Ticket Stub Tuesday- Coachella 2007

Coachella Festival

April 29, 2007

Indio, CA

In the buzz surrounding last week’s announcement of the 2011 Coachella lineup, I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate this installment of Ticket Stub Tuesday to my first ever experience at the famous festival in the desert. It took me awhile to confirm that 2007 was indeed my first Coachella trip. I thought for sure it had been earlier, that I had been more often, and that I couldn’t have waited 8 years to get with the program. Then I remembered why I never made it out to Indio until 2007 and the circumstances that made it an event I wouldn’t miss for the world.

When you work in baseball, the little color coded schedule on your fridge or in your wallet becomes the blueprint for your summer. Darkly shaded boxes are dates you won’t be doing anything outside the ballpark. Unfortunately for Coachella, it falls square in the middle of the first month of baseball season and in my case, the Minor League scheduling gods apparently don’t like good music. Nearly every year since I started my career in sports in 2002, Coachella landed on the weekend of a homestand.

In 2007 though, it didn’t matter that Coachella fell during a stretch of home games. Ending what felt like years of rumors, it was announced that a reunited Rage Against the Machine would headline Sunday night. After working almost 300 straight games, it would be the first home date I’d miss in my career. Aside from being one of my favorite bands growing up, I was lucky enough to see some of Rage’s biggest shows back in the day- the most noteworthy being their final show before unexpectedly breaking up in 2000. Seeing that my RATM partner in crime K.C. and I saw their final show, we had to be there when they reunited. 

Ticket Stub Tuesday- Vegoose 2007

Welcome to the first installment of Anthems and Atleticos' Ticket Stub Tuesday. Every week, I'll pick out a stub from over a decade's worth of shows and events and share some stories. Special thanks to all of the friends and strangers who make these tickets come back to life when I think about them.  Coachella announces their 2011 lineup today, so I figured it would be fitting to start off with the festival spirit...

Vegoose Festival

October 27, 2007

Las Vegas, NV

One pyramid. Two robots. 20,000 costumed dancing machines. The now-defunct Vegoose festival served as the ridiculously memorable setting for one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Imagine your favorite music & arts festival. Got it locked in? OK, now take that festival from the desert or middle of Tennessee or wherever, and transport it to Las Vegas…on Halloween weekend. Add in your 5 best friends from college and a handcrafted lineup and you’ve got the makings of something epic.

We expected it to be a pretty surreal environment to see some shows. The festival grounds would be covered with people in some amazing Halloween costumes. (Special “where are they now” mention goes out to the whoopee cushion we befriended who affectionately referred to herself as “Fart Bag.” Classy that one.) After the last set of this huge costume party, we realized we’d come back to our hotel room on the Strip. No camping, no hippies, no water bottle exchange programs. After the show, we were going to change out of our own costumes (more on that later) and hit Vegas head on. It was almost too much to take in. And then you rundown the lineup you are about to see and it’s hard to figure out why they couldn’t keep this festival going.

The first piece of news that got my attention about Vegoose 2007 was that Rage Against the Machine had added it to their reunion-like festival circuit. They would headline Sunday night. I never thought a RATM show could become the afterthought of a weekend, but Saturday’s lineup was just bananas. We took in sets from M.I.A., The Shins, and the mighty Queens of the Stone Age. They were all great, but they all simply paled in comparison to Saturday night’s main event. I’ve never been so unexpectedly blown away by a live performance. I knew they’d be good, but I didn’t know that two French DJ’s who treated every day like Halloween would turn in the most vivid, visually stunning, all-out-fun show I’d see to this point in my concert going life. During a weekend tailor-made to create good times, it was Daft Punk that left the most indelible mark in all of our minds.