J. Cole @ Eventim Apollo London – 1/12/13

I can’t express how long I had been looking forward to this day. I was lucky enough to have seen J. Cole in the Electric Ballroom in Camden some years ago. With a small crowd, and in a small venue, the gig was pretty epic. So it was interesting to see how that experience would fair up against this one.

Mr Tim Westwood opened the show. His DJ set was obviously dedicated to turning up the crowd as he shouted out everyone possible, be it the students, the 9-5ers, drug dealers and the stay at home mums. He played some great tunes, as the audience went mad for the Kendrick Lamar and Drake tracks. Westwood is legendary in this business. But with the inclusion of some ratchet tracks, I realised how dire some of today’s hip hop is.  Westwood constantly and rather annoyingly shouting “wiggity”, was something we could have done without.

To my surprise the other opening acts remained the same as J Cole’s shows in the US. Dreamville signee Bas helped warm up the crowd, who played a selection of tracks off his mixtape Quarter Water Raised Me Vol II. Bas was humorous and humble, admitting to the audience that people must be wondering who the f*** he is. Showing it was very much a Dreamville affair, he also brought on Omen who sang his verse from Cole’s track “Enchanted”. He also sang his track “Break Out”.  These Dreamvillains are definitely great spitters.

Roughly 40 minutes later the curtain dropped and a video appeared of a news report, informing us of Cole being in an accident. I didn’t quite get the link between this and the concert itself. I’m wondering if it was something to do with the film (which I haven’t seen)? Cole appeared and the standing crowd as well as the seated went absolutely wild as he opened with my favourite track off the Born Sinner album “Trouble”.

Trouble was followed by Land of Snakes, and some dope animations related to the tracks. Cole dressed simply in black, plus his prized chain and a SINNER hat played most of the tracks off the Born Sinner album. A handful were brought in with an dramatic introduction such as the girlfriend-esque phone message to Cole which led to Runaway.

The choice of tracks on the setlist was perfect. Cole also included key older tracks including “Blow Up”, “Work Out”, “In the Morning”, “Lost Ones” and “Can’t Get Enough”. “She Knows” and “Rich Niggaz” very much were crowd favourites which are excellent tracks to hear live.

The set was progressive but simplistic, not overdone but appropriate. There was an amazing live band behind Cole, as well as two beautiful backing singers who had some amazing moves. This backdrop, of what I can only describe as curtains, (I’m sure there’s a technical terms) were really cool as they dropped off every so often showing different Cole related symbols.

One of the highlights of the gig had to have been when he ask for requests from the crowd. Cole managed to get the requests from one or two fans seated up top and those in the crowd after which he gave the audience a vote. This was impressive and showed he was ready for anything unlike artists who only wish to stick to a rigid format in shows. He played his “Back To The Topic Freestyle” from his Friday Night Lights Mixtape which only a true J. Cole fan would know.

Performance wise, Cole was on form, the audience was a gooden knowing every line to every song. For me ‘She Knows’ and ‘Rich Niggas’ were particularly epic. Cole occasionally took a swig of his “bottle of Hennessy”, and told the crowd that he’d been drinking A LOT. I’m not sure he’s that foolish, could’ve been a honey mixture for all we know.

What I definitely noticed this time is a very structured show where Cole was on point on being a performer who has progressed. The Roc Nation star now seems to have created himself into a professional on stage, who looks effortless on the mic and at ease. At the same time he was also pretty funny. This of course is only emblematic of how quickly Cole has become and continues to elevate to stardom.

Cole’s last comments of the night were, “See you at the O2 Arena”. He knows that’s once you sell out arenas you’re making the REAL money. I’ll be somewhat sad once he does, and that real connection that you have with the audience in big arenas is never there for me at such concerts. But of course, I’ll be happy he’s made it big. It’s nice to see a star grow and also maintain a very humble nature which is visible from his interviews.

A Wireless Weekend

There was so much going on this past weekend including Heart in the Park at Hyde Park, T in the Park in Scotland to name a few. I was lucky enough to be at Wireless Festival 2013 this weekend which came to East London in the Olympic Park which is now known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and it was pretty epic.

Wireless always has great line ups, and this year was no different with a list full of legends. Deciding which day to go was difficult enough. I was fortunate to have tickets to both Saturday and Sunday. I was glad to see that these days were full of great artists. The festival which has been running since 2005 consisted of 4 stages this year. The location was perfect and compared to last year in Hyde Park, the festival was able to draw in many more people. The park is vast, and it takes approximately 30 mins just to walk from Stratford Tube Station to the venue. But it’s fair to say that Wireless was generally very well organised.

Can you spot little Kendrick?

As Saturday kicked in, in the sweltering heat, the day was packed with big names including Macklemore, Calvin Harris and Iggy Azalea. With such a great line up, we stayed on by the Main Stage which was next graced by none of other than LA’s finest Kendrick Lamar. Dressed in all white, Lamar was loved by the crowd as people rushed in when he arrived on stage. We all know that K Dot is small, but it is really surprising seeing how teeny he is when you see him in the flesh. His played a good array of songs, had good stage presence and was so strong on the mic. Though his set felt short, people got down to many of his tracks of Section80 including ‘Background Freestyle’, ‘Money Trees’ and, ‘m.A.A.d city’. He also did his verse of A$Ap’s ‘F***in Problems’. He ended the set with everyone’s favourite, ‘Swimming Pools’. Seeing Kendrick made it official that he is the real deal, and firmly in the top cream of rappers if anyone ever had any doubt.

Down to the last two acts on the main stage, many people venture off to other tents, and stages to experience other acts. The next main stage act was Emeli Sande, one of the artists I was most excited to see this weekend. I’m sure many people chose to see other people because Sande’s discography consists of ballads, but being able to appreciate her music and how special she is as a UK act is important to me. I wasn’t disappointed at all, and Emeli’s voice is strong putting her safely in the category of the likes of Adele. There was no crazy entrance from the singer, to highlight her stature. Her band walked on, her backing singers walked on and she walked on and said hello. Simples. She kicked off with’ Heaven’ which went down well and then proceeded with tracks from her award winning album Our Version of Events. Many of the tracks were unknown to a crowd who were waiting out her set for a good position for Jay-Z. She also performed her new track ‘Wonder’ which is a part of the Hotel Cabana project with ‘Lalala’ artist Naughty Boy. Sande gave me goosebumps with ‘Clown’ and ‘Read All About It’.

One of the aspects I didn’t like about wireless last year was the very young crowd. Obviously I can’t blame young people who wish to come to Wireless, it’s a great festival, but the generational difference brings different appreciations. The crowd was great this year though, older and more appreciative of the music. There are also the usual ruffians who believe it’s their right to be in the front row, and bypass those who have stood in their positions near the front for the last past 4 hours. As many people went off during Sande’s set, space cleared up in the front in a dramatic way, leaving us in prime position for Jay-z. Of course there were the pushers. The girls allied to hold back the selfish boys who thought it was their god right to be in front of us.

Jay-Z set was simplistic but had the air of a don with MCHG images alongside the stage. I’ve been fortunate to see Hov a few times before, but what always gets to me is his charisma and insurmountable stage presence. He literally stands there like a god. As well as the classics, such as ‘Big Pimpin’. Jay politely asked if he could play some of his new s**t, to which to crowd was hardly going to say no. He thanked us for making MCHG his first number one album in the UK. It’s hard to believe it’s taken this long. Although I was waiting, and inside begging him to perform ‘Oceans’, which didn’t happen, Jay performed the faster tracks such as ‘Tom Ford’, ‘F***witmeyouknowigotit’, ‘Somewhere in America’, ‘Picasso Baby’ and ‘FUTW’. He even performed the interlude off the album Beach is Better. Not surprisingly we were treated to Justin Timberlake on stage for ‘Holy Grail’.

The Sunday bill was full of hip hop on the main stage. Elsewhere there was also plenty of good acts including Joey Badass, Katy B, 2 Chainz and Misha B. I arrived in time for A$AP Rocky who came out to a crowd which was a little quiet and did not give him much heat. But to his credit, he and his peeps did well to get the crowd going with some mad crowd surfing. He came on stage with 1Train, and also performed other tracks for his album Long.Live.A$Ap including ‘Goldie’, and ‘Wild for the Night’.

Nas brought in a mammoth crowd, and was the hip hop artist that impressed me the most, and I expected nothing less. I was in awe of him, and just speechless by his talent. For his long spanning career, he performed a great variety of tracks including ‘One Mic’, ‘Life’s a Bitch’, ‘Made You Look’, ‘Daughters’ and ‘Cherry Wine’. Nas didn’t stop with the music. His tracklist was incredible, and he was able to fit in so much music.

The headliners of Sunday were Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake under the ‘Legends of Summer’ tag. The set of the stage was great as all the backing singers and the band were dressed in red. I was definitely looking forward to seeing what Jay-Z and JT would do together, it’s not like they have a collaborative album like Hov and Kanye did when they did ‘Watch the Throne’. The two stars began with ‘Holy Grail’ and even did an incredible mish-mash of songs such as with Justin’s ‘Rock Your Body’, and Jay’s ‘I Just Wanna Love Ya’.

Following this they did their own individual tracks, but Justin did most of the hard work as we got the opportunity to hear some of his classics such as ‘Cry Me a River’ and ‘Senorita’. Of course this brought on hate from the males in the crowd, as they took a disliking to JT’s more romantic tunes. The surprise on the night was when Riri joined her boss on stage to perform ‘Run This Town’. If this is what the Legends of Summer tour is about, it’s definitely worth seeing.

Overall Wireless did well once again this year, but the enormity of the location made me lazy to see other acts but maybe that’s just me, and well, the line up on main stage was unbeatable.

Rihanna @ Twickenham Stadium -15th June 2013

I went to a Rihanna concert in 2011 and I think the best way I could describe it back then was one big party. This year the experience was a little different. Rihanna’s team had decided to come to Twickenham Rugby Stadium this year for the first time whilst she had previously performed at the O2 Arena in London. There is a significant difference in capacities with the O2 fitting 20,000 people and Twickenham holding 55,000 for concerts. Twickenham is pretty huge to say the least and the Diamonds World Tour did well to sell out on the night that I attended which was the 15th of June, one of two dates.

The Diamonds World Tour is pretty astonishing if you look at the schedule. This tour began on the 8th of March in Buffalo, New York. The statistics are quite impressive. From March to November, this year Rihanna will have performed 94 dates, spanning 80 cities in 30 different countries. From that alone we can see how hard Rihanna works for her money. Rihanna needs no introduction. She spans  genres and is a worldwide superstar in music.

The opening act was Rihanna’s good friend Mr David Guetta. Although I reached the venue a little late, we were in time to see Guetta do nothing less than a stellar job of pumping the crowd. He spun hit after hit, with his own songs such as ‘Titanium’, and other great dance tracks including Avicii’s ‘I Could Be The One’ and Swedish House Mafia’s popular track, ‘Don’t You Worry Child. It was quite a sight to see the standing crowd jumping and fist pumping in unison.

Following an hour’s gap, Rihanna started dead on 9pm dressed in a sheer black shirt, high wasted shorts and thigh high boots, opening with Phresh Off The Runway. An excited crowd went wild. I wasn’t quite convinced that it was the right opening choice for the Twickenham.

From there, she performed some great tracks with ‘Birthday Cake’, ‘Talk That Talk’, ‘Pour it Up’ and ‘Numb’. Rihanna worked the stage exceptionally well and danced unapologetically (no pun intended) in her dirty way. After her performance of ‘Numb’, Rihanna went off for what would be one of many costume changes which was slightly irritating whilst she left her guitarist to entertain us. Also a little irritating was Rihanna’s constant profanity. It can be fitting in some situations, but it felt slightly awkward with the large number of families in the audience, as she admitted, that she thought love was some complicated, messed up s***.

Most people seated got up to dance seventh song in which was ‘Mandown’. The graphics revolving around a ‘criminal Rihanna’, with WANTED signs were a nice addition to the performance. She then went onto perform some more popular choices including ‘Rude Boy’ and ‘What’s My Name?’ Rihanna told the audience that it was particularly a special night as her friends and family were in the audience.

Although this was indeed the Diamonds World Tour, a lot of her biggest hits which led to her rise were oddly placed in her set list. ‘Umbrella’, which is arguably the song that made Rihanna most popular in the mainstream was planted in the middle. With the specific emphasis on supporting her Unapologetic album, Rihanna encored with ‘Stay’, which was beautiful, and then ‘Diamonds’. I question whether this was actually needed. The tour could have alternatively ended with ‘We Found Love’ perhaps.

What left me overwhelmingly underwhelmed by this concert, which featured throughout, was Rihanna’s distinct lack of singing. The artist has a decent performing voice, but with many of her songs with the exception of the ballads, the hard work was left to her backing singers. A pre-recorded chorus featured in most of the songs, which meant that Rihanna would either skat, or miss out parts. Performance wise it was not greatly impressive, and not what I would typically expect from the worldwide star. Granted, touring is exhausting but Rihanna did lack energy. Overall this left for a bit of a disappointing concert which failed to give me the high that I usually get following live shows.

Alicia Keys @ O2 Arena, London – 31st May 2013

Out of all the concerts I have been lucky to go to, I think seeing Alicia Keys was the one I was looking most forward to. The 31st of May 2013 was her second day in the London O2 Arena of her Set the World on Fire Tour which consists of a staggering 57 shows across North America, Europe and parts of Asia.

The age of the crowd was probably the most diverse that I have been to. There were young women, middle-aged couples, even mature couple in their 50s. Keys most certainly has the ability to appeal to all with her catchy songs, and her no gimmick nature of her music. Our seats were in an interesting area but one which brought much advantage. We were sat to the left corner of the stage which gave us a side view of the stage. It also allowed us a very clear look in of the back of the stage which was concealed to the front by a curtain.

Keys’ support act was none other than RnB singer Miguel who has made a big impact in the US. But from the reaction of the crowd, he wasn’t known as much here possibly due to the demographics of the audience and his appeal to urban music fans. Sadly, he is probably currently better known for leg dropping a fan in one of his recent shows. Miguel was given half the stage to perform which seemed somewhat squished. His focus was intently on promoting himself internationally with his second album Kaleidoscope Dream which has taken more popularity across the pond. Vocally Miguel’s performance was highly commendable and he was crazily energetic with his Michael Jackson-esque dance moves. He took the time to be humble and introduce himself from scratch, admitting that people may be wondering who the hell he was. Miguel sang his very first single ‘All I Want Is You’, along with other tracks including ‘Sure Thing’, and ‘Do You…’, with which he unashamedly asked the audience, ‘Do You Like Drugs?’. Not too sure how that went down! I personally thought more singing was needed with less talk from the singer, as he gave a lengthy background to a lot of songs. I also thought his song choices could have been better, as some of my favourite tracks of his such as ‘Arch & Point’, and ‘How Many Drinks’ were missing. Miguel expectedly ended with the popular ‘Adorn’.

In the space of an hour, the stage was transformed for Alicia Keys. Her band warmed up, and we even got a glimpse of Swizz Beatz as he walked the stage with his sons Kasseem Jr. and Egypt. The side view gave us a great advantage. We were able to see the set up and watch Keys’s backing dancers warm up, and generally see the preparation that goes into a show.

The beginning minutes of Keys’ entrance featured scenes of New York with the intro of ‘Empire State of Mind’. However Keys’ opened with the upbeat sounds of ‘Karma’ wearing fitted high-waisted trousers, a part sheer pink top and her signature fedora. Though probably not necessary, Keys had 4-5 male dancers that took up the main part of the stage who were entertaining and clearly very talented.

The stage and production of the concert was impressive as her piano rolled on and off when needed. Keys performed a great variety of tracks which spanned a range of the albums she has released. Some of my favourites included ‘A Woman’s Worth’, ‘Diary’, ‘Unthinkable’, ‘Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart’, and of course ‘Fallin’. Keys is a true professional. She hardly took any breaks, no lengthy runs off stage, and her voice sounded flawless throughout.

We were lucky enough to be treated to a few guests on stage. Rather randomly, Alicia Keys brought Labrinth out onto stage who was received very well. He performed ‘Express Yourself’ and ‘Earthquake’ for which Keys joined in on for a few sections. What probably made the concert for many though was the surprise appearance of John Legend who was in the UK for the Chime for Change concert due to take place in Twickenham the next day.  It seemed rather odd when Keys started to play the intro of ‘Ordinary People’ on her amazing piano, but when she stopped and said, ‘Wait, I think I know someone who can play this better’ it all became clearer. It was jaw dropping when John Legend walked out onto stage and truly unforgettable to see the two perform the track together. Walking out of the concert at the end, I heard many people say that John Legend’s appearance was the ‘icing on the cake’.

Keys ended with ‘Girl of Fire’, but finished with Empire State of Mind as part of the encore as she looked beautiful in a fitted black floor length dress. From start to finish, Keys’ voice was on point, and her energy levels were high from beginning to end. She really did not disappoint. The concert flew by for me, and I realised it was probably because I knew every song she sang. What a true performer Alicia Keys is. I for one would recommend seeing her in concert to anyone.

Muse @ The Emirates Stadium – 26th May 2013

Support Acts: The 1975 and Dizzee Rascal

When you get tickets to see Muse, it’s pretty much safe to say that you can expect a concert experience that you have never had before. For me, this gig included many firsts. It was my first time at the Emirates Stadium, home to the arch rivals of my beloved Spurs Football club, and it was my first time at a rock concert. It’s fair to say that I was rather uneasy with so much red surrounding me.

The 26th of May was the second of three dates Muse were playing in London. The bands discography is a force to be reckoned with, and is simply quite impressive. It totals 6 albums, 14 Top 20 UK Hits and 29 single releases. A three-piece band coming from Devon, they have done massively well. Their international following is huge. Amongst the crowd I heard a spread of languages. The stage was set up at the clock end of the stadium. Not only did the Muse fill out the pitch, but it also filled out the approximately 60,000 capacity of the Emirates Stadium.

The 1975 opened the concert rather unexpectedly 30 mins before scheduled. The 1975 exudes a carefree sound. In a solid half hour set, they included their recently released singles ‘The City’ and ‘Chocolate’ as well as a number of new tracks. I am a fan of The 1975 with their addictive melodies. Their lead singer Matthew Healy did however come across as slightly uncomfortable as he admitted he did not know ‘ how to talk to so many people’. He repeatedly told us they were from Manchester. There was also a slight crisis when the drummers drum kit fell apart. The emergency was over soon enough, but it’s hardly a surprise their instruments fall apart when you see the way they rock on.

The second opener was East London’s legendary Dizzee Rascal. Dizzee did not fail us, pumping up the crowd playing some his most notable hits including, ‘Bonkers’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Fix Up Look Sharp’, and ‘Dance With Me’. I do love Dizzee Rascal, especially because he makes me so proud to be Londoner. But I couldn’t help in my East London heart to want to hear some of his rougher, older material which was less commercial and less ‘dancey’. Nevertheless, this was not a Dizzee Rascal concert.

Without too much delay, as the seats around packed in and the floor became extra crowded, the screens flickered onto a news screen with a news reporter, as puffs of fire bursted out of the roof. Don’t worry, the roof was not of fire. Muse opened with ‘The 2nd Law: Unsustainable’ as people went wild. Swiftly, they moved onto Supremacy, where animations of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, and David Cameron dancing along appeared on screen. The tour production was the best I have seen yet. It was inventive, unpredictable, and wackingly original. At one point, they had a small role play alongside a track, firstly featured on the screen where a businessman had lost out on big bucks on his shares and was crazily angry. The actor then walked out onto stage portraying his frustration of losing out on big money, ripping up bank notes and throwing them into the crowd. Before I knew it, money flew out from nowhere. Sadly not real money! But…it was Muse money!!! How cool is that?!!

As the sun went down, the spectacles of role play and giant robots continued as Muse played some of their greatest songs including their cover of ‘Feeling Good’, ‘Hysteria’ and their recent single ‘Madness’. With their amazing music, it is true to say that Muse does not need gimmicks on stage as their music simply speaks for itself. But the theatrical nature of the production was simply amazing. Tracks such as ‘Butterflies and Hurricane’ and ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ allowed for the crowd to jump in a non-simultaneous manner and simply push people around as the alcohol and (probably) drugs kicked in for many fans. It might be my ageing  or my lack of experience at rock concerts, but being pushed about by youths was not quite so enjoyable for me. With my ‘un-testable’ strength, I kneed a slightly annoying Muse fan in an Arsenal shirt that came into my path. I can proudly say my brother had to stop me, as we nearly did a number of him.

Moving on, I continued to enjoy Muse. I revelled in the amazing sounds and Matthew Bellamy’s flawless vocals. We later gasped at a giant light bulb that inflated and moved around the stadium. If that was not shocking enough, a trapeze/ballet dancer came out of the bottom of it, and danced in height underneath the giant light bulb.

All in all, a Muse concert is much like going to the see a musical theatre production but better. Amazing art, political messages and amazing music. I guess the only thing is if you are standing on the floor, you will feel like you have just come out of 4-5 hour boxing match!

Muse Concert Set List- 26th May 2013

Craig David @IndigoO2, London

With a group of friends, including one who is rather fanatical about this artist since her childhood, this week I went to see the British singer, MC, DJ who rose to fame in the late nineties/early noughties that is Southampton’s finest – Craig David. It’s likely that our younger, newer generation will not be so familiar with this guy. If they are, they probably know him for featuring on Artful Dodger’s ‘Rewind’ or the comedy terms of ‘Bo Selecta’. Prior to the concert, we remained anticipated over what he would look like as many of us have seen how ripped he’s become, and more importantly whether his voice would produce the sleek, RnB sounds that we once heard roughly 12 years ago.

At roughly 7.45pm, we were treated to music by Craig David’s support act – Charlie Brown. I will admit, I was not too familiar with his music. However recently, he had a Top Ten UK hit with his single, ‘On My Way.’ I have some decent things to say about the singer from South London. He has a great voice, one which is suited to RnB. I would say the music he is directing definitely has more of a pop factor than RnB which is expected from the current lull that RnB music has taken. Brown covered Miguel’s Adorn which is a difficult risk to take, and for me, one which did not pay off because of how amazingly Miguel sings it. Brown warmed up the crowd well, and ended his set playing his new single ‘Dependency’.

After what felt like hours, and without teasing the crowd, CD’s band came out and opened with ‘Flava’. This song has always been comedy for me because of it’s ice cream lyrics! Nevertheless, we were so excited that it pumped the crowd and low and behold we had a rather sleek, fit and energetic Craig David in front of us.

Though London has probably not seen him on a stage for many years, he is undoubtedly a great performer and singer. Although some may say otherwise, he seemed incredibly humble and thankful for the great turnout. Fans in the crowd were the dedicated sort, who knew the lyrics to all the unreleased songs from his past albums. We all sang along to some of his most well-known tracks from his iconic album Born to Do It, including ‘Rendezvouz’ and ‘Walking Away’. We also enjoyed some great tunes from his second album Slicker Than Your Average such as ‘Hidden Agenda’ and ‘Rise & Fall’ which CD recorded with Sting. CD also had an incredibly talented band that kept the crowd lively and entertained in between his quick breaks off stage.

One of the highlights of this concert for me was when his decks were rolled out onto stage. CD told the crowd about the parties he hosted in his (now) hometown of Miami where he spins the records under the name TS5. As a DJ, CD did not fail one bit. He mixes amazingly well and dropped some of the best tracks in hip hop, RnB, and garage. Oh and his MC-ing? It just filled me in a cloud of nostalgia!

Looking back it’s a shame that the height of his career did not span a longer amount of time. But the singer is launching a come-back. He debuted his new song, ‘Less Is More’ which is reminiscent of his older material whilst also having quite a current feel. There are also rumours that CD plans to work with Drake. That would definitely be interesting!!

In my humble opinion, if CD’s comeback doesn’t go as planned, he can always have a great, solid career as a DJ. He definitely knows what he’s doing on the decks. For me and surely the other twenty somethings in the audience, CD definitely impressed and is no different to his self 10 years ago, well, maybe a little more ‘hench’.

The Coachella Experience…..Told by a No Longer Coachella Virgin

For those of you who don’t know, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes place every year in Indio, California, normally towards the end of April. It occurs over three days packing in the best of all sorts of music including indie, EDM, rock, folk, hip-hop. Over the years it’s seen some huge names, including The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blur, the Stone Roses and Wu Tang Clan this year, as well as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg (who was not then a lion), and the Black Keys in 2012.  Last year, I decided I was going to see what all the hype was about at Coachella 2013.

My cousin and I planned this adventure early, and I mean really early. We applied for tickets back in May 2012 at the first release so we would not have the hassle of waiting on general admission. We were dead set on going, and anxious that tickets would sell out quickly. What sold it to me? I’m not going to lie, it had to be 2012’s Tupac hologram which would be difficult to beat, let alone attempt to beat. At $349 covering the three days, it’s a great price for how much music you get to see over three days.

Skip forward to April 2013 in LA, we were ready for the trip. We hit the road early.  We armed ourselves with snacks, alcohol, baby wipes, loo roll, blankets as well as the items on the usual camping list. We sounded prepared right? Coachella here we come!!! The first thing that hit me when we reached Indio was the heat. I was warned it would be hot, but was taken aback by how hot it was!! Indio is desert land. It’s full of dust and dry heat, and the sun is super strong, even for an Indian like me.

Coachella is big on looking after the environment and so are many of its attendees. Pushing their cars for the half an hour to an hour wait into car camping was not an unusual sight. Another usual sight was the happy painted colourful cars, and the happy people. I had walked into a hot, happy, party land…

I am so glad to say that most of the people I met were overwhelmingly nice. They were happy to share their food and drink, talkative and just nice people! Compared to others, our preparation was tame. People had come armed with gallons of alcohol, fruit, giant cool boxes, outdoor games, you name it! Thursday being the day before the festival started, we had the opportunity to bond with our neighbours. A momentous day, I played my first ever game of beer pong (in true American style), and engaged in some other rather interesting drinking games. Before I knew it, the sun had set and my tipsy self was in need of sleep. Indio had turned from a sweaty 30 something degrees to what felt like a chilly 10 degrees.

The pattern of extremes continued as the sun and its crazy heat awoke me and probably most my fellow festival go-ers. It was time was portaloos and make shift showers. Though I have issues with disgusting toilets, I had to come to terms with portaloos. With access to clean water and hand sanitiser I was safely content. Coachella did a great job of introducing VIP showers where you pay for ‘luxury’ with $10. I was happy and prepared to do that until I realised the ordinary showers had no queue and were not so bad at all. This would be the start of realising the reliability of Coachella facilities in my experience. A big thumbs up!

The campsite along, has several food places, dance tents for later, and an amazing arts and craft tent. Here was the opportunity to tap into my 5 year old self with colours and beads and glue!! Low and behold we engaged in making Iphone covers and Coachella quilt patches!

Friday brought the excitement of experiencing the first day of the festival. The festival itself is huge, and the campsite is separated off from it. The place was full of wacky and qwerky art pieces, colourful tents, and several stages. Unlike many people there, I will admit, a lot of the bands and acts were not familiar to me. But this is what was so beautifully exciting, seeing musical acts live and in its most organic form. In my opinion it’s the best way to make a judgement on how good an act is.

My cousin and I had a pretty good idea of the bands and artists we wanted to see, but we were also open to whatever sounded good. Certain artists had to be sacrificed to witness others at the same time on different stages. On Friday, together some of the acts we saw included Metric, Of Monsters and Men, Tegan and Sara whilst I finished up with Blur. The festival is not limited to just stages. There were different tents with DJ’s and also the infamous Do-Lab where the sprayed water allows you to cool down in the pounding heat whilst dancing to an eclectic variety of music.

By the time night fell, we headed back to the campsite dragging our tired feet. Whilst many chose to sleep, I opted to tag along with my neighbours to the Silent Disco at the campsite. It’s a wonderful and weird experience, and so laid-back. A mix of electronica, dance and hip hop was played directly into my ears through wireless headphones.

Waking up on Saturday to the baking heat at around 10am, I noticed a prickly feeling on my shoulders. No not insects, I had got slightly sun burnt to my disbelief. Don’t think that Indians don’t get burnt, I guess that’s my lesson learnt. Showered, minimal make on, shorts and vest on, it was time to hit the festival.

Saturday was a great great day, and my highlight has to have been 2Chainz! He’s not to be taken too seriously, he’s a fun rapper, with fun music. The crowd went wild for his giant spliff, which was given to a happy lady in the audience. 2Chainz went down well at Coachella and he’s blown up in the US in a big way. Sadly I missed Ben Howard for him, but hey, no regrets.

On the final day, absolutely psyched for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Wu Tang I had sadness inside me. The big, care-free party was coming to an end. We rode the iconic Ferris Wheel, a must at Coachella. Sunday’s act were amazing – the Lumineers, Vampire Weekend, Mimosa. Wu Tang did not fail, and I can tick two things off my bucket list – Coachella and seeing the RHCPs before I die. The Chilli Peppers play some of their best tunes, and I was nearly in tears when I heard the intro to Under the Bridge. I can go on and on at how amazing they were.

My final words – Coachella musically is epically intense. I was blown away at how well organised the festival was. It’s so much fun, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves music.

My Top 5 Coachella Tips:

1)      Regular sunscreen application and water are a must.

2)      Pace yourself! The three days are intense and tiring, do not overdo the alcohol (or drugs), or you will miss out.

3)      Take music tips off others. Open your mind to new music and artists, you are seeing them in their element – live.

4)      Be friendly. Talk to others. People at Coachella are often really friendly. It’s nice to meet people and help each other out. Sharing is caring.

5)      Don’t stay in one place at the festival. There are so many different tents and stages to experience!