Coachella sacrificed some of its indie cred by booking Jack Johnson to headline one of its three festival nights in 2008, but does—as scores of posters on both the event’s official forum and MySpace page have asserted—the surf-rocker’s presence in a slot that once occupied by Radiohead and Björk spell doom for the 9-year-old California desert blowout?
Hardly. Though Johnson atop the bill for Friday, April 25 has the feel of a backup plan that went into effect when more fitting options turned promoter Goldenvoice down (Prince? My Bloody Valentine? Radiohead’s return?), he’s hardly the first Coachella act to draw the ire of longtime attendees. Rage Against the Machine and Tool have been lambasted for being too heavy. The Cure and Depeche Mode for being too old. Coldplay, Madonna and Kanye West for being too commercial. Even Roger Waters—whose 2007 Dark Side of the Moon-centered performance wowed an MGM Grand crowd—is proving to be a controversial choice to headline Sunday, April 27 in his own right, not a huge surprise considering the Pitchfork generation’s general distaste for anyone over the age of 50 who isn’t named Tom Waits.
Biggest names aside, this year’s Coachella lineup looks a lot like its predecessors, and history tells us that’s nothing to whine about. There are a handful of blast-from-the-past revivals (Portishead, The Verve, Love and Rockets, The Breeders, Spiritualized), well-chosen repeat performers (Kraftwerk, Justice, Fatboy Slim, Gogol Bordello, Hot Chip, Café Tacuba, M.I.A.) and literal hordes of promising first-timers (Vampire Weekend, Battles, Dan Deacon, Professor Murder, The Swell Season, Modeselektor, Cold War Kids, Pendulum, Islands, Akron/Family, The Streets, The Field, Les Savy Fav and Black Kids, to name just a few).
If you can’t stomach the thought of laying out $270 (plus fees) for a one-third Jack Johnson-headlined weekend, stay home. Plenty of us will be in Indio as usual, perhaps looking for JJ to thank him for carving out a little extra space for us to move around.