Part 1 here.

Sunday, the second and final day of Coachella, brought the same early wakeups and heat the first day had. Everyone had crashed fairly early the night before, and we'd had little time to exchange stories of what sets were best, what injuries were witnessed, and who we wanted to catch the next day. Luckily, we could head off into town again, for coffee and bathrooms, and to have these discussions. The day ahead appeared to be busier than the first, which was intimidating, especially since the weather was supposed to get at least 10 degrees hotter than it had been. But we were as ready as we could be, and we headed in early to catch Be Your Own Pet, who I had thought had one of the opening slots.

Turns out they weren't on until 1:00 so we wandered around, got our photo taken by Spin magazine at their booth, all the while I could hear this phenomenal band playing. They were instrumental, well, not even really instrumental, mostly chill-out DJ type beats, which I quickly fell in love with. I found out it was the Octopus Project, a band I'd never heard of before, but headed off to pick their album up at the Virgin store, which had surprisingly cheap CDs (and vinyl! Which I sadly had to resist). It was surprising to realize how many bands I didn't know that were playing, when I had been checking out the website months earlier dreaming up ways I could get myself to California I thought I had known the majority. But really, that ended up being one of the great factors of the entire experience, getting into so many new bands, either by just catching a bit of their set, or having people tell you about them. The same thing happened once we decided to mosey over to Be Your Own Pet's stage, a band whose energy was spilling out of their tent was playing. We got closer and saw three guys in all black, with red accents like ties or trim, rocking out harder than I thought possible in the heat. You couldn't watch them and not start moving yourself, their energy simply diffused into the crowd. These guys were the Infadels, and they played hard and fast, pumping out a mixture of electro, charged vocals and rock. We enjoyed the last bit of their set until we got over to Be Your Own Pet.

Be Your Own Pet hit the stage and pummeled right into their first song. The front woman Jemina had a real I-don't-give-a-fuck sort of attitude, possibly trying to be our generation's Joan Jett (but sans guitar). She danced until I thought she might fall over, thrashing her bleached blonde hair all over the place and dancing much like Thora Birch in the opening scene of Ghost World (maybe one person will know what I'm talking about here). Anyhow, the crowd didn't seem to feel them too much, me and two other girls I could see were really the only ones dancing, everyone else, including my less than pleased boyfriend, weren't too impressed. They're fairly young, with a garage, raw punk sound that they smooth out for some songs such as "Adventure." They're up and coming and fairly amateur which was obvious when drummer Jamin's kick pedal fell off several times during the set, while Jemina would try to cover with surprisingly ditzy-sounding jabber. Although I feel I'm being a little harsh about them, I really do love BYOP; I'm not sure if it's their fun punk vibe that reminds me of being 14, or their ridiculously easy to dance to and yell along with lyrics (see: "I'm an independent mother fucker!" off "Bunk Trunk Skunk"). Anyway, they finished their set with Jemina announcing "it was a dangerous song, so be careful," then her screaming for about a minute and half, dropping the mike and walking off stage.

Next up was Mates of State, a husband-wife duo, who integrate keyboard and drums together making the cutest (sickeningly cute, at times) tunes you've ever heard. They were very humble, Kori giggly like a school girl every time the fairly large crowd they'd pulled in would go crazy for them. They thanked us more times than I can count for coming out and would also continually remind us "they were Mates of State!" I always find it really great when bands remind you of their name in between every other song; it makes them seem so down-to-earth, which is always refreshing. They were playing a bigger stage so we were in the direct sun for their whole set, which made it drag on a little bit. They finished up with Jason coming out from the drum kit and serenading us with Kori's keyboard accompaniment, while he gripped the microphone with both hands and loomed over it. It reminded me of a nervous kid in grade 3 forced to sing the national anthem solo to a packed auditorium, his mannerisms were so shy and nervous.

After Mates we wandered over to see a bit of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, but didn't hang around too long since the boyfriend wanted to get a decent spot to see Metric. Ted Leo had sounded pretty great, and afterward we heard nothing but good things about their set. Getting to a decent spot for Metric, I wasn't expecting too much, having seen Emily fall over the stage drunk enough times back in Toronto. But they came out, and we were both very pleasantly surprised. They didn't play too much off the newest album Live it Out, which I was pleased with, not being too fond of it. They delivered hits like "Combat Baby," "Monster Hospital," "Dead Disco" (in a killer extended dance version) and "Poster of a Girl." The crowd loved them, everyone was dancing, and I noticed it was one of the friendlier crowds we'd encountered over the weekend. It was most definitely one of the better sets of the weekend, with Emily thanking the crowd just before the last song for "cheering for the underdog" which was a sweet sentiment, but far from the truth when you look at the packed tent of adoring faces they were playing to.

Pleased from seeing Metric but the dance fest the weekend had turned out to be was beginning to drag us down a bit, we headed over to Sleater-Kinney. They played the main stage just as the sun set, which was a lovely sight to see, but the girls seemed a little less energized then I had expected. I didn't blame them with the heat and all, but by watching their faces on the big screens and the way they played really screamed "We wanna get the hell out of here!" to me. I thought it was great to see them though, being a long time fan, they were probably one of the first bands I got into when my interest in punk rock and feminism begin to bloom.

Staying at the main stage we made our way closer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to come out, which in the heat and tight crowd got a little unbearable so we made our way to the back. The set they played with essentially the same set I had seen a couple weeks earlier in Toronto, but I always love their performance. This was my boyfriend's first time seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs though, and it was nice to have someone to sway with during "Maps." After the YYY's fantastic set, we were beat. After getting some food, we ended up laying down in some shade and sleeping right through Massive Attack (whose set was almost too boring to be music sleep) but unfortunately also through a few bands I really wanted to see (The Go! Team, Mogwai and Coheed and Cambria). We also snoozed right through Madonna, who I would have liked to get a peek at just to be able to say "Oh yeah, I've seen Madonna!" Alas I later heard she played a four song set (after much technical difficulty delay) to approximately 30,000 people. Needless to say, I was glad I wasn't in that mess.

We woke up and shuffled forward through the masses to see Tool, who I've never really been a fan of, so didn't care to see at all. Their set was exactly what I expected from everything I've heard about Maynard's pretentious, asshole personality, but it was missing the really impressive performance aspect. I've heard about acrobats and crazy light shows, but we got big screens playing clips from their music videos. For me, it was more entertaining to watch ridiculous Tool fans, with them either doing crazy interpretive dancing or rocking out with their joints to "Sober." The one thing I was really blown away by was Maynard's voice, which sounded just like any recording of Tool I've ever heard. He didn't miss one note, which for a while convinced me maybe he was lip synching until I was informed apparently it was in a completely different key than the record was. Tool fans are fanatical, and it's this that has led me to determine Tool is our generation's Led Zepplin. So to me, this set was overly boring and got me quite ready for bed, until my boyfriend decided he'd had enough as well and we could skip off.

But during this Tool performance I'd been missing Art Brut, an amazing brit pop rock band that I had wanted to see really bad, but apparently Art Brut loses to Tool when it comes down to it. But I'm thinking maybe we'll be able to catch one last song, so we run over to their tent. To my surprise (very, very pleasant surprise) Art Brut had a number of songs to go, since they had their set pushed way back by yet again more difficulties and decided they weren't going to cut it short. From what I understand Coachella has tight rules about not performing past midnight, or else there are enormous fines, so bands must end at midnight or else.

But Art Brut being the young, zealous Brits they are kept going in a very punk rock fashion. After flipping off the stage manager who was frantically trying to wave them off stage after telling them they had one more song at the max, singer Eddie Argos informed the crowd they had three more songs! They even stopped "Emily Kane" for Eddie to interject and tell the story of how Emily heard the song and called him, which made him realize that he was no longer in love with her! He was simply in love with the idea of being in love at the age of 15! (Yes, all these exclamation marks are necessary for me to convey the energy Art Brut delivered!) The banter in between songs and stage presence they had was enough to have us laughing so hard we were crying and dancing our exhausted legs so fast they gave out from under us. With Eddie finally giving in to the man and heading off stage, the rest of the band continued playing, getting to the point where they were just making noise. Drummer Mikey continued to triumphantly flip off the stage manager and would do a mini drum roll then point to the audience who would go nuts. This went on back and forth for another five minutes or so, until they finally packed it in as well. Art Brut, even with the few songs we saw them perform, definitely stole the entire fucking show. And I can't wait to go back next year.

Being from Toronto, the closest thing we get to a big music festival is 8-10 band lineups at Olympic Island or Molson Park in Barrie, with poor organization and $4 dollar water. I had no idea what to expect traveling out to the desert to see a show that spanned over two days with over 90 bands. After long flights and delays and getting luggage lost, we entered the "golf capital of America" to be greeted by gorgeous weather, mountains surrounding us and palm trees at their feet. We rented a boat of a car, fought with American Airlines over my luggage, and headed off to the Empire Polo Grounds, which would serve as our campground home for the next couple days. Rather burnt out from the heat and exhaustion from being up all night driving and on planes and in airports, the sight of the camp ground and setting up our tent still made me ridiculously excited. Tons of friendly faces surrounded us; our camping area was with fellow Canadians and a British couple, all really great people.

The first night was essentially a huge party with 11,000 other music fans, but being exhausted, grumpy over my lost clothes and underage, I opted to pass out in the tent until morning. Second year Coachella-goers had warned us about the 6-7 am wake up that was inevitable with the heat and sun, which I had been skeptical about, but unfortunately, came true. Saturday morning just before 7 I was wide awake, but had slept much better than expected in a 7 x 9 tent (with my boyfriend and myself both being 6 feet tall). The rental car ended up being a must-have, as the morning bathroom and shower lines were endless and the heat was inescapable. A bunch of us headed into town to the not-so-welcoming locals for some insanely expensive breakfast, but air-conditioning and real washrooms made it well worth it. By the time we got back to the campsite it was just about time to pack up and head into the venue. I was brimming with curiosity about what the inside was like, as a thick line of palm trees separated the camp site from the stages.

We got in with little to no wait, a minor search, and none of the many water bottles we had purchased thinking we could make last the day. What I found most interesting about the whole thing was that everyone you seemed to meet was there for completely different reasons. I had assumed going into it that it would be nothing but rocker types, maybe some goth and indie kids. But a couple of the guys we spent most of the weekend with were heavy into underground hip hop and had come solely to see all the hip hop and DJ acts, most of which I'd never even heard of. Our British friends had come for mostly dance acts and DJ sets as well, and it seemed we were the unusual ones for just wanting to see Depeche Mode or Wolfmother.

From the influence of the aforementioned friends, the first act we checked out was Brother Ali, an albino rapper who was catchy, but we split quickly to go see The Section Quartet. They are a four-piece string band, that includes a cello, violin and a couple other fancy symphony like instruments I'm not sure the names of, and they cover mainstream rock songs. I was not only impressed by their talent and the precision they had covering the songs, but the fact they wore corsets in the nearly 100 degree weather. Playing hits from The Clash, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Franz Ferdinand and many more, they had a great set. It became more of a game to name the song they were playing first, since sans lyrics, our tired little minds were having difficulties figuring it out.

We had a bit of a gap after this, used to check out the plethora of merch and food tents. We headed over early to get up close for Wolfmother; luckily they played a covered tent so we got out of the sun temporarily. Their set exploded with "Dimension" and their 70s hard rock vibe had the whole crowd moving. They didn't talk too much, but they sure as hell delivered, and not a note was missed vocally or musically. We skipped out of their set a tad early to go check out the Duke Spirit, who after having their equipment stolen and their guitarists arm recently broken, had cut their set short so we showed up for the last 20 seconds of their last song. Disappointed, but still with so much to look forward to we headed back to the tents for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They had an enormous crowd, and we ended up listening from outside (which in a sense was better, more room for dancing!) and watching kids tear open the velcro of the tent sides to get in where the press was. Naturally, this was quickly put to a stop by the event staff, but was amusing at the moment. It was a good set, I mumbled along to all their songs where I can't exactly tell what he's saying but made sure to yell "My yellow country teeth!" every so often, when appropriate, of course.

Again, we skipped out of this set a tad early to head over to catch the end of Deerhoof and get a decent place to watch Imogen Heap. Deerhoof was their unusual, quirky selves, which the crowd really seemed to dig. I didn't think they would get a very positive response, but their noise rock off beat style seemed to get people moving. We got fairly close for Imogen Heap's set, who started off with a number of inevitable technical difficulties, which I was pleased to see she came out and dealt with herself. That was another aspect of the show I really enjoyed, most bands seemed to lose their rock star attitudes and were out on the stage doing their own sound checks and tuning their own instruments. Imogen Heap played well, I wasn't sure how she would go about it, but with all her keyboards and mixers and fancy machines she had that she introduced as "her family" everything sounded fantastic.

Once again, we skipped out of her set early (yes, we developed a very good dance-walk as most others did from running from set to set) to catch Ladytron. I've been a fan of Ladytron for years now, and they recently set a Toronto date, which I'm unable to attend since it's 19+. I was sorely disappointed about this, but thrilled to see I'd be able to catch them here. Unfortunately, about three songs into their set, a couple of guys decided to push me right out of their way so I nearly fell over, and plant themselves directly in front of me. After some words with them I decided it was best to get out of there, as Ladytron's stage presence was about as exciting as watching golf. They all got on stage, took their positions and did not stray one bit from them, which didn't make for much of a show. The sound was spectacular, but I expected a bit more excitement from such a fun electro-dance group. After the Ladytron experience, we headed off to Eagles of Death Metal, which definitely lightened the mood. With two drummers, one of which being Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and the other Samantha Maloney of Hole and Motley Crue fame, who drummed in synch throughout the show. This in itself was impressive, but the drumming could have been phenomenal having two drummers working together, alas it was still a good show. Front man Jesse Hughes was his amusing self, reminding the audience every couple of songs that he was "really nervous, and this was a huge fucking crowd, and he was so scared he was losing his voice" although they kept on rocking, and he would get a cheer for the ladies and for rock n roll every two minutes. The crowd seemed a little hesitant about getting into them, but after they got through the first bit of their set everyone was really moving. Surprisingly, Jesse really dominated the show, despite having other more famed members of the band that I expected to shine through much more. With their mixture of rock n roll and humour, their set was a great way to almost finish off the night, after which we headed over to Depeche Mode.

By this time the fact the sun had been sucking my energy supply dry all day was really starting to catch up with me. The crowd for Depeche Mode was overwhelming and had us back near the food tents, where I spent a good portion of the set sitting and getting kicked. I was terribly excited to see them, but wasn't exactly blown away by the performance. Okay, I wouldn't even really say I enjoyed the performance all that much, which was disappointing. They played a good portion of their newer material that no one really seemed to be into, the classics like "Personal Jesus," "Walking in my Shoes," and "Enjoy the Silence," which was really the highlight for me. Dave Gahan decided to strip down to his skin tight pants and show off his surprisingly fit self and prance around for a little while, but aside from this display, there was no real excitement to be had. This could be chalked up to my exhaustion, but everyone I spoke with afterwards about their set seemed sorely disappointed as well.

Although I was more than ready to call it quits after this dragging set, we decided to check out She Wants Revenge. I figured it would be a fun dance show, and a nice way to end the night. The boyfriend wasn't too pleased about extending our night even further, but we were both very pleasantly surprised with SWR. They didn't talk too much, wearing their black faux-army style get ups head to toe, they just pumped out the tracks off their debut record which was more than enough. The entire crowd was moving, the sexiness of their music getting everyone bumpin' and grindin' all over the place. The crowd wasn't too big since they were slotted in at the same time as Daft Punk, but they were very well received. The energy of their set was a fantastic way to end the first night, although the mood was ruined by attempting to get out of the grounds and back to the campsite, which was horrifically organized. Finally getting back to our tents we were sufficiently sleepy and I wasn't sure if I could do it all again, but little did I know the next day had much more in store for us! (More to come on Day 2!)