Indio, California, April 30–May 1, 2005

Here’s my top five of the two days...

1. Nine Inch Nails | Now I wouldn’t consider myself a NIN fan going into this set, and all of the constant smashing I felt from the crowd just waiting made me want to crowd surf to get out and go see something else, but I have never never never seen anything quite as honest, emotional, brutal, and, as the woman beside me said so observantly, “sexy” as Nine Inch Nails’ performance. It was really really really good and nothing else came close.

2. Bloc Party | “This isn’t a fucking tea party.” “Do you want this to turn into a disco? We’ll play a dance number then.” Hahahahaha! Oh, skinny guitarist. How I love you and your non-talking.

3. The Chemical Brothers | Also not a fan going into this, but Coachella is great because you get to see so much stuff that you’ll never get to (or want to) see at any other moment in your life.

4. The Futureheads | Tight as hell, douche bag beside me who kept talking about how he’d seen Gang of Four and The Clash 40 times back in the day dug them like crazy so that’s good. I made the mistake of telling him they were like The Jam when he asked before the set, forgetting to mention XTC so he talked to me about how I should listen to XTC once they started playing and I wanted to punch him because I knew all the albums he was talking to me about like I was clueless. Again, what a douche!