Music | January 30, 2009 | 32 comments

Paul McCartney to headline Coachella!

source: http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-et-coachella30-2009jan30,0,2310820.story

Image
sk8r408
The former Beatle is a huge get for this year's festival, but at 66 he doesn't quite fit the demographic.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival got famous by presenting the sounds of today and tomorrow. But this year California's most celebrated live-music event is gambling on Paul McCartney and the music of "Yesterday."

Booking the former Beatle, who is listed in the record books as the most successful musician in pop history, would be the safest choice imaginable for most music festivals.

But the internationally respected Coachella festival, which is set for April 17-19, has been pulling in crowds of more than 140,000 fans by taking an edgier path with alt-rock heroes you would hear on a college town's pirate radio station.

Presented with a chance to tap into music history and veteran star power, the promoters have signed the 66-year-old icon, who personifies the mature pop mainstream. The move could help the festival compete amid a grim economy and a host of imitators that have sprung up across the country; the news of McCartney's presence -- for better or worse -- instantly will make Coachella a hot topic with music fans nationwide who have been anxiously awaiting the list of this year's headliners.

What remains to be seen is whether the choice will cost the festival credibility with its core clientele: young fans who are more likely to listen to the White Stripes than the "White Album" and who are far more familiar with Rage Against the Machine than "Band on the Run."

From Paris, McCartney sent word Thursday that he was thrilled with the idea of playing to a new crowd. "I have heard that Coachella is one of the greatest festivals in the world," he said in a statement sent to The Times. "I'm really excited to get out there and rock!"

more in the link...
  1. groups:
    Music,   Art and Style,   The Beatles
  2. tags:
    Music,  Art and Style,  US,  America,  10 more
  3.     
    |

32 comments // Paul McCartney to headline Coachella!

  • AmourTerreux
    • 0
      AmourTerreux  

    • I HATE Coachella...It's just a bunch of hipster yuppie snobs with their emo hairstyles, putting glitter on their strikingly ordinary faces, and prancing around in their true religion jeans on drugs,,,it's HILARIOUS!! It's all hype my friends. PLUS-their are hundreds of better festivals in Europe. haha...even Washington does a better job.

    • 3 years ago
  • NuclearAcidCupcake
  • amaness
    • 0
      amaness  

    • I just want to see the line up, so here:

      FRIDAY APRIL 17

      Paul McCartney
      Morrissey
      Franz Ferdinand
      Leonard Cohen
      Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
      Beirut
      The Black Keys
      Girl Talk
      Silversun Pickups
      The Ting Tings
      The Crystal Method
      Ghostland Observatory
      Crystal Castles
      The Airborne Toxic Event
      We Are Scientists
      N.A.S.A.
      Patton & Rahzel
      M. Ward
      The Presets
      The Hold Steady
      A Place to Bury Strangers
      Felix da Housecat
      Buraka Som Sistema
      Ryan Bingham
      Bajofondo
      Peanut Butter Wolf
      Noah & the Whale
      White Lies
      The Bug
      Alberta Cross
      Los Campesinos!
      Craze & Klever
      Molotov
      Switch
      Gui Boratto
      Steve Aoki
      The Aggrolites
      People Under the Stairs
      The Courteeners
      Cage the Elephant
      Dear and the Headlights

      Coachella_2009 SATURDAY, APRIL 18

      The Killers
      Amy Winehouse
      Thievery Corporation
      TV on the Radio
      Band of Horses
      Fleet Foxes
      MSTRKRFT
      Michael Franti & Spearhead
      Atmosphere
      Mastodon
      TRAV$DJ-AM
      Henry Rollins
      Crookers
      Turbonegro
      Hercules and Love Affair
      Superchunk
      Glasvegas
      Dr. Dog
      Drive-By Truckers
      Booker T & the DBT’s
      Amanda Palmer
      The Bloody Beetroots
      Surkin, Para One (Live)
      Calexico
      Liars
      Bob Mould Band
      Zane Lowe
      Electric Touch
      Blitzen Trapper
      James Morrison
      Drop the Lime
      Glass Candy
      Thenewno2
      Gang Gang Dance
      Billy Talent
      Ida Maria
      Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
      Zizek
      Cloud Cult
      Tinariwen

      SUNDAY, APRIL 19

      The Cure
      My Bloody Valentine
      Yeah Yeah Yeahs
      Throbbing Gristle
      Lupe Fiasco
      Paul Weller
      Antony & the Johnsons
      X Roni Size
      Public Enemy
      Jenny Lewis
      Groove Armada
      Paolo Nutini
      Christopher Lawrence
      Lykke Li
      The Kills
      Okkervil River
      M.A.N.D.Y.
      Clipse
      Sebastien Tellier
      F ... Up
      Perry Farrell
      The Horrors
      Late of the Pier
      K’naan
      Junior Boys
      Brian Jonestown Massacre
      Supermayer
      No Age
      Vivian Girls
      Shepard Fairey
      Themselves
      Gaslight Anthem
      The Knux
      Mexican Institute of Sound
      The Night Marchers
      Marshall Barnes

    • 3 years ago
  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • Keep on rockin' Sir Paul. Remember, it was 40 years ago today you played your last public gig as a Beatle on the rooftop of Apple. And I just played my copy as I do every January. You're never too old to Rock 'n' Roll!

    • 3 years ago
  • pjacobs51
  • sk8r408
    • 0
      sk8r408  
    • pjacobs51:

      There were lots of rumors, but the lineup is official now. You never know though with Coachella. Last year there was a rumor that Prince was gonna play, but he wasn't on the poster when it came out. Then he was added a couple weeks before the show. Keep your fingers crossed.

    • 3 years ago
  • PhilipBlaine
  • ice_monster
    • 0
      ice_monster  

    • I was expecting the Brazilian Girls, Uh Huh Her, Minus the Bear, Hot Chip, Royksopp, Pendulum and other amazing artists yet this year's line up is so crappy! What the hell! I wish I went last year and every year before :(

    • 3 years ago
  • ahdbahd
  • WhatTheDeuce
  • dgahr
    • 0
      dgahr  

    • Not excited by this at all. The Killers? The Cure to close it all out?? Lame.

      Last year's lineup was awesome: Prince, Roger Waters, Kraftwerk, MIA, Hot Chip, Justice, Animal Collective, Akron/Family, Aphex Twin, Sharon Jones, MGMT, Chromeo, Cut Copy, Vampire Weekend, etc., etc.,

      this year's lineup doesn't hold a candle to that.

    • 3 years ago
  • sk8r408
    • 0
      sk8r408  
    • dgahr:

      I agree that The Killers and The Cure are weak headliners, but there are a lot of really good people that you might not know yet. Look a little deeper into the lineup. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

    • 3 years ago
  • chipmunks170
  • WhatTheDeuce
  • jimenagamio
  • k8_hj
  • sk8r408
  • WhatTheDeuce
  • MornRail
  • joshuaheller
  • MornRail
    • 0
      MornRail  
    • MornRail:

      I think that was actually the reason why my friend and I skipped it last year. Little did we know, after purchasing VIP tiks to Bonnaroo, he'd be headlining there too!

      VIP gave up close access to the main stage so we had to suffer his stupid chillax groove while trying to get some rest. Absolutely terrible!

    • 3 years ago
  • joshuaheller
  • MornRail
  • anikhanj
  • MontaukBeastie
  • sk8r408
  • Sentwali
  • WhatTheDeuce
    • 0
      WhatTheDeuce  
    • Sentwali:

      You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME? Is the economy so bad that Coachella has to match it's depths with a 'headliner' like Paul McCartney? Two years ago, the Sunday night Headliner was Tool. This year, it will be, A TOOL.

    • 3 years ago
  • Mr_Costello
  • joshuaheller
  • Psychedelic
more from Music:
from the community

top videos