Best of the Best: Coachella 2011

Second Street Jazz

Kanye West performing at Coachella

by Shilo Urban

Bunker Hill Magazine's picks for the Best of the Best at Coachella 2011

Southern California’s flagship music festival Coachella returned this year to the Indio Valley with three days of dazzling performances, a beautiful crowd and plenty of sunshine and blue skies.

Of course, the very best part of any music festival is that intangible feeling you experience in a crowd of happy human beings when the music, performances, laughter, food and fantastic weather come all together to become greater than the sum of their parts – with you smack in the middle.

Here are Bunker Hill Magazine’s picks for the Best of the Best at Coachella 2011:

Best Headliner: Kanye West – We want our headliners flashy and over-the-top, and Kanye West certainly delivered with a spectacular show that spotlighted the artist’s true performance talents. A theatrical group of dancers helped to interpret his songs, and Kanye seemed less the arrogant “Imma let you finish” celebrity and more a skillful performer who gave the crowd what it wanted.

Best Production: Arcade Fire – Even indie rock haters will agree that Arcade Fire’s set was one to remember, thanks to the thousands of 3’ inflatable plastic balls lit with blue, purple and red LEDs that were released onto the crowd. Fun and stunning, the glowing orbs made their way across the field of fans with a total effect that was out-of-this-world spectacular.

Best Performance: Lucent Dossier Experience – This avant-garde theatrical troupe is based in Los Angeles but obviously comes from another planet with their bizarre costumes and thrilling show that repeated twice daily. With doll heads, aerialist, fire dancing and animalistic passion, Lucent Dossier Experience truly expressed the freedom of the desert in their outstanding show.

Best Sound: Pure Filth Bass Oasis – The Pure Filth sound system is well known and loved in the Los Angeles underground, and at the Bass Oasis stage at this year’s festival, the dance floor received a thick brain blast of the nastiest sub bass in existence.

Best Dance Set: NiT GriT turned The Do Lab’s water stage inside-out on Saturday night with a wild, multi-genre set that had knees grinding into the grass dance floor and hands in the air! This up-and-coming producer has found a deep groove in the West Coast underground electronic community and will no doubt continue to make bigger and bigger waves across the festival world and beyond.

Best Stage: The Do Lab – Shaped like some sort of earth-ship with a soaring white wooden sail and huge shaded area for the hotties on the dance floor, The Do Lab stage was the most beautiful and creative structure at Coachella. The hose cannons blasting cool bursts of water throughout the afternoon provided the party people with a refreshing pit stop in the middle of the festival grounds.

Best Move by Goldenvoice: $2 bottles of water – With many massive summer festivals selling water for 7 or 8 bucks a bottle, Coachella’s relatively cheap prices kept the crowds hydrated in the sunshine. People who returned 10 empty bottles could redeem them for a fresh new one, making H20 effectively free for those who wanted it.

Best Cameo: OFWGKTA - Odd Future was moved to a bigger stage after blowing up in the weeks before Coachella, and the Sahara tent was packed for the performance when none other than Pharrell jumped up on stage to rap with the underage hip hop crew. Crispy clean, fresh and cute, Pharrell is a hip hop superstar for a reason!

Best Place to Be: The Sahara Tent - The largest electronic music tent, was crackin’ up and down all weekend long, with spastic limbs of dancers flailing right and left and big smiles all around. While the crowds were bigger for the rock and pop acts on the main stages, the dance floor of the Sahara Tent seemed to be having the most fun out of them all!

Best View: The Ferris Wheel - The slow-moving line for Coachella’s Ferris wheel was well worth it, and the swinging cars gave a stellar view of the festival grounds, from the massive crowds at the Coachella stage to the swirling dancers at The Do Lab and the gorgeous desert mountain backdrop.

Best Food: Chocolate-dipped ice cream bars – Coachella offered a huge selection of food to eat, from barbeque ribs to fried taquitos to oven-fired pizza, but sadly the quality didn’t live up to the quantity on offer. One exception: the chocolate-dipped ice cream bars, covered in peanuts or candy sprinkles or both.

Best Idea: Stay in a Condo – While camping on the festival grounds is probably the least expensive lodging in Indio Valley, the extremely high temperatures (in the upper 90’s this year) and mile-long lines for the few showers available make the tent option unattractive. The best idea for Coachella is to grab a small group of friends and book a condo early – then enjoy the pool, A/C and limitless showers instead of sleeping in the dirt.

ADVERTISEMENT