Who You NEED To See at Coachella 2011

It took only six days for the 2011 Coachella Music Festival to sell out of tickets. These aren’t $50 to $75 dollar tickets either folks. We’re talking $270 to $500 to even $1000 dollars depending on how you roll to a three-day festival. Take that recession; music will kick your ass any day. Now, instead of rambling on about the past Coachella festivals and their line-ups verses this years, we’re gonna move past all that has past and focus on devouring this three day smorgasbord of artists and crazy live performances. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is an annual throwdown that takes place at the Empire Polo Field in the city of Indio, California. Celebrating it’s 12th year running amuck in the desert city, April 15th, 16th and 17th will mark this years three day dosage of camping, parties and live music pumping from multiple stages and tents throughout the venue. This year will pull no punches delivering a splendid array of indie, hip-hop, dance, electro, dubstep and other eargasmic performances that will reign down on Coachellans from noon till full moon (bring a jacket, it’s the desert). If you are the rugged, outdoorsy type music lover, you can kick it on the campground site provided on the adjacent field to the venue where you can sing karaoke, shop, shower and even park your car by your tent (visit coachella.com for the latest info). If you want a camping spot, you had better get on it early for they sell out very quick. The price of your ticket notwithstanding, you are going to empty your pockets at any of the surrounding hotels for this festival, so it’s good to plan ahead and save a few pennies for that weekend. Last year offered re-entry into the festival directly from the campgrounds and hopefully that will continue this year.

    

The Coachella Music Festival is eclectic offering local flavors as well as revival acts, side projects, solo projects, coming-uppers with a buzz, indie acts and DJs and producers. The top billed artists taking the festivals main stages this year include Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, The Strokes, Duran Duran, and Kanye West. The Grammy award-winning duo The Black Keys will be there amongst the company of other critically acclaimed acts such as Interpol, Cee Lo Green and English folk breakouts Mumford & Sons. Everything from Sleigh Bells to The Kills to Flogging Molly will be filling up your precious hours with sonic delights from their classic LPs. In addition to the 80’s heavyweights Duran Duran, we’re going to get some powerful blasts from the past filling our nostalgia quota with the likes of Mick Jones from the Clash coming back in his Big Audio Dynamite project and British chart toppers The London Suede finally returning to American shores. Toronto’s Death from Above 1979 will reunite to play at Coachella after a five-year hiatus. There’s something about these festivals that just brings out the best in people, so much so they come back to the limelight, even if it’s just for the weekend. You’ve even got hip-hop legends like Lauryn Hill returning to the mic alongside veterans Nas and Damian Marley, Raphael Saadiq and current Philly phenom Wiz Khalifa to look forward to, it’s going to be a blast!

    

Each day of the Coachella will provide festival goers with plenty of entertainment and although you may be partial to a particular day, the lineups are colorful, eclectic and jam-packed with talent from Friday to Sunday. The main stages are as follows: The Coachella Stage, The Outdoor Theatre, The Gobi Tent, The Mojave Tent, and the Sahara Tent. There are still plenty of surprises to be unveiled at the Empire Polo field and this could include new tents and stages for more access.

    

The electronic, dance, techno and dubstep fanatics are really going to get their fill as this year’s roster includes some new technology heavy hitters. Despite all the mounting rumors that the French robotic geniuses Daft Punk would be frying our circuits from the