BMI will be at the 2008 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, blogging and posting daily photos. Check back here for the latest at Coachella.

BMI @ Coachella, Day 3 - Sun, Apr 27

It’s 12:15 on yet another hot, hot day in the desert and I’m standing in the Gobi tent awaiting Brett Dennen to grace the stage. There are other fans laying and sitting on the grass in an attempt to stay cool… so many music lovers here sharing space under this tent who’ve traveled for many miles including the couple directly in front of me who are here from Australia. A few minutes later Brett makes his way to the stage and gives us 45 solid minutes of music that provided a perfect blend of strong vocals which complimented every strum of his guitar. That performance was a great way to start my Sunday.

Up next was Duffy at the Mojave tent. I make my way through the crowds of people and realize I have some time to spare so I decide to take in some of the art featured at Coachella.  I took in the sites of the Bamboo waves, Big Rig Jig and The Do Lab then make my way to see Duffy. Duffy makes her way to the stage and opens up with a huge thank you to the crowd for packing in the tent. She began her soulful set with her backing band playing right in rhythm with her groove. Her soulful melodies had me thinking I must have traveled back in time to the days of do wop. She dismissed the band for one song and sung her acoustic tune with her guitar player then asked the crowd to dance with her on her next song with backing band if full force. Everyone united, moved to the music under the Mojave tent for the remainder of her set. As I made my way out to grab some H20 to prevent myself from dehydrating, I run into BMI’s own PINK who apparently is a huge Duffy fan too.

Back from the water break and staking my spot mid stage for Spiritualized.. What immediately caught my attention were the musicians in the background setting up for the performance. These musicians included a few violin players and a cello player. The word is that this performance is said to be one of Spiritualized last acoustic sets. I was very excited. In walks Jason Pierce onto the stage, takes his seat and the performance begins however, technical difficulties kick in and the crowd remains in place highly anticipating a wonderful performance. After the engineer remedies the issue, the acoustic performance continues without a hitch and Spiritualized brings the crowd back to life and all is good with the world again.

My Morning Jacket and Roger Waters are next on the agenda, both performances taking place at the Coachella MAIN stage. Prior to My Morning Jacket, Sean Penn appears on the stage and reminds everyone about the importance if voting and encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote. So we segue from rocking our vote to our American Rock band hitting the stage with an intense energy that rally’s everyone back into celebratory mode which creates waves of bodies moving in the crowd.

I have to admit that there is nothing like the sounds of guitar riffs in the middle of the desert as the sun sets in the background....

~Marlene Meraz~

BMI @ Coachella, Day 2 - Sat, Apr 26

My first experience at Coachella…

This year was the first year we sponsored Spin’s artist lounge at Coachella, which was one of the many party scenes surrounding the festival itself.  I had the opportunity to avoid the sweltering heat of the festival and hang out poolside with some of the hottest band members, watch performances by American Bang and others and chatted with the members of Black Lips who were getting ready for three gigs over that weekend.

Artist, industry VIP’s and a few lucky folks hung poolside and were treated to sky vodka fusion drinks, treats from the gifting lounge such as: sneakers, jeans, bikinis and lots more… The items most highly in demand however, were the BMI’s mini mist fans and sun block, which allowed the hipster crowd to keep their cool.  Spin’s attendees also enjoyed some shade wearing our BMI cowboy hats.

Co-sponsoring an artist lounge….a difficult task you might ask?..… NOT! 
Not when it involves listening to cool sounds being played by the DJ, taking part of the artist gifting lounges and making sure that all my efforts focused on maximizing BMI’s presence to highly talented and influential clientele and an occasional break in the shade …what a successful challenge it was ;)

On another note…
I was able to stop by the festival that evening and enjoyed performances by Death Cab For Cutie, Mark Ronson, Rio Kiley and my personal favorite Prince.

Not a bad first experience…

~Candi Shand~

BMI @ Coachella, Day 1 - Fri, Apr 25

95 plus degree desert heat did not stop the slew of music lovers arriving in droves set forth to enjoy this weekend’s music festival.

I head out the door highly anticipating what would be in store.

After hanging out at the Spin artist lounge and making a few rounds at other events, I make my way to the festival. So many options, sights and sounds to capture…

So there’s a bunch of bands playing with palm trees and a setting sun behind them.
We must be at Coachella!!!!

It’s been a hot but cool day, if you know what I mean.

It kicked off for us with a couple of French DJs. First up was Sebastian who was on fire, mixing up some typically Gallic raw disco beats with some choice mash-ups including Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’, amongst others. The Sahara tent duly rocked!

Next up was Sebastian’s label mate and Justice co-hort Busy P.
Kicking off with The Buggles ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ it was not surprisingly a pretty eclectic set with a fair smattering of funky beats.

Friday is always the quieter day at Coachella but there were plenty of folks in the Gobi tent to witness Battles whip up a storm with some tight, post-punk/funk jams. A cracking set.

Another DJ, Dan Deacon, followed and proceeded to play his raucous, frenetic set off the stage and in the crowd. Must have seemed a good idea at the time but it wasn’t long before he was asking the crowd to step back a bit. I’ve no idea if he survived the full set.

Time for a rest in the shade....

In the meantime, The Breeders by all accounts kept the faithful very happy while latest faves Vampire Weekend played a somewhat subdued set.

Far more dynamic was the vocal gymnastics and engaging rhythms of UK duo Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip. Throw in a little spoken word, gritty storytelling and a fair chunk of humor and you have a set that must have won them a bunch of new fans.

Fellow Brit Goldfrapp sauntered onto the stage in a pink dress and straight into a set artfully mixing folk, pop, classical and dance. The combination thrilled the packed tent and marked her as a global artist of unique distinction.

After the sun finally set, it was Santogold’s turn to light up the festival with her amazing blend of electro, dancehall and hip hop. Stylish yet unpretentious, she had the crowd under her spell and loving every minute right up to the finale of her hit ‘Creator’.
At the same time, the reformed The Verve treated the main stage crowd to a welcome greatest hits performance that showed they’d lost none of their swagger. Their big, big songs were totally at home in the big field of Coachella.
But even they couldn’t match the unbridled energy that erupted from the Sahara stage as UK drum and bass crew Pendulum played their debut US show. Monumental beats, searing guitar riffs and a neat mix of vocals and MCing give their songs huge crossover potential and the packed tent was proof that they are well on their way to proving it.

Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend so far.

~Nick Robinson~

BMI at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

BMI will participate once again at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, a three-day cultural mecca featuring an eclectic hodgepodge of musical genres, including alternative, rock, hip-hop and electronica, as well as visual candy including large sculptural art. The event is held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio California from April 25-27, 2008.

This year, BMI partnered with SPIN.COM as a co-sponsor of Spin’s artist lounge. The Spin house will open its doors to artists who want to cool off by the pool with DJ-spun tunes and cold drinks.

Event photos and on-location diary updates from Coachella and the exclusive Spin artist lounge will soon follow here, at BMI’s online Coachella home.