Gang,
Just got back from what it will definitely be a weekend to remember for the
rest of my life.
Coachella 2004 gathered some of the best electronic acts of the world and
scattered them around the beautiful Empire Polo Field between Saturday and
Sunday.
Me and my brother (both KW fans, of course) got there Friday 4PM. Set tents
out on lot A of the campground next the venue and basically did everything
we could until it was time to go to the Polo Fields for the concerts Sat AM.
The weather was beautiful. Full moon Sat eve. 100F in the shade during the
day, we're talking desert here, us coming from Arizona, it was like a walk
in the park. Not big deal.
They had a main stage, a theater and three huge tents, the Mohave, Gobi and
Sahara, this last one was where our beloved fab four played.
We wore our red man machine T-shirts and sunglasses. Making our way to the
concert Saturday morning, four kids stopped us and asked if we could let
them in to see Kraftwerk performing sound check. They thought we worked for
them. One could only wish we replied. Kraftwerk, btw, was to first to do a
sound check in the early hours of Sat. MOUTH WATERING, yes, with caps.
To make a long story short, we fulfilled a lifelong dream. We patiently
waited for them at the Sahara tent since 7:30 PM (they were set to play,
which they sharply did, at 10:40 PM). We watched and danced to Laurent
Garnier's crazy beats (this French guy is really really good) but then Mark
Farina almost destroyed the mood Laurent help created with some pretty
sluggish tunes. Anyway, that made us the more impatient. What happened after
Farina left the stage was history in the making.
While the Coachella crew was cleaning up the DJ decks from the stage, the
whole tent started clapping while chanting "Kraftwerk Kraftwerk Kraftwerk"
then "Machine Machine Machine". We couldn't believe it. I still get
goosebumps.
We were in front row, right up there. We didn't wanted any other way. Next
to us were people from all over the United States: Florida, New Jersey,
Nevada, California, etc. One of them even followed KW from Seattle (Warfield
in between). The giant Sahara tent was sardine packed. About half a mile
away, Radiohead played at the main stage and finished their gig just minutes
before Kraftwerk was set to go. There was a sea of people moving from that
stage to our tent in order to catch a glimpse of Ralf, Florian and Co.
AFAIR, the setlist was:
Vocoder intro
The Man-Machine (tons of people loved the placement of this song, right at
the start)
Expo 2000
Tour de France 2003
Tour de France
Autobahn (short)
Radioactivity (with slow intro)
Trans Europe Express/Metal on Metal (loved the audio/sound synchronization)
Numbers/Computer World
FIRST ENCORE:
The Robots (the place went nuts at this one. Unbelievable. Loved the robots
moves.)
SECOND ENCORE:
Aero Dynamik (The bass... DAMN what a bass! btw, in comparison, they looked
skinnier in the black suits they had before the wireframe ones)
Musique Non Stop (seeing and hearing each one of them doing a little
something special, right before they left the stage with this song, was an
out of this world experience).
What can I say? They rocked from minute one until they, one by one, vowed to
a pleased crowd that sang, cheered and danced every one of their songs.
Amazing. They loved it too. I know that. I saw them smiling all the time.
Their body language showed us how much they were enjoying the night out
there. I saw a happy Kraftwerk in front of me. Ralf smiled plenty. Florian
was the only one striking a serious pose almost during the entire show, he
also kept very quiet. The shorter guy to Florian's right seem to be pretty
quiet as well and at times, more concerned to what was going with the screen
on the back. For what I saw, Ralf and the guy to his left really earned
their money, they were extremely busy tweaking (specially the tall guy) and
keying everything in front of them. They all seemed to wait for Ralf's
signal before the beginning of each song. He'll nod a bit and then we knew
we were in for a treat.
I took a ton of pictures. I was so nervous and excited at the beginning that
I even dropped a roll of film on the floor trying to change it. Yes, I
managed to find it.
While exiting the place through the back, I saw a big white van parked right
outside and got kind of curious... and who did I see? Florian standing by a
palm tree (tons of these beautiful trees out there) chatting away with
somebody. When I got closer, he jumped into the van and who showed up
running right behind him? Ralf. I yelled Ralf and he glanced at me for a
good second. I was two meters away from a living legend. What came to mind?
Absolutely NOTHING. I was in shock! Paralyzed. There I was, a production
manager in real life, that knows what to say in a crunch, but then, there I
was, speechless at such magical and blessed time of my existence.
While the van was about to take off, I put my arms way up with open hands
and yelled to the whole band "THANK YOU KRAFTWERK". They all smiled and
waved back. I was in state of shock for the rest of the night.
Back at the tent, I hear music from the VIP party Coachella held at a small
club and the DJ played Numbers full blast. He was as happy as we all were.
Merchandising? The Coachella team had the following KW T-shirts for sale at
US$ 20 ea: red man machine, blue autobahn, black aerodynamik (bought two of
them), white kraftwerk and that was it.
The rest of Coachella? Sunday, kind of cruised around and got bits and
pieces of Air, Basement Jaxx and The Cure (not a Cure fan). For the most
part, we hang out at the Sahara tent, where the techno was blasting out
loud. Adam Freeland did OK, Crystal Method was great as always, Ferry
Corsten is a happy guy, he really is and Paul Van Dyk rounded up a great
weekend.
Enrique.
PS: If you'd like to see a few of my "KW live at Coachella" pics, send me an
e-mail. Privately, please.
