Coachella Top Lists
Eric Welles Nyström, member of the Heartbeats Movement and our man at this year’s Coachella, gives you his ‘Top Lists’ in regards to bands and brands performing at the music festival in California.
Best Brand Investments
- Adidas & Jeremy Scott… Following last year’s success at Frank Sinatra’s old house in Palm Springs, this year’s party was by far the most anticipated and desired of all offsite events. Starting with a secret shuttle transportation from Palm Spring’s Museum of Art (another renown piece of architecture in the city) the party was hosted at Elvis Presley’s old estate (!!!), the night went down with Robyn DJing, Kanon Organic Vodka drinks and an installation of Jeremy Scott’s Teddy Bears that made people go nuts at the end. In short, the perfect brand event, put together by LA agency People’s Revolution.
- The Creator’s Project, sponsored by Vice and Intel… By far the biggest and most complex initiative of any brand-related events at Coachella, it was executed just as well onsite as it is communicated online. Besides numerous impressive art installations across the festival grounds, the initiative also featured onstage collaborations with Animal Collective, Interpol and Arcade Fire, and incredible visual work beside the stages. On top of that, they even booked a number of young and yet equally cool bands from China and Brazil.
3 Best Performances
- Robyn and her non-stop, breathtaking live performance… robyn.com
- Nosaj Thing and his incredible visual show… nosjathing.com
- Magnetic Man, who’s tight video and audio performance blew everyone’s mind away (including bystanders), in similar style to Nosaj Thing. myspace.com/magneticman
3 Best artist styles
- The one and only Erykah Badu…
- Twin Shadow’s George Lewis Jr…
- Chromeo and their backup singers, in wonderful Robert Palmer tradition…
3 most interesting new products
- IMakeMyCase and their futuristic, on-demand case-making robot… custom.case-mate.com
- Mutewatch and their touchscreen watch, which saw love from a number of DJs, stage engineers and artists stylists… mutewatch.com
- Native shoes and their perfect festival shoe, which was as light and comfortable as the so hated Croc, but as elegant as any sneaker… nativeshoes.com
3 not-so-surprising surprises
- Kanye West and his ego, which harshly cancelled all rumours of Coachella finishing in an epic manner of guest appearances by Daft Punk, Jay-Z and Rhianna. Alone onstage for almost the whole performance, Kanye’s show also lacked live instruments and live back-up vocals
- Ariel Pink and his mental state, which lead to a break down at the end of his set…
- Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig popping in on Chromeo’s show, to perform their great new track ‘ Wouldn’t It Be Nice’
