Madonna made her festival debut at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in southern California, performing six songs Sunday in front of one of the largest crowds ever to witness an artist at the two-day event.
The pop singer was more than 20 minutes late starting, and her delayed set drew several rounds of booing from the sea of humanity packed into and around the Sahara Tent at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, about 120 miles east of Los Angeles.
But she oozed personality once taking the stage, at one point shouting at a fan who had thrown water onto the stage and then wiping it up herself, and later asking the audience, “Everybody, does my ass look okay?”
The set featured her latest hit single “Hung Up,” “Get Together,” “I Love New York,” “Ray of Light,” “Let It Will Be” and the vintage “Everybody.” The show served as a warm-up for the May 21 kick-off of her Confessions tour in Los Angeles.
Other highlights at Coachella, which drew about 60,000 people, included Depeche Mode, Kanye West and Daft Punk on the first day, and Massive Attack, Scissor Sisters, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Gnarls Barkley on the second.
Depeche Mode closed the main stage Saturday with a set that drew from all eras of its three-decade career. At the outset, the veteran synth-pop act favored such new songs as “A Pain That I’m Used To,” “Precious” and “Suffer Well,” but then transitioned into oldies like “I Feel You,” “Walking in My Shoes,” “Stripped” and “World in My Eyes.”
The biggest hits came toward the end, as the crowd roared for “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy the Silence.” The encore saw the most vintage selection, “Photographic,” from Depeche Mode’s 1981 debut “Speak and Spell.” Belying his 43 years, shirtless frontman Dave Gahan commanded the stage in tight black pants and often growled between-song thank-yous to the masses.
West was a late addition to the lineup, but proved a crowd-pleasing choice despite having to alter his set list mid-stream due to his late start time. The hits were plentiful, from “Jesus Walks,” “All Falls Down” and “Slow Jamz” to “Gold Digger” and “Heard ‘Em Say.” West also showed off his dance moves while DJ A-Trak spun portions of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” and A-Ha’s “Take on Me.”
Common performed just before West, engaging the audience with a break-dancing demonstration and by selecting a woman from the crowd to dance with him while his DJ began playing R. Kelly’s “Bump ‘N Grind.” His set featured “Faithful,” the peppy “Go” and “It’s Your World,” during which he jumped onto the drum riser to bash a cymbal.
Playing its first U.S. show in years, Daft Punk did not disappoint, pummeling an overflow crowd in the dance-dominated Sahara Tent with tracks like “Around the World,” “Robot Rock,” “Television Rules the Nation,” “Technologic” and “Da Funk.” The performance was made all the more dramatic by the duo’s metallic robot costumes and a psychedelic light show.
My Morning Jacket were a highlight of the smaller outdoor theater in the late afternoon, its members thrashing their bearded heads to rockers like “Mageetah,” “Wordless Chorus,” “One Big Holiday,” “Gideon” and the stoner jam “Off the Record.” TV On The Radio got the crowd in the Mojave tent moving with skewed, arty tracks such as the set-closing “Ambulance,” which featured an impressive beat box rhythm by Dave Sitek.
Other highlights from day one included an afternoon performance by U.K. rock act the Duke Spirit (whose bassist, Toby Butler, played with his right arm in a sling), Cat Power’s Southern soul-drenched set with the Memphis Rhythm Band, Eagles Of Death Metal’s cover of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You” and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley performing his father’s classics “Exodus” and “Could You Be Loved.”
The next day, playing their first U.S. show in eight years, Massive Attack delivered a powerful set led by material from its 1998 album, “Mezzanine.” Cocteau Twins vocalist Liz Fraser made a rare appearance to sing such tracks as “Teardrop” and “Black Milk,” while Horace Andy took the mic for “Man Next Door” and “Angel.” The set also featured “Inertia Creeps,” “Safe From Harm” and “Future Proof.”
The Scissor Sisters kept the party going on the second outdoor stage with unabashed dance pop tunes like “Take Your Mama,” “T*** on the Radio,” “Laura,” “Mary” and their hit cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” Vocalist Ana Matronic also led the crowd in a collecting howling at the moon early in the set.
Gnarls Barkley shared Scissor Sisters’ flair for the dramatic, choosing to take the stage decked out as characters from “The Wizard of Oz.” Vocalist Cee-Lo eventually stripped down to his undershirt to belt out “Transformer,” “Smiley Face,” “Necromancing” and “Crazy,” which is now in its fifth week at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart.
Not to be outdone, Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontman Karen O trotted out one of her trademark sparkling stage outfits for the band’s early evening set on the main stage. The group opened with “Cheated Hearts” from its new album “Show Your Bones” and also played new single “Gold Lion,” “Phenomena,” “Art Star,” “Turn Into” and its breakthrough hit, “Maps.”
Reuters/Billboard