunkst and a whole bunch of la hipsters. exhausting really. i lay on a giant bed and looked at the sky instead. until it was time to hitch a ride to arizona on the kills tour bus. and then the fun began. i love those guys, and their crew are hilarious, inspiring, hard working and wonderful company. big shout out to neesh, molli and the lovely nick & teresa.
my god i love tour busses. i slept like i haven’t slept since, well, the last time i was on a tour bus! maybe it’s because i am usually so exhausted on tour that my body just shuts down when i crawl into my safe little curtained-off sleeping place. mmmmm...
woke up in another desert, parked next to the very cool hotel congress. ate delicious salad with the kills, wandered around taking photos, tried on crazy wedding dresses in some vintage stores, drank margarita’s with melvis crawford, a fellow-melbournian and a true champion lady. hung out with the horrors and tim burgess, watched the kills, drank whisky with the locals, tearfully waved the kills bus goodbye and slept the sleep of heroes.
caught a few planes, trains and automobiles, and arrived home a million hours later.
i love rock and roll.
fi vendetta. xx
No comments:
Post a Comment