Looking back: Scenes from Coachella 2009

Robert Smith leads the Cure through their signature brand of atmospheric rock on the main stage.   (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Roni Size, left, and singer Onallee take dance music to a dark place at the Outdoor Theater stage Sunday night.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

Genesis P-Orridge faces down the crowd during Throbbing Gristle’s set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Lead singer of Thobbing Gristle Genesis P-Orridge performs in the Mojave Tent.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

“The Bamboo Starscraper,” by Gerard Minakawa, soars over 90 feet high and is part of the scene at Coachella.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Rob Andrews, 24, from Miami, Fla., wore a green neon suit while crawling through the Elastic Plastic Sponge, a piece created by students at the Southern California School of Architecture in L.A.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The crowd reacts during the Groove Armada DJ set in the Sahara Tent.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The heat takes its toll on the final day of Coachella.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Why fight traffic? Concert-goers clown around in the Mojave Tent after Throbbing Gristle’s set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Burning Lotus Girls art installation, “Serpent Mother,” keeps the night air warm.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Alison Mosshart from the Kills performs in the Mojave Tent.  (Trixie Textor / Getty Images)

Crowd-surfing breaks out during Public Enemy’s Sunday night set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav performs for a big crowd at Coachella’s Outdoor Theater stage.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Public Enemy’s Chuck D, left, and Flavor Flav brought their confrontational and politically charged hip-hop to the Outdoor Theater stage.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav crowd-surfs his way back to the stage during the group’s Outdoor Theater set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

My Bloody Valentine singer-guitarist Bilinda Butcher conjures a wall of sound from her guitar.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Thomas Felman of the Orb midway through the electronic duo’s festival-closing set in the Gobi Tent.  (Karl Walter / Getty Images)

Musician Devendra Banhart performs In the Gobi Tent Sunday afternoon.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Fans of X crowd the Mojave Tent stage during the band’s performance.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A young girl enjoys X from an elevated vantage point.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

John Doe from the veteran band X sings to a packed Mojave Tent.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Exene Cervenka of the L.A. band X enjoyed a sort of homecoming at Coachella.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Fans enjoy the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the front of the main stage.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O is a bundle of energy during her band’s main stage set.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

A big crowd takes in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Sunday.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs captures a moment from the main stage.  (Karl Walter / Getty Images)

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Coachella in 2009.   (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Antony and the Johnsons fought the heat on the Outdoor Theater stage with dramatic song structures.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Rapper K’naan strikes a global chord at Coachella.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Lykke Li goes for some additional amplification on the Outdoor Theater stage.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

Sebastien Tellier performs a mid-afternoon set at the Gobi Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

With temperatures topping 100 degrees Sunday, the crowd refreshed with sprays from a high-powered water gun at The Do Lab  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Anton Newcombe, left, leads the Brian Jonestown Massacre through a midday set in the Mojave Tent.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Singer Pink Eyes (Damian Abraham) of the Canadian punk band F. . . Up gets bloodied in the crowd in the Mojave Tent  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey performs a DJ set in the Sahara Tent Sunday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls performs in the Mojave Tent  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Rah Almillio and Krispy Kream of the Knux get things started on the Coachella main stage Sunday.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

DJs Jel and Doseone of Themselves perform behind a unique stage setup.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Camilo Lara of Mexican Institute Of Sound performs an early set at the Outdoor Theater stage. Lara started the indie label Suave Records before launching this hip-hop group.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

Will Robison Sheff of Okkervil River led his band through a rollicking afternoon set on the main stage.  (Kevin Winter /Getty Images)

SATURDAY

Brandon Flowers of the Killers, Saturday’s headliner at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, soaks up the spotlight.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

All keyed up for the Killers.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Lewis has a planned July release date for her new LP “The Voyager.”  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon take in the Jenny Lewis performance at the side of the Outdoor Theater stage.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

Musicians Johnathan Rice and Jenny Lewis acknowledge the crowd at the close of Lewis’ set at Coachella.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

The Flaming Lotus Girls’ art installation “Serpent Mother” draws some eyes upward.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

M.I.A., a last-minute replacement at the fest for Amy Winehouse, took the stage Saturday night.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

British-born M.I.A. had some history to live down when she took the stage at the Empire Polo Field. Her performance last year was a meltdown of air-raid sirens, sampled gunshots and disjointed scraps of songs, according to critics.  (Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times)

M.I.A. in action.  (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Norway’s Turbonegro, with Hank Von Helvete, performed in the Mojave Tent.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Brend Hinds, Troy Sanders and Bill Kelliher of Mastodon bring the heavy rock in Coachella’s Mojave Tent.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

The crowd reacts to the dance act the Crookers in the Sahara Tent.  (Kristian Dowling / Getty Images)

One of the members of the dance act the Crookers exults under the Sahara Tent lights.  (Kristian Dowling / Getty Images)

Robin Pecknold and Christian Wargo of Fleet Foxes fill the stage with breezy, rustic harmonies Saturday night.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

Ida No of Glass Candy performs in the Gobi Tent Saturday night.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

What is this, 1991? A rash of crowd-surfing breaks out in the Sahara Tent during the Bloody Beetroots set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Fans pack the Sahara Tent for the Bloody Beetroots.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Masked dance act the Bloody Beetroots take the Sahara Tent stage.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

One of the members of Tinariwen surveys the crowd during their performance in the Gobi Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Amit Chertof took part in the revelry under the desert sun.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Scottish performer Paulo Nutini.  (Steve C. Mitchell/ EPA)

Headliner the Killers performed Saturday.  (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Chemical Brothers rally the crowd in the Safari Tent with beat-heavy dance music.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

DJ AM rocks out with his laptop.  (Kristian Dowling / Getty Images)

Fans enjoy a DJ set from the Chemical Brothers in the Safari Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

North African Tuareg rockers Tinariwen bring a whole different side of desert life to Coachella.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Juston Stens of indie band Dr. Dog gets up in front.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Paris Hilton and boyfriend Doug Reinhardt dressed for the daytime’s heat.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Travis Barker -- billed with DJ AM as TRV$DJ-AM -- performs Saturday on the Sahara stage.  (Kristian Dowling / Getty Images)

Booker T. Jones, Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood hit Coachella’s Gobi stage Saturday night.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Kyp Malone, left, and Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio played an energetic set on the main stage early Saturday evening.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

Musician-activist Michael Franti of Spearhead led the crowd through a number of singalong choruses.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Coachella concert-goers were able to purchase a water bottle at the event and receive free refills throughout the weekend.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Musician and recent KCRW employee Henry Rollins offers some spoken word fireworks in the Mojave Tent.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Amanda Palmer pauses for a refreshment during her performance at Coachella.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Fans break out their cameras during Amanda Palmer’s set in the packed Gobi Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

USA recording artist Amanda Palmer performs.  (Steve C. Mitchell/ EPA)

George Harrison‘s son Dhani leads Thenewno2 through spacey psychedelia in the Mojave Tent.   (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

The Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer performed a solo set to a rapt Gobi Tent crowd. The set closed with a singalong of Radiohead‘s “Creep.”  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Southern rockers the Drive-By Truckers perform on the Outdoor Theater stage Saturday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Twenty-year-old Brittany Bowerman, left and Leslie Ventura, 19, are beat the 100-degree heat with help from Bryan Foley, a member of the Do Lab Collective.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Joss Stone reaches for the sky during her Saturday afternoon set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

British singer Joss Stone performs during the second day of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

One-time leader of Husker Du Bob Mould performs a powerfully loud set in the Gobi Tent.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

Musician Ariel Pink  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Craig Minowa of the environmentally conscious indie band Cloud Cult got Saturday started at the Outdoor Theater stage.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

Ariel Pink of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti performs a Saturday afternoon set.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Norway’s buzz-worthy Ida Maria rewarded early arrivers with an opening set at the Gobi Tent.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

FRIDAY

Sir Paul McCartney performs as the main stage headliner at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Field in Indio.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

View of the stage during Paul McCartney’s set at Coachella.  (Frazer Harrison /Getty Images)

Headliner Leonard Cohen greets the crowd.  (Spencer Weiner/ Los Angeles Times)

Leonard Cohen performs.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory performs.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Fans surround Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis on stage at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Morrisey performs at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Morrissey works the crowd onstage at Coachella.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand performs.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)