The first act I caught was Terry Mullen at the Sahara tent, a DJ who was playing some driving beats and had a good visual display run by a team of people on computers. He had a small group up front feeling what he was doing, but most in the back just seemed to be taking in the shade, which was the greatest commodity of the day.

Moving on to the Mojave tent, The Noisettes were a rockin’ trio out of London led by bassist Shingai Shoniwa whose voice has a great melody to it. She sings rather than scream like other girls fronting similar groups. She easily could sing jazz standards if she chose. At the Gobi tent, the Comedians of Comedy started the day. It seemed like an odd choice, but Zach Galifianakis had the crowd laughing, especially when he went to the piano and offered up amusing thoughts as he plinked out a tune. At the Outdoor Theatre, apparently the creative team didn’t know “Kalahari,” bluegrass band, or “progressive acoustic” as they refer to themselves, Nickel Creek sounded great on one of their last remaining dates before they go on an indefinite hiatus.

Frequent Coachella performer Perry Farrell took the main stage with his new group Satellite Party, playing songs from their upcoming album. They combine the hard rock sounds of Jane’s Addiction and the world music explorations of Porno for Pyros and his solo album, most notably on “UltraPayloaded Satellite Party.” “Wish Upon A Dog Star” had a great funk bass groove to it. “Insanity Reigns” had a fast raggedness, a controlled chaos, that worked well. They even delivered a version of Jane’s Addiction “Stop” to the delight of many in the crowd. The band sounded good, especially Nuno Bettancourt who seems a capable guitarist to handle Farrell’s aural vision.

Unfortunately, what totally detracts is Perry’s wife, Etty. She is a “back-up singer,” but comes off a cross between a stripper and Linda McCartney. She looked a tad ridiculous running around trying to keep her breasts from falling out while she was dancing around, apparently unaware that her skimpy outfit is why her breasts were falling out while she was dancing around. She was a total buzz-kill.

Next up, was the simple beauty of the bluegrass/old time music of Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. They wore matching rhinestone outfits and I walked in on them covering the Cashes’ “Jackson.” While an event like Coachella has a alternative music feel to it, it was refreshing to see the audience so into Welch. Among the songs they played were “Look At Miss Ohio” and “Elvis Presley Blues.”