this is what you get when you mess with us

Let me tell you about the best weekend ever. Preston and I got done with finals and left for Palm Desert/Springs Thursday morning. We got to Palm Desert Thursday afternoon and hung out with his family and played at his grandparents' country club for the remainder of the evening. Then Friday was the first day of Coachella where I met up with Kylie and Todd and some other boys we rented a house with, but I didn't really see that much over the weekend. COACHELLA WAS SO MUCH FUN. Okay, it was hot as hell. No like, 106 every day. But by 7 or 8, it started to cool down and I got a new burst of energy when it got cooler. Plus all of the awesome shows were at night.

 My top 5 shows of the weekend:

5. Bon Iver. So I was curious to see how much I would like Bon Iver at a festival, since I saw them in a much smaller venue in Philly last summer. They were phenomenal. Saturday was in my opinion, the best day. At the same stage in a row were The Shins, Bon Iver and Radiohead. So I was there for 6 hours or something. Worth it. Justin Vernon has the most magical voice. There were some #dark things happening next to me during this one, so I got kind of distracted and concerned for my fellow Coachelly patrons, but overall, beautiful show, beautiful set. Also, Coachella audience members were SO sweet. Seriously. They said excuse me, let you in front of them and just friendly. Granted, many of them were on hallucinogens, but it was fine. We all recognized we were there together to enjoy the music.

4. Florence + the Machine. Dude. Florence Welch? Homegirl can SING. Plus she looked like this sparkly butterfly and was so sweet and dreamy for her whole set. So good. She was Sunday night and was the second to last show I saw for the weekend. I attended her alone because Preston was at Avicii. It was magical and I would pay top dollar to see her again. All of her songs have a girl power vibe, which was totally cool. Also her hits are so upbeat (Shake It Out, Dog Days) so they were great to dance to and just FEEL the music. Haha I am weird. Spectrum is my favorite song from Ceremonials and it was hauntingly good. She had this pretty way of saying 'Coachella' with her accent. I ruv her.

3. The Shins. I have wanted to see The Shins since 7th grade and when I finally saw them, I never wanted their set to end. They sound PERFECT live. It was everything I could have wanted it to be. I was close to tears during New Slang because I felt this overwhelming sense of nostalgia for my childhood/early teenage years and I started missing everybody. It was weird. James Mercer 4 lyfe. Go see them in Salt Lake, it will change you.

2. M83. I'll be honest, I never got into M83 until Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. I like a few songs on Saturdays=Youth, but really never listened to them. HUWD has been one of my most played albums of 2k11. I find it hard to describe the album except for it's very dreamy, very space-y/time travel/galaxies/cosmos and I can imagine it being the soundtrack to a movie. Anthony Gonzalez was so incredibly humble and gracious and continually thanking the audience for M83's success. It was the sweetest. The show was so fun to dance to. Midnight City? EVERYTHING I could have asked for. We were really close too. Kylie and I were this close __ to getting the set list but some betch snatched it from us. I'm still harboring hard feelings. Preston surprised me with tickets to see them this weekend in Salt Lake. I can't wait :]

1. Radiohead. I came to Coachella to see Radiohead. I was supposed to see them in Arizona in March, but transportation didn't work out, so I didn't end up going, so I was SET on seeing them last weekend. I waited through The Shins and Bon Iver (not hard) and stood on my tip toes for 60% of the set to see them. It was phenomenal. What is Thom Yorke? I still don't know. But I couldn't help but completely adore him during his set. They did 2 encores and played for about 2 hours. Let me tell you about Karma Police. If I could only have seen one song all weekend, it would have been this one. The audience sang the entire time, and even after it ended continued singing "for a minute there I lost myself." I wanted to cry and hug someone. There was this unbelievable sense of unity during that song. Like we had all been waiting for it and then it happened and we didn't want it to end. Radiohead was perfect. Thom Yorke is perfect. I will pay absurd amounts of money to see them again. You MUST before you die.

Honorable mentions/highlights:
The Weeknd. The Weeknd was awesome. He has such a great voice and it was right as the sun was starting to set, so it was starting to get to a nice temperature. Whole show had a very sexy vibe to it. I loved every minute of it.

Frank Ocean. This guy is TALENTED. He has the most gorgeous voice and was so funny and entertaining. Kylie, Todd and I were front row for this one. We stood in vomit to get that close. Yeah. #dark.

Snoop Dogg + Wiz Khalifa. So Snoop and Dr. Dre ended the weekend. Yes I saw the hologram. Snoop did "Young, Wild and Free" which I LOVE with Wiz Khalifa and it was such a fun, carefree performance. I just loved dancing and singing along. I was exhausted by the end, but we had to stay to see the hologram. Also 50 Cent did In Da Club. That was cool I guess.

Ferris wheel. So the ferris wheel that was on every Coachella ad/brochure/poster/tshirt. Preston and I went on it Sunday. My Notebook/OC fantasy of being on a ferris wheel with my sweetheart was fulfilled :]

Coachella was exhausting. It literally was so physically demanding, but you kind of forgot about how tired you were when you were in the middle of seeing someone you worship. I asked Preston who he would pick for Prestonchella and then got to answer my own question. We were allowed 7 bands, no holograms and everyone still had to be living.

Ynnachella Lineup:
1. Radiohead
2. Chris Brown
3. The Shins
4. Iron & Wine
5. Sufjan Stevens
6. N*SYNC
7. I can't choose between Lady Gaga and Celine Dion.

Monday we transitioned from 18 year old hipsters to 75 year old retirees and spent the day lounging by the pool, playing golf and tennis. It was great. Everything was so beautiful and I had the best time. I am not sure I will be able to top this weekend for a while.