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Florence and the Machine at Coachella 2010

Apr 19, 2010 By Laura Ferreiro Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern

The final day of the Coachella Festival ended spectacularly with stellar sets by Thom Yorke and Gorillaz, whose back-to-back performances delivered a knock-out blow at the end of what was an often grueling but rewarding three-day weekend.

Gorillaz, which began as a multimedia collaboration between Blur frontman Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, last night showcased a full string section, several back-up singers, and cameos by De La Soul and Bobby Womack, among others. The band no longer hid behind their cartoon-character projections as they once did during live performances, but stood front and center underneath an elaborate screen display.

The band kicked off with the opening track from their new album Plastic Beach, which featured an on-screen cameo by Snoop Dogg. Three giant screens behind the band projected cartoon images and Gorillaz’ videos to great effect. Albarn was joined by former members of The Clash, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, who impressively filled out the Gorillaz’ sound.

The band played a satisfying mix of new and old material, including crowd pleasers “Feel Good Inc” and “Dirty Harry,” with Albarn playing the part of the mad conductor who masterfully made all of the disparate elements come together.

Just beforehand, Thom Yorke delivered an equally thrilling but more challenging set with his new band Atoms For Peace. The Radiohead frontman proved once again that he is a musical genius, turning the fairly subdued songs from his solo album Eraser into propulsive, hypnotic grooves with help from his able band, which includes Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea on bass and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich on keyboards.

Yorke announced at the start of the set that he would play every song off of Eraser. Afterwards, the band played a couple of new tracks including “Judge, Jury and Executioner” before the band left the stage and Yorke delivered two Radiohead tunes—“Airbag” and “Everything In Its Right Place”—alone on acoustic guitar.

Earlier in the day, Florence and the Machine packed out the Gobi tent with people straining to catch a glimpse of the British songstress and escape the harsh afternoon sun. Wearing a flowing white tunic and gold shorts, Florence Welch belted out her tunes to the delight of the crowd. Cold War Kids’ frontman Nathan Willett took the stage for a duet of his band’s song “Hospital Beds.” “This is our first U.S. festival—thank you so much!” Welch gushed amidst the crowd’s thunderous applause.

Charlotte Gainsbourg‘s subsequent set seemed subdued and lackluster by comparison. The French chanteuse focused heavily on material from IRM, her recent Beck-produced album, and seemed to lose a lot of the audience to competing acts such as Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas who was performing in the tent next door.

Spoon proved to be the perfect band for relaxing or dancing on the lawn of the main stage as the sun went down. The Austin band played a no-nonsense set that featured several tunes from their latest album Transference as well as crowd-pleasers like “I Turn My Camera On” and “Don’t Make Me A Target.”