Having nothing better to do after Nickel Creek, I stuck around with the large crowd that had formed to see Of Montreal. I’d heard enough of their stuff to be familiar with them, but it hadn’t ever really pulled me in. Now I can understand their appeal.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of their weird outfits and strange stage antics at first, but after a couple songs it was amusing and added to the entertainment value. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of psychedelic drugs being passed around back stage with these guys, but that didn’t stop them from playing like their pink, flippy shoulder pads depended on it.

Their unique blend of freaky dance pop was addictive and catchy, and I was a big enough fan by the time I left that I ended up buying a t-shirt. That’s saying something, because all shirts at the Coachella merch booth were $25. Hooray for festival ripoffs.

Once again, there are more pictures than you can shake a stick at over on Flickr.

Well, first off, let’s get this out of the way: I was at Starbucks that Friday morning and held the door for Nickel Creek violinist Sara Watkins on my way out. I didn’t realize it until I was out the door. There’s a lot more back-story to that, but we’ll leave it at that.

This was the second time I’d seen Nickel Creek, so I had my expectations and they didn’t disappoint. They played a shorter version of their normal set (the curse of every music festival). The only song I was unfamiliar with was a new one that I’m guessing mandolinist Chris Thile wrote post-divorce. Something about “don’t set me up with one of your friends.” It was funny. But kind of sad at the same time.

I’m glad I got to see them again, considering this is their final tour before they take an indefinite hiatus to work on their solo projects and such.

I didn’t take my camera to Coachella (intentionally) but if you want pictures, Flickr has plenty.

I apologize. I said I would be let you know how Coachella went and it’s been a week already. That’s like ten years in blogger news time. Or something. Now I’m probably going to go into overkill mode; I intend to review each of the twenty-some acts I saw. If you’re not a fan of overkill, you can read daily summaries over at Buzzgrinder California, where I’m starting to help out.

Going chronologically, my first victim shall be the Comedians Of Comedy. The only non-music act all weekend. Whatever.

I was excited to check these guys out because I’ve gotten my share of laughs from a few of their comedians on Comedy Central and I’ve always enjoyed Patton Oswalt’s character on King Of Queens.

Oswalt was the emcee so he was out first to warm up the crowd. I’m not quite sure where he went wrong, but nobody was laughing. Maybe it was because his first words on stage were asking everyone to sit down, and then pointing out and making fun of individuals who couldn’t find room to sit. Then he sang some random “hobo songs” that made no sense, and gave a disgusting description of what it must look like for a 60-year-old woman giving birth. Then he introduced Jasper Redd, who got even less laughs, if that were even possible. I decided to leave before things turned violent.

I just got way too excited for Coachella this weekend when they posted the set time schedule.

Somehow they managed to keep conflicts to a minimum, as far as my own preferences go, anyway. There are a couple bands I might have to skip out early on to catch something else, but the only major conflict for me is Saturday evening. Kings Of Leon, The Decemberists, !!! and Andrew Bird all playing at the same time. I don’t even know where to start with that one. I’ve seen Andrew Bird, so I may have to sacrifice there, but even then, he puts on an amazing show.

Here’s how I plan to break it down:

Friday

• Nickel Creek
• Of Montreal
• Circa Survive
• Rufus Wainwright
• The Jesus And Mary Chain
• Peeping Tom
• Interpol
• Sonic Youth
• Bjork

Saturday

• Regina Spektor
• The New Pornographers
• Kings Of Leon vs. The Decemberists vs. !!! vs. Andrew Bird
• The Arcade Fire
• Girl Talk
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Black Keys

Sunday

• Mika
• Anathallo
• Grizzly Bear
• Explosions In The Sky
• The Roots
• Willie Nelson
• Amos Lee
• Ratatat
• Damien Rice
• Rage Against The Machine

Meanwhile, I’m packing up my sunscreen and shorts (two things I don’t use that often; yeah, I’m a nerd) and expecting to have a very fun weekend. I’ll be lucky if I don’t come back deaf, malnourished, underslept and looking like Pigpen.

SXSW has finally released the official lineup. My initial count is at 1334 artists. Wow. I’m not even going to try and count how many of those I’d want to see because I already know I can’t go.

The Coachella 2007 lineup was posted today, with some especially surprising news that Rage Against The Machine, who broke up in 2000, will be headlining on Sunday, April 29, the last of three days of musical mayhem.

Apparently it will only be for this one show, but I still wonder about the possibilities. Obviously enough reconciliation has happened that vocalist Zach De La Rocha is willing to share the stage with his former band mates (now known as the non-vocal portion of radio rockers Audioslave), so it doesn’t seem too far a stretch for them to realize how much chemistry they had on stage, and that maybe, just maybe, they’ll start to miss it. Hey, let me dream, OK?

Other notable Coachella confirmations (aka the ones I really care about) include: Björk, Interpol, Explosions In The Sky, The Jesus And Mary Chain (whaa?), Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, Sonic Youth, Nickel Creek, Damien Rice, We Are Scientists, Comedians Of Comedy, Circa Survive, Gillian Welch, Kings Of Leon, The New Pornographers, The Black Keys, Blonde Redhead, !!!, Regina Spektor, Jack’s Mannequin, The Nightwatchman, Andrew Bird, Girl Talk, Amos Lee, Ratatat and Anathallo.

Others festivals are on the horizon as well. I previously mentioned SXSW, and the Pitchfork Music Festival was recently announced to be taking place mid-July in Chicago.

This onslaught of news kinda makes me wish I were independently wealthy and could travel anywhere at any time.

I keep coming across all sorts of random videos on YouTube that are well worth viewing but haven’t ever mentioned them to anyone. All are music-related, of course:

• mewithoutYou performing “In A Sweater Poorly Knit” at Cornerstone
  I saw this well before Brother, Sister came out (and probably should’ve mentioned it then). It was the moment I knew I would love this album.
• mewithoutYou vocalist Aaron Weiss speaking at Cornerstone 2005
  Be warned that it’s 40 minutes long. Well worth the time spent, though. I love this man’s honest heart.
• Art Brut performing at Pitchfork Fest
  Hilarious. This video shows exactly why this band never ceases to amuse me.
• Sufjan Stevens and David Byrne (of the Talking Heads) covering “Saginaw, Michigan” live
• Music video for Sufjan’s “Romulus”
  (Did anyone else know there was a video for this? I sure didn’t…)
• The Decemberists live on Conan
  This was just a couple days ago. I’m loving their new album, by the way.
• French DJ group Birdy Nam Nam performing “Absesses”
  I had never heard of these guys, but their turntable skills take them beyond your average DJ. If this were just an audio track, I probably wouldn’t realize turntables were even involved.

So it looks like I’ll be crying for an entire weekend this spring again, considering that I most likely won’t be at Coachella. Their roster gets better every year, I swear. I’ve done the work of bolding all the ones that I’ll be specifically sad about missing.

Saturday, April 29
Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Common, Damian Marley, Atmosphere, Carl Cox, My Morning Jacket, Ladytron , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tosca, Cat Power, Animal Collective, Hard-Fi, Derrick Carter, Devendra Banhart, She Wants Revenge, The Walkmen, The Juan Maclean, Audio Bullys, Imogen Heap, Lady Sovereign, Deerhoof, The Duke Spirit, Editors, stellastarr*, Lyrics Born, Matt Costa, The New Amsterdams, The Zutons, Platinum Pied Pipers, White Rose Movement, Chris Liberator, Colette, Joey Beltram, Hybrid, Wolfmother, The Like, Living Things, Nine Black Alps, The Section Quartet, Infadels, Youth Group, Shy FX & T Power, Infusion

Sunday, April 30
Tool (double dang it), Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party (triple sad face), Paul Oakenfold, Scissor Sisters, Matisyahu, James Blunt, TV on the Radio, Sleater-Kinney , Mogwai, Coheed and Cambria, Gnarls Barkley, Coldcut, Phoenix, Digable Planets, Amadou & Mariam, Little Louie Vega, Mylo (DJ Set), Seu Jorge, Wolf Parade, The Go! Team, Kaskade, Metric, Art Brut, Dungen, The Dears, Jamie Lidell, The Magic Numbers, Los Amigos Invisibles, Jazzanova, Michael Mayer, Mates of State, Gilles Peterson, Gabriel & Dresden, The Subways, Minus the Bear, Be Your Own Pet, Giant Drag, Kristina Sky, The Octopus Project