Coachella 2013 – Blur and Red Hot Chili Peppers
Last year the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival used technological trickery to make it look as if Tupac Shakur had been brought back to life. So what do you do for an encore to one of pop music’s biggest magic shows? Coachella organizers have turned to reunited Brit-pop act Blur and one of L.A.’s longest-running rock acts in the Red Hot Chili Peppers to anchor its 2013 festival.
Blur will be joined by reunited countrymates the Stone Roses, rock act the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, legend Lou Reed, French pop band Phoenix and Trent Reznor’s How to Destroy Angels at the top of the bill for the dual Coachella festivals, set for the weekends of April 12 and April 19 in the desert city of Indio. Other upper-tier artists include Modest Mouse, a double-dose of Nick Cave – performing with Grinderman and the Bad Seeds, Yeasayer and Skrillex project Dog Blood.
Held at the Empire Polo Grounds since its 1999 inception, Coachella has a reputation for presenting a heavily curated lineup that connects the dots among hitmakers, underground artists and those on the comeback trail, all within an unique desert setting that’s increasingly becoming more resort-like, with upscale options to match – at the highest end of the VIP configurations there are $6.500 air-conditioned tents.
Coachella 2013.
The Coachella 2013 lineup has officially arrived, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blur the Stone Roses and Phoenix are all slated to headline the two-weekend festival in Indio, California this April. Among the other big names on the bill – Lou Reed, Postal Service, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, New Order and the Wu-Tang Clan.
As in past years, several of the marquee acts playing Coachella are in the midst of reuniting, or at least resurfacing with new material. Both Phoenix and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are gearing up to release their first new LPs in several years this April, and earlier this week Postal Service confirmed plans to ring in their tenth anniversary with a Coachella set. The Stones Roses and New Order both kicked off reunion tours last year, and Wu-Tang Clan are at work on a new album to mark their twentieth anniversary.
Rumors about this year’s Coachella headliners had been swirling for weeks, with the Rolling Stones and Daft Punk among the acts speculated to be performing at the festival. But last week – the Stones confirmed that they would not be playing Coachella, with Mick Jagger telling NME that the band would not be ready in time for the festival, despite the string of successful reunion dates they played in the U.K. and U.S. at the close of last year. And though Daft Punk have a new LP in the works, the band has reportedly told festival promoters they won’t be hitting the road this year.
Coachella will kick off on April 12th through April 14th and reprise its lineup the following weekend, April 19th through 21st. Festival passes go on sale next Tuesday (January 29th) at 10 a.m. PST.
This will be Coachella’s 14th hurrah and its second year of splitting the festival into two identical weekends in order to accomodate their vastly multiplying audience. Weekend 1 will take place April 12-14 and Weekend 2 will be April 19-21.
Festival passes for both weekends go on sale Tuesday, January 29th at 10AM PST. Festival passes for Weekend 1 must be purchased with a shuttle pass or a car camping pass. New for 2013, the price you see is the price you pay — $349 for a GA ticket and $799 for VIP. Prices reflect all fees included. Layaway is no longer an option for either weekend. Last year’s tickets sold out online in under two hours.
Friday, April 12 & 19:
Blur, The Stone Roses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Lou Reed, Jurassic 5, Grinderman, Bassnectar, Dog Blood, How to Destroy Angels, Passion Pit, Tegan and Sara, Band of Horses, Beach House, Metric, Local Natives, Of Monsters and Men, Infected Mushroom, Japandroids, Divine Fits, Stars, Johnny Marr, Luciano, Wolfgang Gartner, Nicky Romero, Modestep, Tommy Trash, Thomas Gold, the Shouting Matches, Dillon Francis, Four Tet, Aesop Rock, Alt-J, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, TNGHT, Jake Bugg, Earl Sweatshirt, Polica, Sparks, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Purity Ring, Lee Scratch Perry, Dam-Funk, DJ Harvey, Jamie xx, Seth Troxler, Youth Lagoon, Deathfix, C2C, Beardyman, Lord Huron, Palma Violets, IO Echo, Skinny Lister, the Neighbourhood, Sam XL Pure Filth Sound.
Saturday, April 13 and 20:
Phoenix, the XX, the Postal Service, Sigur Ros, New Order, Hot Chip, Grizzly Bear, Knife Party, Benny Benassi, Two Door Cinema Club, Moby, Descendents, Yeasayer, Franz Ferdinand, Violent Femmes, Simian Mobile Disco, Spiritualized, Puscifer, Cafe Tacuba, Portugal, the Man, the Make-Up, Bat for Lashes, Richie Hawtin, Major Lazer, Fedde Le Grand, Dropkick Murphys, FOALS, Ben Howard, 2 Chainz, Janelle Monae, Danny Brown, Wild Nothing, Booka Shade, Bingo Players, Allen Stone, El-P, the Selecter, Pusha T, Kill the Noise, the Evens, Biffy Clyro, Theophilus London, Baauer, Zane Lowe, Trash Talk, Birdy Nam Nam, Action Bronson, Jason Bentley, the Wombats, Guards, Mona, Savages, Shovels & Rope, Huoratron, Kurt Vile, Reignwolf, Cassy, 3Ball MTY, Kids These Days, the 2 Bears, the Colourist, Vintage Trouble.
Sunday, April 14 and 21:
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Vampire Weekend, Social Distortion, Wu-Tang Clan, Pretty Lights, Eric Prydz, Tame Impala, the Lumineers, Dead Can Dance, La Roux, James Blake, Excision Grimes, the Gaslight Anthem, the Faint, Hardwell, Paul Oakenfold, Dinosaur Jr., Raider Klan, OMD, Roni Size, the Airborne Toxic Event, Father John Misty, Tanlines, Rodriguez, Alex Clare, Paul Kalkbrenner, Jessie Ware, Loco Dice, Jamie Jones, the Three O’Clock, Disclosure, Mimosa, Cloud Nothings, Parov Stelar Band, Julio Bashmore, Thee Oh Sees, Dub Fx, Maya Jane Coles, JEFF the Brotherhood, Smith Westerns, Dirtyphonics, Joris Voorn, Hanni El Khatib, Danny Avila, Ghost, DIIV, Little Green Cars, Mord Fustang, James McCartney, Unicorn Kid, Robert DeLong, White Arrows, Deep Vally, Wild Belle, Adrian Lux, Ladies Night.