It’s time to step into what my wife calls my “Old Crankypants” mode…
Coachella. The buzzed-about festival that’s now spread into a two-weekend affair of duplicate entertainment in the California desert has unveiled their 2015 lineup, and as usual – it’s not enough to sell me on a trip out there for it. In fact, the only time I ever truly considered a trip to the Empire Polo Grounds was when FAITH NO MORE made an appearance there back in 2010, but even an appearance by my favorite band of all-time couldn’t lure me to the West Coast for a weekend. As this year’s announcement rolled out, I heard more than a few folks on the radio say the same thing today “I don’t know who these people are, they must be new bands” – aside from the obvious ones, like AC/DC. But if you work in music and truly claim to not know anyone else on the list, I find that very hard to believe since the other headliners include JACK WHITE and DRAKE, and the second-liners have folks like STEELY DAN and FLORENCE + THE MACHINE on there. For me, the problem with Coachella is something that’s infected other festivals like our own, now-local Lollapalooza – I personally just don’t care about 90% of the lineup. So who actually matters at Coachella 2015? I’ll give you my picks below, followed by the full lineup to see what your thoughts are…
THE ROCK FATHER’s Coachella Artists that Actually Matter 2015*
AC/DC, RAEKWON & GHOSTFACE KILLAH, REVEREND HORTON HEAT, JACK WHITE, BAD RELIGION, RYAN ADAMS and JENNY LEWIS.
That’s it.
Sure, there’s probably some others I might like – and certainly a bunch of stuff my wife would dig (a bunch of these artists pop up on SiriusXM Alt Nation, which I avoid since I can only think of how much better so-called “alternative” music was in the 80s/90s), but that’s it for me off the top.
Here’s the full run-down below, but passes are no longer available, so it really doesn’t matter if you dig the lineup or not. Diehards buy in-advance, regardless of the lineup (which they also do for Lollapalooza now).
So what’s a good festival, you ask? Chicago Riot Fest had a stellar lineup last year (it usually does), and most of the good rock fests are overseas. There’s also a few things like Rockstar Mayhem Fest and Warped Tour that can still pull off a decent lineup with some actual rock in the mix.
–Old Crankypants
