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I woke up the next morning around 9am (which is far earlier than I had planned to wake up or even get up for school) because of the blistering heat. I knew Indio, CA was a desert, but we were near Palm Springs....I didn't think it was going to be that miserable. Stephanie is a morning person so she was awake far before I was doing who knows what. I moseyed over to the showerline, still half asleep, with a chair and my shower supplies. Ninety minutes later, and sweating up a storm, I finally made it into the nice cold refreshing showers. There were about 10 of them in a trailer with nicely pressured water, and a changing room. I couldn't have asked for more in that dept.

After I was all showered up, Steph took me to a Mexican place for lunch. We planned to show up to the concert a little later today since there was nobody we really wanted to see and we were putting off the killer heat as long as possible. I was ecstatic to find out that had Jamaica (pronounced ha-my-ka) which is a beverage I previously only had in Mexico. It is absolutely delicious and is made from boiled hibiscus blossoms, water, and sugar. It's red, and tart, but a little sweeter than cranberry juice. Reminds me of Pom Wonderful actually. 3 glasses and a taco salad later, we were off to Coachella.

I had already planned to spend most of my day at the Outdoor Theatre. It began with !!! (pronounced chik chik chik usually) who put on a great show. They are funky and hip hoppy. Alot of energy and the crowd, and myself loved it. Broken Social Scene was next and since I have had their CD for quite some time I really enjoyed singing along to most of their songs (though I seemed to be in the minority). They are a great Canadian band who are too difficult for me to describe. Of course I was looking forward to Anthem for 17 year old girls the most, and fell in love with the girls voice. I have a few Atmosphere songs and was looking forward to seeing them. I hung around for the first 2 songs but couldn't take the sudden change of crowd, so I left. Too many thugs throwing one hand in the air and covering their mouth with the other all chingy style. This was the point in time where I was supposed to meet up with Liz, which never happened because my cell died :/

Cursive were amazing. Their 10 minute ballad Staying Alive is probably my favorite song by them and is on continuous play here at gtmcknight headquarters. I absolutely love the way it builds up, and up and up, until it explodes and then comes back down with harmonies of voices assuring me the worst is over. I have to admit I was only there to secure a good spot for Bright Eyes, but I was sure glad I stuck around. Conor Oberst (and the Bright Eyes crew) were as expected. Utterly amazing. If theres anybody I have a man crush on it would be him. His voice is amazing, and I love the way it shakes. He hardly played any of the songs I wanted to hear, but just listening to his voice made it worth it nonetheless. Immediately after I raced to the main stage to see the last 3 songs from Air. The calming, soothing duo from France were a great way to relax before Flaming Lips came on.

After waiting a ridiculous amount of time, the Flaming Lips finally appeared. Wayne apologized for being so late, saying they were having some sort of difficulties back stage. Then he proceeded to climb into a giant inflated ball and crowd surfed. It was by far the coolest stunt I have ever seen at a concert (pics here). They only played for about 20 minutes Id say (because they were so late and wanted to get off on time to let the Cure go on as scheduled). They ended the show asking everybody to sing Happy Birthday to Beck's unborn child (expected in the next week or two). As we sung, he poured as much fake blood all over his face as possible. Did I mention the entire band and dancers on stage were dressed in fuzzy cuddle animal costumes? It was definitely a spectacle, and I could see how they got their name as some of the best entertainers in the music industry. Of course the Flaming Lips could've played another 45 minutes because the Cure was late. I'm not very familiar with most of The Cure's music, but I enjoyed the show, and was impressed that the 50 year old Robert Smith could still hack it. His hair is still as crazy as ever.

Tune in tomorrow for Episode 3 aka The Serena Nights.