Cassidy featuring R. Kelly - "Hotel"

Coachella 2013

I come bearing apologies for my absence and therefore lack of much needed updates from the realm of new music.  But I'm back! However, my first Coachella experiences have left me nostalgic and dreaming.  In fact, I'm still proudly sporting my general admission wristband.  I don't intend to take it off any time soon either.  The last thing I want to do is bore you with an in-depth review of each band I saw, so I'll keep things short and sweet.

Coachella is also one of those events that's hard to describe to someone.  I tried to prepare myself by reading articles about the festival and looking through all those pictures, but, when it comes down to it, you just have to be there.  My favorite part was being in the middle of everything.  There was never a dull moment.  Ever.  When I was wasn't getting down and dirty at one of the five stages, I was people-watching.  There were so many cool, unique people that came out (there were also uncool, annoying people who just came to party, but that's everywhere).  Check out some really bad photography of everything here.

Here's the top bands I thought were the best live:

• Robert DeLong
• Bat for Lashes
• Alt-J
• Mona
• The XX
• the Postal Service
• Wild Belle

And the award goes to...

• Best crowd-dancing experience: Major Lazer
• Most emotionally-moving performance: Bat for Lashes
• The biggest disappointment: the Neighbourhood
• Best stage design: Social Distortion
• Biggest surprise: Wild Belle
• Most passionate performance: Robert DeLong
• Most exciting experience: Fourth row for Phoenix (Thomas Mars crowd-surfed right over me!)

So there you have it.  My short-and-sweet recap of Coachella 2013.  Now back to more music videos!