2008 Coachella Preprepreview

A number of aspects of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival make it particularly interesting to follow. First off, its location. It's in the most populated state in the third most populated country in the world. It's a few hours from two massive cities and only a bit more from Northern California. Second, its eclecticism. It has among the most diverse lineups in festivaldom, with enough hip hop and electronic artists to spend the entire weekend there without seeing a guitar on stage. Finally, Coachella is a place for reunions. Pixies, Daft Punk, and Jesus & Mary Chain (to name but a few) have all reunited for performances at Coachella. With these in mind and the appearance of a Radiohead-esque cryptic "Coachella 2008 April 25-27 info coming" message on the official site, speculation mounts.

The big story thus far is My Bloody Valentine. The shoegazers have planned dates in Europe and have sketched out details of a new album. Rumours of talks with Coachella organisers surfaced and counter-rumours suggesting talks fell through followed shortly. I imagine that they will be there, fully reformed and mixing classics with new material. The show should be stellar.

Radiohead have laid out a few tour dates for next year in Europe as well in support of In Rainbows and one imagines that they will be at Coachella as well.

A while back, this poster showed up on the Coachella forums in various guises:


The feeling that MBV and Radiohead are to headline seems to have set in. In reality, very little of substance has been confirmed. The Breeders (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/47454-the-breeders-return-with-imountain-battlesi) have listed a performance. Theories get sketchier from there. The poster above, into which someone poured a great deal of effort, is rooted somewhat in reality. Most of the artists on there should have a record to support from this year (The National) or early next year (The Postal Service) and didn't appear last year. Girl Talk is an exception, but he seems to be developing as an annual performer. Portishead have been confirmed to some degree. Again, anything is speculation until info shows up on the official site.
-RJR