The wired weekend that was

Who’s that playing?

As a first-time attendee at Coachella, I wasn’t prepared for the Cineplex Syndrome -- the sound from one stage intruding on another. I’d assumed that each of the five locations would be sonically isolated, but the music from the two outdoor stages was in frequent competition, and there was always the dance-music mecca, the Sahara tent, lurking like a neighborhood bully who parks his car and cranks up his mega-bass system. The best solution was to be resourceful: When singer Johnny Borrell heard Keane’s ballads drifting over from the main stage during Razorlight’s set he asked, “Who’s that?” then echoed a fan’s response, “Who cares?”

-- Richard Cromelin

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Here they come again

There have been British rock invasions ever since John, Paul, George and Ringo charmed America on Ed Sullivan’s TV show, but the new one made an especially strong impact at Coachella. Playing in tents rather than on the main stages, Bloc Party, Kasabian and the Kills (a cross-Atlantic duo based in London) asserted the confidence and power to make them genuine contenders in a rock world eager for new heroes. The Futureheads (who played on the main stage Sunday) and Razorlight also generated considerable buzz. Some of these bands have been uneven live, but they seemed to thrive on the competitive nature of Coachella, where acts have to connect or else see fans wander off to check out one of the other four stages. If someone put four or five of these passionate acts on the same tour bill, those competitive instincts could lead to sparks nightly.

-- Robert Hilburn

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Happy campers

Coachella has been hailed to the desert skies as the user-friendly festival, but that hasn’t been the case at the campgrounds, where thousands of sleeping bags provide a weekend home for young fans. “It was just never very fun or good in past years, and we wanted to change that in a big way this year,” promoter Paul Tollett said. He brought in Kevin Lyman, the architect of the Vans Warped Tour, as camping chief and staffed the grounds with college students, all of whom also camped out. Check-in stations were expanded, more showers were added, and on Friday night the early birds were treated to a sneak preview of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” shown on an inflatable outdoor screen. It was like rock ‘n’ roll summer camp for 8,000 big kids.

-- Geoff Boucher