Love and Rockets took the Outdoor Stage performing a fantastic sounding set that focused on their first four albums. They had a great background comprised of fluorescent tubes that showed different images. The guitar was lost briefly on “Dog End of a Day Gone By.” During “No New Tale to Tell,” Perry Farrell was sitting backstage, singing along like the rest of us fans in the audience. Acknowledging their influences, they dedicated “Holiday on the Moon” to headliner Roger Waters and “Kundalini Express” to Syd Barrett. Since Waters’ set was starting when L&R ended, we left during “Yin and Yang The Flower Pot Man,” a number I have seen them play many times live. According to reports, we missed an appearance by The Bubblemen who got into a pillow fight with the band.
While most were understandably surprised to hear classic rocker Roger Waters was playing Coachella, which has previously focused on alternative forms of music, the man certainly delivered a set many who witnessed won’t forget. It was filled with brilliant visuals on screen as well as live fireworks and fire, and the best use of sound of the weekend. He brought his recent “Dark Side of the Moon” tour to the desert, opening with a best-of set and then featuring the classic album in its entirety. The psychedelic classic “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” was given more of a New Age jazz feel. “Have A Cigar” suffered from some bad feedback.
During “Sheep,” a giant inflatable pig covered in graffiti, which included the words “Vote Obama,” made its way through the audience by handlers. As I tried reading different parts, I noticed low-flying plane with a shark face on the bottom go overheard. It seemed odd and rather reckless. Then it turned around and flew back, this time dropping some sort of material over the crowd. It continued to circle and dropped what looked like confetti or paper of some kind. [The next day I learned they were pro-Obama fliers, but they blew out of the Polo Grounds and never landed on us.] The pig got loose or was released into the sky depending on what you believe.
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