Coachella 2023 Recap

I returned from the desert about a week ago and I’m currently in that post-chella withdrawal mode. I’m constantly looking at pictures and videos from my time there while thinking about all the things that happened both good and bad. Even though this year wasn’t one of my all time favorite Coachellas, it was still the best month of the year. There were plenty of surprises, from the special Blink-182 appearances to Frank Ocean dropping out of Weekend 2 and being replaced by “TBA” aka Skrillex, Fred again…, and Four Tet. I didn’t get to see everything I hoped to see which was expected given that most things I wanted to see were on Friday.

I watched the livestream for sets from Yungblud, Blondie, MUNA, Wet Leg, and Blink-182 W1 on the Fridays that I was still working. When Blink announced, I expected it to be much the same as Arcade Fire in 2022, playing W1 on Friday only. To my surprise, Blink-182 was part of the Frank Ocean Sunday W2 replacement, so for the first time in my life I saw Blink-182 live. I messed up the set times W2 and missed the Two Friends set I wanted to see. I did get to see Gorillaz W1 though. I also went with a few people to see Metro Boomin W2, which was probably my least favorite Coachella set.

On Saturday, I saw boygenius and Calvin Harris both weekends. Both were such solid sets. I enjoyed a few afternoon Saturday sets as well, like ones from Horsegirl and Scowl. I discovered I needed to check out Snail Mail after walking by their W2 set. I also spent a little time each full day I was onsite at the Despacio tent. It was really one of the underrated features of Coachella 2023 and I always wanted to be in there watching James Murphy spin vinyl as the clearest, most perfect sound amplified from the McIntosh towers. I saw Chromeo W2, Elderbrook W1, The Kid Laroi W1 (and some major ketchup stains as a result…IYKYK), and a little of BLACKPINK both weekends.

Sunday brought Big Wild W1, Dominic Fike W1, Porter Robinson W2, Alex G W1 with a special appearance from Halsey in the crowd vibing to every song, LP Giobbi W2 with my favorite festival friend, the Danimal, and Jai Wolf W2. I saw a couple songs from Knocked Loose W1, which was one of the most insane sets I’ve ever seen at Coachella, especially in Sonora. I saw the beginning of Frank Ocean W1. It dragged so much that we decided to leave early. Then of course the music highlight of the entire festival was seeing Blink-182 into Skrillex, Fred again…, and Four Tet Sunday night of Weekend 2. The “OMG TBA” set was one of the best sets I’ve ever seen at Coachella and by far the best electronic set. It’s definitely going down in the history of Coachella performances. The trio turned the entirety of the polo fields into a massive Sahara rave from playing their set in the depths of the crowd on an unused Frank Ocean ice rink. A little under two days ago the full set was uploaded to Youtube and has already amassed over half a million views. I’m one of those as I had to watch it again. It was such a cool experience. I didn’t want to miss a second of it and I was already hyped from the Blink-182 performance.

Additionally in personal news, this past year culminated my 5th year working Coachella and I celebrated by getting a post Weekend 2 Coachella themed tattoo, as Coachella was the place where I came to the realization that I wanted to work in live music and help put on festivals. Two years after that moment, I worked my first Coachella, and now here I am, with 4 more under my belt. It’s truly my favorite month of the year and my favorite place to be even after all this time. I mean, whoever reads this knows that too. I barely blog much anymore, but as soon as that lineup drops in January, I’ve kept up with my weekly Coachella previews. I’ve done it since 2015, the year I attended and decided that the music industry was for me. It matters so much to me and I hope you can all see that even just from this, if not from how much I talk about Coachella and hype it up.

I’m not sure what Coachella 2024 will bring, but I know I’m already excited for it and ready for another magical two weeks on the polo fields. Until then, we take in the rest of what this year will bring and anticipate the next lineup drop! Honestly, with the way I feel about Coachella, Blink-182 says it best, “Let’s make this last forever. Forever and ever. Let’s make this last forever.”

Coachella Band Preview: YUNGBLUD

I can’t believe it’s already the last week of March. I leave next Friday for the Coachella Valley, but I’ve been spending this last month since I got home from Mexico listening to as much of my 2023 Coachella playlist as possible. I hope you’ve been doing the same and that all your plans for the desert, aside from knowing the set times, are solidified. This week I’m previewing someone who, like several other artists, was supposed to play in 2020, alternative rock artist YUNGBLUD.

YUNGBLUD, better known as Dominic Richard Harrison, who hails from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, first started releasing music in 2017. Before that he was an actor who appeared on two British TV series, Emmerdale and The Lodge. In early 2018, he released a self-titled EP that contained all of his early singles. His debut album 21st Century Liability came later that year. He also began touring that year as support for K. Flay and played several dates on the final installment of the Vans Warped Tour, before going on a headlining tour in support of his first album. The Underrated Youth EP was released in 2019 and included one of his biggest songs to date, “parents.” He has also collaborated with several artists including Machine Gun Kelly, blackbear, Travis Barker, Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons, and Marshmello. He released his second album Weird! in 2020 after some delays and his third self-titled album was released this past September.

YUNGBLUD’s style of music is modern alternative rock and pop punk. He’s exactly the kind of artist who would be playing Warped Tour if it still existed. I think he is a mainstream version of alternative rock. However, he is also one of the few bigger rock artists playing Coachella this year. I always think it’s crazy how Coachella went from being one of the premier alternative/indie rock festivals to barely having many of those acts at all. Yet, here we are. YUNGBLUD plays Friday. I would imagine he has a late day-early evening set on either the main stage or Outdoor Theatre. With all of his collaborations, I would bet he brings out some special guests too. It’s TBD on if I’ll catch his set or not. I saw a brief bit (one song) of his set at ACL last fall, but not enough that I can say I actually saw him perform. It would be nice to be able to watch more of his performance at Coachella this year for that reason. These are the YUNGBLUD songs you should know if you plan on trying to catch him as well:

1. parents
2. 11 Minutes (w/ Halsey ft. Travis Barker)
3. acting like that (ft. Machine Gun Kelly)
4. Tissues
5. mars
6. Anarchist
7. I Love You, Will You Marry Me
8. cotton candy
9. original me (ft. dan reynolds of imagine dragons)
10. hope for the underrated youth

Coachella Band Preview: Emo Nite

So January is almost over. Just like that, there’s 1 month down and 2 to go until Coachella. I hope you’ve been listening to your favorite artists or maybe some new ones you want to check out. There’s a handful of artists I’m pretty stoked to see this year, but I’m also pretty excited about checking out an act that I might not have to do much preparation for. That act is Emo Nite.

Emo Nite started in LA in late 2014. It began when friends Babs Szabo, T.J. Petracca, and Morgan Freed wanted to host an emo themed bar party with their friends. The friends initially met and bonded over their love of emo music and growing up in the emo/pop-punk scene. They made a facebook group for their event and 500 people showed up. They tried again and the same thing happened. A lot of people love emo music so Emo Nite became a thing.

Over the past 5 years it has began touring around the country and playing other festivals like Life Is Beautiful and Firefly to name a few. The group has recruited guest DJs from emo and pop punk bands to come to Emo Nite like Blink-182’s Travis Barker, All Time Low, Good Charlotte, The All-American Rejects, Circa Survive’s Anthony Green, and Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, and Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness. They’ve even had non-emo artists like Halsey and Post Malone come out.

I’ve been to emo nights before (I’ve actually gone to 3 over the last year!), but never the official Emo Nite. I’m stoked to go at Coachella though. After the hype and rumors surrounding My Chemical Romance playing Coachella this year and then ultimately the band not being on the lineup, I think Emo Nite will help fulfill that void for everyone who expected to sing “Welcome to the Black Parade” with Gerard Way. Also this is Emo Nite at Coachella, a festival synonymous with epic guest appearances. I think we’ll be in for some great surprises at their set. Maybe a member or two of My Chemical Romance shows up? Or who knows who could be there? It’s definitely not worth it to sleep on Emo Nite though, especially if you were ever a fan of emo music.

I can’t even come up with a great guess on when or where Emo Nite will be. I would guess either Gobi or Mojave. I would also hope in the evening, but I think set time/stage possibilities really depend on what’s going to happen at Emo Nite and that we won’t know until the schedule comes out in the days before Weekend 1. Emo Nite is a tough one to prep for because let’s be honest, you’re only going to Emo Nite if you like/liked emo music and if you do or did, you’ve probably spent most of your teenage years prepping. Instead of giving you a bunch of songs to listen to, I’m gonna leave you with some bands you’ll probably hear at Emo Nite. Prep if you want, re-visit some of your favorite songs, or show up and have all the old lyrics come rushing back to you. Do whatever you want except don’t sleep on Emo Nite!

1. Dashboard Confessional
2. Brand New
3. Taking Back Sunday
4. Fall Out Boy
5. Panic! At the Disco
6. My Chemical Romance
7. All Time Low
8. Something Corporate
9. Green Day
10. Blink-182
11. Good Charlotte
12. Simple Plan
13. The Starting Line
14. Forever the Sickest Kids
15. Bayside
16. Jimmy Eat World
17. Saves the Day
18. Say Anything
19. The Get Up Kids
20. Death Cab For Cutie

 

Well I Guess This is Growing Up

When I was in 5th grade, I liked mostly mainstream pop music. It was all the stuff you’d hear on local popular radio stations. I also liked a small amount of good music too thanks to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (Superman by Goldfinger anyone?!). Fortunately, on occasion, good music gets played on mainstream radio, which is what happened while I was in 5th grade. I totally fell for it. The song was “All the Small Things” and the band as you may already know was Blink-182.

Blink-182 was formed in the early to mid 90’s when guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor decided to play music together. The band was formed in Poway, California which is a city located in southern California just north of San Diego. The band was originally called Blink but changed their name to Blink-182 to avoid legal complications with an Irish band of the same name. Before releasing their first record Chesire Cat in 1995 under indie label Cargo Records, the band played at a variety of venues in the San Diego area. They garnered some local attention upon the release of their debut album as well as attention from other well known punk bands and their management. The guitarist of one of those bands, Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise, even convinced the founder of the Vans Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman, to sign Blink-182 for their 1996 festival. By 1996 major record labels began to notice the band, which resulted in a bidding war. Eventually Blink-182 signed with MCA.

Blink-182 released their sophomore album Dude Ranch on June 17, 1997. The album included the single “Dammit”, which earned them mainstream fame. They again spent another summer on Warped Tour and toured extensively afterwards, promoting their newest album. Tensions in the band began to fly in 1998 due to the long touring and issues involving heavy drinking with Scott Raynor causing his eventual departure. Raynor was replaced by drummer Travis Barker.

In 1999, Blink-182 released their third full length album, Enema of State. The album featured three singles, “All the Small Things”, “What’s My Age Again?”, and “Adam’s Song”, that garnered more mainstream radio and MTV airplay for the band. Enema of State gave the band multi-platinum success by January of 2000 and sold 4 times as fast as their previous album.

After gaining greater popularity and playing arenas throughout North America and Australia, the band got together to record a fourth album. Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was released in 2001 continuing the bands fame with mainstream singles “The Rock Show”, “Stay Together for the Kids”, and “First Date”. Between the release of Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and the band’s 2003 self-titled album, tensions again began building between bandmates fueled by DeLonge’s interest to pursue other music styles. The tensions lead to the hiatus of the band in 2005. During the hiatus, Hoppus and Barker continued to make music together in the band +44 and DeLonge began his new project Angels & Airwaves. It wasn’t until a traumatic plane crash involving Travis Barker and 5 others (4 were killed) that the band decided to regroup.

In 2009 the band announced their reunion on their website and joined Weezer and Fall Out Boy on tour that summer. The group recorded a sixth album, Neighborhoods, together that was released in 2011. Neighborhoods didn’t receive as much success as anticipated. In the following years, the band toured, released an EP, and again parted ways with Tom DeLonge, who yet again wasn’t focused on making music with Blink-182, in the midst of planning a seventh album.

Since then, Alkaline Trio frontman and guitarist, Matt Skiba joined the band in DeLonge’s place. The group released the band’s seventh album California a week ago. Blink-182 will begin a tour in support of their newest album on July 22nd.

Blink-182 was a punk rock band from the start. Through their success their music began to have a more pop-punk feel. Whether you call that selling out or developing their sound, the Blink-182 most people are familiar with plays pop-punk music. It’s upbeat, sometimes fast, and has that punk edge. Their roots are strictly punk though.

As I mentioned before I began paying attention to Blink-182 in 5th grade. By 9th grade, I was supposed to attend a Blink-182 concert with my best friend at the time but it fell through. I was bummed it didn’t happen for several reasons (TBS opened, seeing Blink would have been amazing, and I totally wanted to spend as much time as possible with this friend for…certain reasons *wink wink*). I might still be slightly bummed too. During high school, as my music interests developed I began to appreciate Blink-182 more, especially after I purchased their Greatest Hits album. I guess my knowledge of Blink-182 to a certain extent is their greatest hits, but I still know a few more beyond that. Throughout high school, college, and even after Blink-182’s music was a part of my life. They’ll always be a legendary band in my mind for that. “Dammit” will always be the number one coming of age/nostalgic song. “All the Small Things” will always be my first favorite Blink-182 song and “Going Away to College” will always be one of my favorite songs to play on guitar. As with many other bands, much of their music is a part of me and my life. It’s pretty incredible how music can do that.

Anyway, the reason I decided to write a post about Blink-182, besides being a legendary pop-punk/punk rock band, is to talk about the new album. I recently found out that Matt Skiba joined the band after listening to a few of the new tracks. As a former Alkaline Trio fan, I feel like this new version of Blink-182 combines the two bands musically. It’s epic! The new music has a classic Blink-182 sound but lacks DeLonge’s notable vocals. Instead there are elements of the new material that remind me of Alkaline Trio, especially with Skiba’s singing. Only time will tell how successful this record will be with the new Blink-182 lineup, but for anyone who grew up listening to both of these bands, it’s worth a listen. Here’s two lists. One contains all my old faves and the other contains songs off the brand new record you should listen to.

New Songs

1. Sober
2. California
3. Bored to Death
4. Kings of the Weekend
5. San Diego

Old Songs

1. Dammit
2. Going Away to College
3. All The Small Things
4. What’s My Age Again?
5. M+M’s
6. Adam’s Song
7. First Date
8. Feeling This
9. I Miss You
10. The Rock Show