Yesterday I wrote about days one and two of Coachella 2007. As I noted at the end of that post, we were extremely exhausted by the end of the second day. We woke up for day three unmotivated to get to the polo field early. I wanted to see The Avett Brothers, but wavered in my determination. Luckily, Starr manned up and we all got there in time.

The Avett Brothers

The Avett Brothers is one of those very eclectic bands from North Carolina, not unlike the Squirrel Nut Zippers in many respects. The band combines old-time country, bluegrass, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, honky tonk and ragtime to produce a sound described by some as "grungegrass".

I was introduced to the Avett Brothers a year ago by Corinne, who taught with me in the Mississippi Delta. This past November I saw their show at Wolf Trap and was really impressed. I was definitely excited to see them again all the way out in California.

Despite being so far away from home, they had plenty of fans in attendance. Many of the people standing around me up front were from the mid-Atlantic region who were talking about previous and future Avett Brothers shows.

Even with the fans that they had in the crowd, it really seemed like they significantly tweaked their set to adapt to the Coachella atmosphere. The songs they played were much harder than many of the songs that they played at Wolf Trap in Virginia. Also, they made a point of thanking the crowd a couple times for being so hospitable and nice. It felt like the band thought it was so far out of its element at Coachella that might get rebuffed. The complete opposite happened. The crowd reception was amazing, and I've read several blogs from people that saw the show on a whim and loved them.

I wish they had stuck to some more of their classic tunes, but then again, they are heavily promoting a new album. Speaking of which, they will be on Conan this Friday. That's not to say they stayed away from their signature songs completely. "Distraction #74" was a huge crowd pleaser, along with "My Last Song to Jennie."

One interesting note is that Scott broke hardly any banjo strings. At the Wolf Trap show, he had to get one replaced literally every song. Starr and I counted him breaking a grand total of only two strings this go-round.

Rodrigo y Gabriella, Kaiser Chiefs, and Willie Nelson

Credit: Moondog

After the Avett Brothers, I lounged for a while because there was really nothing playing that interested me. I got to the Rodrigo y Gabriella show knowing very little about them. I heard a couple of their songs, but didn't know them beyond that. As I walked away from the show, I was fully committed to buying their entire catalog. Their show was nothing to write home about, but their sound is phenomenal. Check them out if you get a chance.

I walked from Rodrigo y Gabriella to Kaiser Chiefs a bit exhausted, so I grabbed a Gatorade and found a seat in the bleachers at the Outdoor Theater. I was pretty relaxed for the show because I needed to save my energy for Rage. The only Kaiser Chiefs song I really wanted to hear was "Na, na, na, na, naa," but they didn't play it. It was a decent show anyway, though.

Before I got dinner, I had to check out Willie Nelson. He's such a legend that I would have felt awful not to. I was surprised that there were so many people watching his show on the main stage. But, then again, I think that people started camping for Rage seats that early. I only stayed for 10 minutes because I needed to eat, but Willie Nelson's show was also pretty good from what I saw. He was very folksy, introducing everyone in his band and telling quick stories about them. Sometimes it's good to hear a little genuine, non-Tim McGraw country music.

Manu Chao

Credit: Moondog

Before Rage Against the Machine started, Crowded House had to finish their set, and Manu Chao would follow. As expected, the Rage fans were complete assholes to Crowded House, a mellow British band. Granted, Crowded House sucked. But when the crowd is flipping the bird instead of waving arms back and forth, you've gotta be at least a little sympathetic to the performers.

By the time Crowded House was done, I had met up with Lindsay. Our plan was to get as close as we could for Crowded House, push our way up after their set, and push forward even more after Manu Chao. We got pretty close after Crowded House was done, but came to a barrier between sides of the crowd. We decided that it would be far enough away that we would be safe from the crazy Rage fans, and we had a decent view, so we stayed.

Now, if you've heard Manu Chao's records, you know they are very good, but also very subdued. I was really worried about how the crowd was going to react to Manu Chao, especially after giving Crowded House the one finger salute.

Well, those worries were quickly put to rest as soon as he came on. The contrast between his albums and the live performance couldn't be greater. The songs were packed with energy, and they straight up rocked. Check out this decent bootleg of "El Hoyo" to see what I'm talking about:

The crowd totally dug Manu Chao, which, given the clientèle, was pretty amazing. I'm definitely going to look for a live Manu Chao album. They were by far the biggest surprise of the festival. Definitely see them if you have the chance.

The Battle of Coachella

Credit: Moondog

Manu Chao finished and people tried to jostle for better positions, but pretty much everybody in the crowd was waiting for Rage Against the Machine. The crowd around us was really tame during Manu Chao, so I expected everything to be alright for Rage. I figured the crazy Rage fans would all be up front.

Well, that turned out not to be the case. As soon as Rage came out to the stage, people started pushing forward all the way back where we were, crushing us. When you find yourself in this situation, you tend to move in the direction that the crowd moves you, which started to separate me and Lindsay. I already felt bad having dragged her into the crowd and wanted to make sure she got out ok. It wasn't long before I couldn't see her anymore and couldn't take having to fight to remain standing anymore, so I fell back. After I regained some energy, I went back to look for Lindsay in the mass of people, but to no avail. Not knowing what to do, I fell back again to where the crowd was a bit more tame. Eventually I got a text message from her saying she was ok, but I spent about a third of the show worrying about her.

Once that ordeal was over, I could finally enjoy the show, the set list for which was this:

1. Testify
2. Bulls on Parade
3. People of the Sun
4. Bombtrack
5. Bullet in the Head
6. Down Rodeo
7. Guerrilla Radio
8. Renegades of Funk
9. Calm Like a Bomb
10. Sleep Now in the Fire
11. Wake Up
12. Freedom
13. Killing in the Name

Lindsay found some awesome footage of the show. Check it out:

I was especially pumped that they did "Wake Up," which in my opinion doesn't get the credit that it deserves. The big surprise of the show was this rant that Zach de la Rocha went on in the middle of "Wake Up:"

A good friend of ours said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. Presidents as were applied to the Nazi's after World War II, then every single one of 'em, every last rich white one of 'em from Truman on would have been hung to death, and shot. And this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. But the challenges that we face, they go way beyond administrations. Way beyond elections. Way Beyond every four years of pulling levers. Way beyond that, because this whole rotten system has become so vicious and cruel, that in order to sustain itself, it needs to destroy entire countries, and profit from their reconstruction, in order to survive, and that's not a system that changes every four years, it's a system that we have to break down generation after generation after generation after generation after generation. Wake up!

You can bet that Fox News had a good time reporting on that one. Check out their irresponsible journalism and idiotic commentary here and here. The Heritage Foundation commenting on Rage Against the Machine? Really?

They closed the show with "Killing in the Name," which I fully expected. Zach changed the second refrain from "Some of those who work forces are the same that burn crosses" to "Some of those who burn crosses are the same that hold office" It's the same change that he made at the DNC protest in 2000 and the change in Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, their final album. In the middle of my fist pumping and jumping, I saw that a guy near me knew the lyric change was coming as well as I did. We gave each other a big, angry high-five.

Once Rage was done, the mass of people funneled out of the polo grounds. As we were walking one person started shouting, "F--- you I won't do what you tell me!" and the whole crowd around me started chanting with him.

If only the energy that Rage brings out in people could be channeled into something productive ... but that's the topic of a future post.

Credit: Moondog