In an afternoon filled with James Blake, the Cold War Kids, Ray Lamontagne, Santigold and a sprinkling of other indie acts, the absolute stand-out act was the Cold War Kids. I listen to the records, read about the hype and after missing the Long Beach based group play several times at other festivals, caught their set. The unique and almost melodic yelling tone of Nathan Willett’s voice is better live.
Kanye West and Coldplay duked it out as headlining acts. Since I attended Coldplay and can’t possible describe, using English words, my distain toward the personification of bullshit that is present day Kanye West, I will not mention him again.
To be honest, at Coldplay I expected a sea of crying girls ready to scream and reminisce about how good looking Chris Martin is (à la a Backstreet Boys show). It didn’t happen. Instead, it was a professionally executed hit-fest. Old hits like “Yellow” made an appearance as did “The Scientist”, “Clocks” and pretty much every other charting single from the band. The bottom line is Coldplay is a part of your life. Like them or not they’re on the radio, you or your friends have the records and if you’re of a certain age you grew up with them. As an emotional tribute, before breaking out into “Fix You” Coldplay played a few bars of Amy Winehouse’s song “Rehab”. The crowd loved it!
