Thoughts On......Coachella Lineup

Earlier this week the internet was begining to buzz about potential headliners for this year's Coachella, with fans listing off everyone from David Bowie to Lady GaGa. Squelching any more doubt or speculation, Coachella released it's offical lineup today.

So what do we think of this year's lineup, is it worth a trip to Cali? Well I can't speak for you so I'll speak for me, and say that while the lineup for this year's festival is good, it's also underwhelming. Their are three main festivals in the US, Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza, and they should be competing with each other each year for the crown of best festival (sadly Bonnaroo clearly owns the crown year after year). Looking at this list, I find myself more excited about who might be playing the other two festivals, which isn't a good thing.

I guess my main lackluster gripe comes with the headliners, the performers who get the longest set and are the main focal draw for fans. In the past Coachella has had different and interesting headliners (making someone like Bowie almost seem plausible) but this year the performers just seem so....obvious. They're all festival mainstays who have headlined their share of US festivals over the past three years. I understand Coachella wants to bring in as many fans (customers) as possible, so the headliners make sense. Kanye and Arcade Fire had the two highest acclaimed albums of 2010, Kings of Leon are America's reigning rock kings, and The Strokes are mounting a comeback with a new album dropping soon. I just though Coachella might want to find it's own identity and not just be 'the California Festival'. Arcade Fire and The Strokes both headlined Lollapalooza last year, and Kings of Leon have topped just about every festival since becoming mainstream. It's good Coachella, just not great or super interesting.

Outside of the headliners, I will say the supporting tiers of bands are very solid giving music fans a lot of acts to get excited about.

There's a few thoughts on the supporting acts:
-Props to local boys Trampled by Turtles making it on Saturday's lineup.
-Surprised to see On Day as A Lion on the schedule, been inactive for so long I though Zack de la Rocha abandoned the project.
-Man Mumford and Sons had a good year, listed above Bright Eyes.
-Thought the Swell Season were still on break, but glad to see them here.
-Lil'B sucks
-Nice to see Lauryn Hill listed, not sure why we need the 'Ms.' though
-Funny how just days after the Black Keys annouced canceling most of their tour overseas they get listed as playing Coachella
-Sunday is clearly the worst day of the festival