Southern California's annual three-day Coachella Music Festival attracts the Sienna Millers and Rachel Bilsons of celebrities — and you! Get great taste in cool music in just three days (or four clicks) and 15 bands. Bonus: The 5 bands that should've made the bill ...
DAY ONE:
1. Los Campesinos
The DNA: Pavement + Love Is All vocals + some glockenspiel
Seven Pavement-loving college freshmen from Wales decided to get together and form a band. Throw in boundless energy, boy/girl vocals, a glockenspiel and the decision to all adopt the same last name of Campesinos! — you've got one of the catchiest indie-pop bands of the festival.
Songs That We Demand They Play: "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks," "We Are Beautiful, We are Doomed" and "You! Me! Dancing!"
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: The excellent Pavement cover "Frontwards"
Lyric That'll Be Stuck in Your Head: "One blink for yes / Two blinks for no / Sweet Dreams sweet cheeks we leave alone"
2. The Hold Steady
The DNA: Bruce Springsteen + beer
Hold Steady are the ultimate arena rock bar band. They're the perfect band to hear at the festival when it's 5:00pm, you're drunk on a couple beers, and you want to rock the eff out to anthems that Bruce Springsteen wishes he could still write.
Songs That We Demand They Play: "Stuck Between Stations," "Sequestered In Memphis"
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: "Citrus" — to help show that, despite his hipster exterior, deep-down, he's sensitive.
Lyric That'll Be Stuck in Your Head: "We gotta stay positive"
3. Beirut
The DNA: gypsy music + crooning + indie-rock
Perhaps the best way to feel sorry about how your life is to go and watch 23-year-old wunderkind Zach Condon lead his band through an amazing set at Coachella. Sure, we all expect the typical 23-year-old to thrash and bang out songs on the guitar, but when you realize he's writing his gypsy-indie-rock songs for the ukulele, your full-time job of Twittering seems less hip. Oh, and he was only 19 when he recorded his debut.
Songs That We Demand They Play: "Postcards From Italy," "Scenic World"
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: the dance/synth song "No Dice"
Instrument You'll Finally Accept as Being Cool: the Ukulele
4. Paul McCartney
The DNA: If you don't know already, then you have terrible parents because they never played the Beatles for you.
Yes, we know that Paul isn't the hippest of the Beatles, but you probably want to see him play live way more than Ringo. While his recent solo offerings have been less than stellar, we really can't think of a better way to end the first day Coachella than to be on field singing the chorus of "Hey, Jude" with 20,000 hipsters and their boomer parents.
Songs That We Demand He Plays: "Hey, Jude," "Let It Be," "Saw Her Standing There," "Band on the Run," "I've Just Seen a Face," "Here, There, Everywhere," "Sgt. Pepper," "Back in the USSR" … really this list could go on forever.
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand He Plays: obviously, something off a Fireman album, aka Paul's electronica side-project.
Songs That'll Make Us Run to the Dance Tent: "Wonderful Christmas Time," "Freedom," "Silly Love Songs"
5. A Place to Bury Strangers
The DNA: The Jesus and Mary Chain – sibling rivalry + 20 years
So, Day One is winding down, and you want to impress your McCartney-loving buddies with your hip tastes. Well, your best bet is to drag them away from Paul on the main stage and end your night with the second (or maybe third or fourth) coming of The Jesus and Mary Chain in the form of A Place to Bury Strangers. They might be this year's Black Rebel Motorcycle Club but that doesn't mean their music can't be any good.
Song That We Demand They Play: "Another Step Away"
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: Anything off the early EPs because they were cooler back then.
Thing You Will Wonder While Watching: How come all bands with heavy distortion have superlong band names?
KEEP READING: M.I.A., Superchunk, more!