Wanting to catch what Perry Farrell was up to on the Sahara Tent at 2pm had my friend Todd and I leave early from Orange County. We hit no traffic until we were right outside the parking lot. The consequence of such light crowds early on meant that the line to get in wasn’t long, allowing the security check to be more intense. Yet, plenty of people still got weed and pipes into the place.
Farrell started 23 minutes late, but no one seemed to mind because they were in the shade. Just like his recent performance at The Nightwatchman Benefit in West Hollywood, he was joined by wife Ety who sang and danced, and guitarist Carl Restivo as they performed electronic dance over pre-recorded material. The mix was not that great at first. Farrell’s vocals were too soft and he had to look over and signal the sound guys. He was annoyed, but quickly put on a smile when he turned to the audience because above all else, Farrell is a showman. He covered Jane’s Addiction’s songs “Just Because,” “Been Caught Stealing,” “Stop,” and closed his shortened set with “Jane Says,” which the crowd adored. After their appearance at the NME Awards, reports are that at least 3/4ths of the band is reforming.
During the set, an idiot photographer made his presence known with an enormous pole he used to extend his camera up very high. Apparently, shooting up from the photo pit or from the side of the stage wasn’t good enough. He had to get point of views from above the band and over the crowd. Plenty of people around me wanted to hurl objects at him. While he’s doing a job to allow everyone who can’t go to the show to get a glimpse, that shouldn’t trump the experience of those of us who did attend.
With an hour before anyone interested us, Todd and I headed over to the beer garden to enjoy some Heinekens and laughs, reminiscing and catching each other up on what we’ve been doing to lately. As much fun as I had the previous two days, it was much more enjoyable having someone to experience the event with.
Manchester Orchestra played at the Outdoor Theater. They are a tight five-piece rock and roll outfit and delivered a few decent songs, but nothing that locked us down. We headed over to the Mojave Tent where Swervedriver had the worst mix of the weekend. The bass drums drowned out everything else that was going on.
During the last song of their set, electro-rock band Does It Offend You, Yeah? were tearing it up in the Gobi Tent. Everyone was on their feet and dancing around. Todd and I quickly got caught up in the wild energy and regretted not stopping by sooner.
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