Day One Of Coachella 2015: AC/DC, Steely Dan, And Massive Caterpillar?

Coachella 2015 Day One is in the books, with typical heat, many welcome changes, and a massive caterpillar.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the first fans to arrive at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, for the Coachella festival were greeted to well-groom fields and a huge caterpillar.

The caterpillar is actually a sculpture, a tower-sized art piece titled “Papilio Miraculous” by Poetic Kinetics. People marveled at the size and beauty of the behemoth caterpillar. Coupled with the myriad of strange occurrences that usually happen at Coachella (Tupac via modern 3D technology on stage and the like), bets are now being taken to see if the Papilio Miraculous will transform into a butterfly.

A welcome and pleasant upgrade from previous Coachella festivals is the increasing number of permanent buildings in the Village. Included was a new craft beer building, many new vendor spaces, and newly created shade areas for the daytime fans to escape the sometimes high heat. The most welcome new structure are permanent bathrooms, which should help keep the grounds a bit cleaner.

These new structures join the Heineken House to celebrate beer, the Sephora tent for makeup touch-ups, a Samsung tent for smartphone updates, and a JBL tent for upgrading your sound system. The goal here is meant to keep Coachella festival goers busy and protected from the heat of the desert.

The Orange County Register is reporting that Coachella’s first day standout performers were many. Vic Mensa, earlier in the day, took to the main stage and gave an impressive, powerful performance, even with the weight of expectations of performing at Coachella and 90-degree heat bearing down on you. Next to the main stage was Queens street poet Action Bronson, back for his second go around at Coachella. His first appearance, back in 2013, was notable for his tossing vials of marijuana into the crowd. This year, however, backed by the strong critical and commercial performance of his Mr. Wonderful album, Bronson attacked the stage and gave a spirited performance. No vials were needed this year.

Artists ranging from Kimbra to Azealia Banks, British singer George Ezra, and the Reverend Horton Heat, among many others, had to take a back seat to the two old-timers, Steely Dan and AC/DC. Steely Dan, in front of an unsure crowd, soon won the younger fans with classics like “Hey 19,” “Aja,” and “Reelin’ The Years.” The closer, AC/DC, started with Angus Young coming onstage to close Coachella 2015 by riffing for a while, then joined onstage by Brian Johnson and the rest of the band broke into a newer song, “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be.” The band rounded out their two-hour set and Day One of the Coachella 2015 festival with “Back In Black,” “TNT,” and “Highway To Hell.” The show ended with “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You),” complete with fireworks and blasting cannons.

[Image courtesy of Zimbio]