Coachella 2010

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival took place last weekend at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California. Although I scored some All-Access passes for the event, I had prior obligations and unfortunately could not attend. However, I did have some close friends that gave me the inside scoop on the amazing festival. So if you love music and you love to have a good time, then read on!

The three day event had an estimated 225, 000 music lovers attend. People pitched tents, chilled out on picnic blankets and danced the night away to a lineup of ultra talented artists. Some of the top performers for Friday featured Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer and the headliner, Jay-Z, who was joined on stage by his wife, Beyonce, for "Forever Young". The crowd went wild for Jay-Z and he was said to have the biggest following at Coachella this year. People couldn't stop talking about the talented Deadmau5 as well, who came on stage and performed in his signature mouse head. Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse") is set to become 2010's most talked-about DJ. Since Coachella has been the place for electronic music acts to make a statement, the Toronto-based music producer and man behind the mouse head, Joel Zimmerman, promised Coachella more than just music, and he did just that. The computer geek turned world-famous DJ spent the last eight months planning this show. My friends loved the incredible light show and the creepy talking mouse head projected on the big screen. Check out this YouTube of Deadmau5 at Coachella.




The Day 2 lineup included another crowd favourite, Muse. My friends had seen Muse in concert before and were equally as impressed with their Coachella performance. They mixed their plays up with old and new songs. Muse's new album called "The Resistance" is one of my personal favourites and has been in my car on repeat for months now. They have such a great style of rock mixed with a classical background. I just adore this album and highly recommend it to anyone.
David Guetta also had a stellar performance and then became a spectator on stage to support DJ Tiesto during his act. Tiesto hypnotized the crowd with his expert spinning and shot confetti out into the audience to end his gig. Here are a few photos that my friends took on stage during Tiesto's performance.

Thom Yorke and the Gorillaz were the best acts of Day 3. There was a lot of buzz going on about Thom Yorke being the best performance at Coachella. Many said that although the Radiohead frontman had a similar sound to Radiohead, his solo act was still very impressive and that his talents went above and beyond that of the other artists at the event.

My friends were blown away when they attended the NEON Carnival Party hosted by Bolthouse Productions. The Bolthouse team transformed an airplane hangar into a carnival-themed party with the help of 944, Armani Exchange and Ciroc Vodka. Many said it was the party of the year and loved the fact that free Ciroc was being poured all night. The event had several DJ's spinning great tunes, scattered dance floors and oompa-loompas greeting guests. Celebs such as Paris and Nicky Hilton and Josh Hartnett came out to enjoy the Ferris wheel, bumper cars, slides and tried their luck at the many carnival games.