It’s not easy to describe Coachella, the mid-April music festival that arrives each year like a second Christmas. All wrapped up in the twin presents of Palm Springs sunshine and desert sand, the festival hosts a variety of artists ranging from DJ gods like Tiësto to electro-reggae-dancehall-spinners Major Lazer and sweet vocalists like Charlotte Gainsbourg and She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel.
The tunes blast constantly from five stages for three full days at Indio’s Empire Polo Fields, all clean cut grass, soft and warm under bare feet. It’s a trip just to walk around from stage to stage, catching sound bytes on the way from one show to another. Just to bring the point home: this year, a friend of mine caught Devo pumping “Whip It” while passing by on a leisurely stroll to get water.
I, however, made it a point to catch the Canadian bands on offer at Coachella this year. Newmarket’s own Tokyo Police Club played a tight indie rock set on the main stage last Saturday, which I took in right at the front of the crowd so I could get the best look possible at my fellow Canadians making it big in California. Tokyo Police Club is a young band with only two LPs (and the EP that launched their careers) out on the market, but they’ve been successful enough to get slotted on the main Coachella stage at a set time late in the day when the grounds were teeming with what felt like all 75,000 concert-goers.
Toronto’s violin genius, Owen Pallett (formerly known as Final Fantasy), also made an appearance at Coachella this year, rocking a Sunday afternoon set while the sun beat down. Pallett, winner of the inaugural Polaris Prize in 2006 for the album He Poos Clouds, is an engaging performer as well as a sought-after arranger — he co-wrote the string parts on both Arcade Fire albums.
So how did two of our local musical acts end up at Coachella —one of the most lauded, cutting-edge music festivals in the world? Acts like Broken Social Scene and Feist have certainly broken down the barriers to the U.S. market, but it’s been a long, hard road for those artists as well as those that came before them. (For examples, see the trials and tribulations endured by bands like Sloan and The Tragically Hip, big draws at home that remain fringe acts south of the border).
The power of U.S. music blogs like Pitchfork have no doubt played a part in exposing Canadian bands recently, with their music aficionado writers trolling the Internet for the next big thing, reviewing records and lauding the hippest ones. I would also argue that our country supports its musicians particularly well: our national treasure, CBC Radio, broadcasts independent Canadian music widely (and not just because Canadian content regulations force it to); various grants and government funds are available to Canadian musicians; and critical prizes like the Polaris add instant caché to winners and nominees alike.
All of this buzz has branded Canadian music as cool, artsy, quality. Today, being marked as a Canadian act seems more like an asset than a hindrance. Hence Tokyo Police Club and Owen Pallett showing up at Coachella, and audiences in turn showing up to see them. And hence my favourite Coachella moment: two years ago, I caught the drumstick of Montreal-based band Stars underneath the setting Palm Springs sun. The baton was literally passed from one Canadian to another on U.S. soil and it’s moments like those that remind us that anything is possible when it comes to music and art.
You can create your own Coachella moment on Toronto soil — four Coachella acts from last week’s festival are touring through T.O. this week. Check out the shows below for more info:
- Echo & The Bunnymen tonight Friday, April 23 at The Phoenix
- Major Lazer tomorrow, Saturday, April 24 at Sound Academy
- Corinne Bailey Rae, on Monday, April 26 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
- Sia, on Wednesday, April 28 at The Phoenix
Leanne Milech is a lawyer turned freelance writer. She reviews theatre, publishes children’s books and spends her free time hunting for Toronto’s best cultural escapes. Her column appears every Friday here on lawandstyle.ca.
Photo of Owen Pallett at Coachella 2010 by Beta Mike