The 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival climaxed this past Sunday night with a heavily produced performance by the Gorillaz, the Damon Albarn-created project that featured an orchestra, back-up singers, former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon is a lush presentation of their new concept album, Plastic Beach. The show was marked by extensive animations and other vibrant visuals that were projected onto a giant screen above the band on stage, including Snoop Doggy Dogg performing the first song.
When the Gorillaz concluded shortly before midnight, they also ended several consecutive hours of American/British independent rock at its finest now, and in its recent past.
Although Jay-Z’s headlining set late on Friday night entertained tens of thousands, and was one of the most talked about performances at Coachella (as were sightings of him with wife Beyonce throughout the weekend), the fest's most unmistakable sensationjust based on the sheer number of people watching their set was Phoenix, which came and conquered on the second stage with numbers mostly culled from their 2009 hit record, Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix.
This article appears in Apr 21-27, 2010.