Yahoo! Music Review

Gig played on 26/05/08

Day two of Coachella kicks off with this year's token country artist, Dwight Yoakam (last year it was Willie Nelson), whose covers-heavy set includes Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire", Elvis Presley's "Little Sister" and Ricky Nelson's "Can't Please Everyone". Meanwhile, in the Sahara Tent, disco duo Hot Chip perform a note-perfect rendition of New Order's "Temptation". Reworking other acts songs soon becomes the theme of Saturday, in fact.

On the main stage, Death Cab For Cutie play a pleasant but underwhelming set, followed by Teutonic technoids Kraftwerk, whose usual amazing audiovisual spectacular is unfortunately lost in such a sprawling venue. M.I.A., in the Sahara Tent, is also a disappointment: After she invites eager fans onstage, technical difficulties ensue, and she subsequently loses her mojo, even forgetting the words to "Paper Planes". Punters then start streaming out of the tent - and when people leave in the middle of an artist's biggest single, that's a bad sign.

On the second stage, Mark Ronson's show is another show big on covers, featuring Kenna on the Ryan Adams ballad "Amy" and Radiohead's "Just"; The Rumble Strips' Charlie Waller doing Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black"; Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson stepping into Lily Allen's shoes for The Chiefs' "Oh My God"; Tim Burgess filling in for Robbie Williams on The Charlatans' own "The Only One I Know" and Klaxons' Jamie Reynolds doing The Smiths' "Stop Me" with Sam Sparro and Rhymefest.

Over on the main stage, the thrillingly reunited Portishead then emerge and as their noirish music screeches across the pitch-black desert field, the howl of the wind through the silhouetted palm trees blending with Beth Gibbons' own mournful howl, this is some heady, creepy and totally original stuff. Even so, today has all been leading up to the main event: PRINCE. Ever the diva, he emerges 20 minutes after his advertised set time, but all is forgiven once he declares: "Coachella, I am here!"

He then launches into a Prince and all-star friends extravaganza featuring special guests Time and Sheila E. Wow, what could be next? Cameos from Appollonia, Vanity, Wendy & Lisa or Sheena Easton, perhaps? Well, that doesn't happen - although Prince does play a Sheena-less version of "U Got The Look". He also cranks out "1999", "Controversy", "Little Red Corvette", "Cream", "Purple Rain", "Let's Go Crazy" and even the Chaka Khan-popularized "I Feel For You".

Not once does Prince ever seem jaded, even though he's performed these oldies umpteen times. However, he does play two entirely unexpected songs: The Beatles' "Come Together" and, even more astoundingly, Radiohead's "Creep". The latter is transformed into such a wonderful, Princely soul ballad, that if he were to ever record it, he'd surely have a monster hit on his hands. His set will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest concerts in Coachella history. It's unlikely even Sunday headliner Roger Waters, performing "Dark Side Of The Moon" in its entirety, will be able to top this...

by Lyndsey Parker