According to Billboard.com, “Prince will make what is believed to be his first U.S. festival appearance ever at Coachella later this month.” (link) Coachella announced yesterday that Prince will be headlining the festival’s Saturday lineup as the final performer on April 26th. I guess previous “headliner” Portishead just wasn’t driving ticket sales the way Coachella had hoped they would.
I think this is a pretty huge get for the 2008 Coachella music festival, who’s lineup The Blot thought was pretty disappointing when originally announced. Jack Johnson and Roger Waters as the weekend’s headliners just don’t really do anything for me, and I can’t imagine it really excited the music festival's core audience of 18-35 year olds the way they had hoped it would. Prince on the other hand is a huge name who doesn’t tour that often but is still held in high regard by the masses. Here’s hoping he busts out a few classics as he fills the California air with his mix of rock, funk, R&B and jazz.
I had the pleasure of seeing Prince perform for the first time in 2004 and to this day I still say it was the best concert I’ve ever been to. But, he only played his hits, which he is typically averse to doing, so that might have had something to do with the show’s greatness. Regardless, if you’ve never seen the Prince of Paisley Park in concert I highly recommend doing so, the guy can jam for hours.