The lunatic is on the grass!

Puff. Puff....  pass.   Oh my Goldenvoice.  You have dared to piss of the 'indie' brood on the interwhines and boy have they whined up a storm.  Fackin' punks.

Sure Coachella has had its ups and downs but they've almost always managed at least two quality headliners, regardless of your musical taste.  Meaning... even if you weren't a fan of a certain band you could understand why they landed the closing slot.  This year's lineup is a great example of just that.

You may or may not enjoy the musical stylings of Portishead or Jack Johnson but there's no denying that Roger Waters performing Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety is a nice, nice get for G.V.   Just the fact that most of the coverage we've seen so far focuses on who's NOT playing rather than the truly remarkable lineup assembled speaks well for the diversity of acts involved.

When you first look at the list, it's easy to miss some of the details but how could you possibly get more 'indie' in the traditional sense than having Dwight Yoakam,  Turbonegro, Junkie XL and Cafe Tacuba perform inside the same three mile radius on the same night?  You can't, that's how.  Same thing goes for Sunday, with Gogol Bordello, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Dimitri From Paris and Spiritualized all present and accounted for.  (Well, let's not count our Spiritualized performances before they're hatched, maybe..)  Even the first night sees The Verve, Breeders, Aesop Rock and Fatboy Slim sharing air.  (Too bad Air isn't playing this year.)   So really, who CARES if Jack Johnson is the closer. You can get the hell out of there two hours earlier, and back to your hotel room/campsite that much sooner to finish sewing that awesome Datarock patch you found in the trash onto your sufficiently vintage track jacket.  Score, you dork!

Seriously though... anyone complaining about the Coachella lineup is probably a little spoiled, or they just like to complain about stuff.  You can't have a Pixies re-up EVERY year or it will lose its specialness, special one.  Besides, B.F. will probably be wandering around the crowd during The Breeders' set.  If we see him we're going to stop him and say "Hey! When we grew up we actually BECAME debasers!  Cool huh?!"  Hurrrrr!

Press Release at coachella.com here.

FULL 2008 LINE UP:

FRIDAY, APRIL 25: Jack Johnson, The Verve, The Raconteurs, The Breeders, Fatboy Slim, Tegan and Sara, Madness, The Swell Season, The National, Slightly Stoopid, Mum, Pendulum, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Stars, Battles, Aesop Rock, Les Savy Fav, Midnight Juggernauts, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Minus the Bear, Spank Rock, dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Diplo, Adam Freeland, Santogold, Jens Lekman, John Butler Trio, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deacon, Architecture in Helsinki, Sandra Collins, Busy P, Cut Copy, Black Lips, Datarock, Professor Murder, Reverend and the Makers, The Bees, Porter, Rogue Wave, Modeselektor, American Bang, Luckyiam.

SATURDAY, APRIL 26: Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death Cab for Cutie, Cafe Tacuba, Sasha & John Digweed, Rilo Kiley, Dwight Yoakam, M.I.A., Hot Chip, Cold War Kids, Animal Collective, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, DeVotchKa, Flogging Molly, Mark Ronson, Turbonegro, Scars on Broadway, Islands, Enter Shikari, Calvin Harris, Boys Noize, Junkie XL, Cinematic Orchestra, Jamie T, The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, Carbon/Silicon, Erol Alkan, Yo! Majesty, Little Brother, Bonde Do Role, St. Vincent, Akron/Family, MGMT, Institubes Paris Terror Club - Surkin, Para One and Orgasmic, James Zabiela, SebastiAn, Kavinsky, Dredg, The Bird and the Bee, Grand Ole Party, Man Man, New Young Pony Club, 120 Days, Yoav, Electric Touch, Yelle, Uffie.

SUNDAY, APRIL 27: Roger Waters (“Dark Side of the Moon”), Love And Rockets, My Morning Jacket, Spiritualized, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, The Streets, Metric, Danny Tenaglia, Simian Mobile Disco, Booka Shade, Murs, Dimitri From Paris, Autolux, The Field, Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Cool Kids, Sons & Daughters, Sia, Holy Fuck, Black Kids, Black Mountain, Annuals, Kid Sister w/A-Trak, Duffy, I'm from Barcelona, Manchester Orchestra, Deadmau5, The Horrors, AUSTIN TV, Shout Out Louds, Plastiscines, Brett Dennen.