[Ghoulish Delight]

Okay, so enough about the pig. It was definitely the most theatrically amazing moment, but it was a weekend full of amazing moments.

Most Anticipated Act that lived up to/surpassed expectations:
Man Man. I fell in love with their music a few weeks ago, bought their newest album. It's hard to categorize the music. A bit of Tom Waits on speed, a bit of the Baltic sound, a bit of the Zutons. High energy, great lyrics. Then there's their stage performance. Wow. Nonstop madness, props flying, lead singers flying, noise and music and theatrics and jumping and near-injury. Pure awesome.

Most anticipated act that failed to deliver
M.I.A. We made the mistake of leaving Kraftwerk early to check out M.I.A. She seemed like she'd put on a hell of a show. Unfortunately, it just wasn't to be. She was playing in the largest tent. By the time we got there it was overflowing with people out the sides and back. We started to work our way through the crowd to get as close as we could, and immediately we were passing people going the other way coming out of the tent grumbling about how horrible it was inside. There was just no way we were getting in there, and it didn't sound like we would have wanted to be in there anyway. We later learned that she started to encourage people to come on stage, which led to a bit of chaos, bitching about security, and a long pause in her act. In the end, she did all of six songs. Total disappointment and we should have stuck around for the Kraftwerk robots.

Best "not holding my breath" act that beat my expectations
Portishead. Actually, this is a close one with Roger Waters, but that was so over the top that I can't even consider it together with the rest of the weekend. So that leaves Portishead. Simply amazing. After essentially an 11 year hiatus, they got onto that stage and absolutely nailed the old stuff like they had just walked of the studio, and their new stuff keeps the essence of the band while progressing their sound into the new decade. She felt every word she sang, and the audience felt it with her. Stunning performance.

Best walk-by that convinced us to stop and check an act we didn't know out
Holy F*ck. We were headed elsewhere, but the music coming from the tent stopped us in our tracks, and we stayed for the remainder of the set. Another high energy act with a frantic feel, aided by the constant plugging and replugging of various electronic devices througout, even in the middle of songs. Later research revealed that unlike most electronic acts, they use no pre-looped recorded samples, they do everything live. Including running, by hand, 35mm film through a machine to play the sound track at high speed. An entirely unique sound that had to be danced to.

Best Tina Turner impression
Sharon Jones and the Dapp Kings. I'm tired just thinking about her performance. This is a throwback act in the best sense of the word. She got up there and brought the house down. A frenetic bundle of dancing and wailing. Sensational, I'm thoroughly jealous of NA and € who get to see here again at the Hollywood Bowl.

Most danceable
Gogol Bordello. This comes as no surprise to many here on LoT, but it's the first chance we've had to see them, and they lived up to their reputation. They went up at the most brutal time of day, with the sun low and in our faces and the humidity skyrocketing. But nothing could stop me from 50 minutes of near nonstop jumping and dancing. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Most disappointing thing of the weekend
Tesla Coils. Unless we somehow missed it, which is highly unlikely, the giant Tesla Coils never did their thing. On day one, we knew it was a bad sign when we saw a bunch of people hovering around the thing with a multimeter and eventually a soldering iron. I guess they never got the part they needed from Lithuania because we never saw it fired up. Coachella felt a little empty without it.