One of the biggest and earliest festivals in the country has made its lineup known: Coachella has tapped Blur, the Stone Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phoenix, the xx, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Postal Service as its headlining acts.
The organizers behind the 2013 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Tweeted their poster for the double-weekend event. It runs April 12-14 and April 19-21 at the Empire Polo grounds in Indio, Calif. Tickets are on sale now.
Among the other big names are Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Jurassic 5, Modest Mouse, Sigur Ros, New Order, Hot Chip, Vampire Weekend, Social Distortion, the Wu-Tang Clan, Grizzly Bear and Lou Reed.
A few notes on this lineup:
- Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined a number of big festivals in 2012 — including Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits — so it’s a little surprising to see them here for 2013.
- Looks like the Wu-Tang Clan has found dates that work for everyone. What’s the wager that all members will be in attendance?
- Modest Mouse’s appearance here is a pleasant surprise: they hit a couple of coastal fests in 2011 and 2012, but with no album in tow. This headlining appearance may indicate activity in the months ahead, as far as new material is concerned.
- We already knew that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend and Phoenix had new efforts coming, but how about that La Roux? LA ROUX? Get excited, people, there may be your new summer jam coming…
- Both Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds AND Grinderman made the marquee, with Cave apparently pulling quadruple duty over the weekends. It was in December 2011 that the band intimated that “Grinderman 2” and its subsequent tour was the end of that band, but now that assertion is effectively proven wrong.
- Sigur Ros announced just today on Reddit AMA that they have a new album coming, so not another Jonsi record. Which is just fine: the solo artist and his band have proven live concert imagination, so this large-scale, large stage show should be beautiful.
- Jurassic 5 split in 2007, so this reunion is pretty notable. Cut Chemist was the first to cut ties in 2006, so let’s see what he and others bring to the table.
- How to Destroy Angels is on here — not Nine Inch Nails. Not shocking, but we know that Trent Reznor is committed to that project at least through the spring.
- I’m kind of surprised that solo electronica/EDM/DJ artists aren’t the marquee names. We’re so used to AVICII, Skrillex, deadmau5, Calvin Harris, David Guetta and others dominating mainstream festivals, but you have to skip to line 3 (past New Order, past the xx) to get to artists like Benny Benassi, Bassnectar, Paul Oakenfold and their ilk.
- Blur were obviously listening. While Pulp made a reunion stop at the fest last year, 2013 is Blur’s time to shine on the States, after a couple of short appearances in their native England. They’re sharing a double-headline with the Stone Roses, which I have to think is contractual, because, man, just look at those catalogs and you tell me if folks are more excited for Damon Albarn.
- Lou Reed was at Metric’s show this fall so… there’s that.
- Johnny Marr’s on there. You will note: that isn’t the Smiths. We need to drop it.
- That Tweet of a rock in field? It’s a polo ball, not a Rolling Stone.
Are you going to Coachella now?