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Coachella 2009 Lineup: McCartney, Cure, Killers, Cohen, Morrissey

by Jarrett Martineau | January 30, 2009 at 12:23 pm

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The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival has announced its 2009 lineup, after various faked, leaked, and rumoured versions previously circulated online.

The huge festival, which draws an annual crowd of thousands to the Empire Polo Club fields in Indio, California, will be held will be held April 17-19, 2009. Check out the full lineup for Coachella 2009

Interestingly, many of the headlining acts for this year's festival are artists and bands whose influence and sound dates back to bygone eras of former glory. Coachella 2009 is seeking to simultaneously resurrect both the 1960s and the late 1980s with performances by Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, The Cure, and Morrissey.

But it doesn't stop there — the 80s inspired rockin' will continue with a reunion performance by My Bloody Valentine, as well as bands like X, Paul, Weller, and Throbbing Gristle

There are contemporary bands on the list as well, but even big name indie inclusions like The Killers, Fleet Foxes, Franz Ferdinand and ("the return" of) Amy Winehouse, suffer from an aesthetic nostalgia whose permutations permeate their 'new' material with decidedly older influences and sounds.

Coachella's deluxe redux of oddly retro moments in music history even includes a bizarre emphasis on late 90s electronica and hip-hop with performances scheduled by Thievery Corporation, Groove Armada, the Crystal Method, Public Enemy, Roni Size, and Felix da Housecat.

For more current and interesting sounds, however, the festival still has some room to appeal to newcomers and new bands. Blogosphere rock darlings like No Age, TV on the Radio, and Liars, are on board — as are experimental groups including Gang Gang Dance and Ariel Pink, as well as dancefloor-friendly acts including Crystal Castles, Glass Candy, MSTRKRFT, and the Ting Tings.

No matter how you evaluate this year's lineup, it sounds like a lot of things — but it's hard to understand it as anything unique to 2009 — unless this is simply a year to revive and relive the recent musical past.

The blogosphere is already buzzing with Coachella lineup discussions. Read the latest on Tumblr and Twitter.

What's your take on the 2009 Coachella lineup? Is this the sound of 2009?

Tickets are on sale as of this morning. Three-day weekend passes are going for $269, while single-day passes can be purchased for $99.

Behold, the 2009 Coachella lineup (so far):

Friday, April 17: Paul McCartney, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Beirut, The Black Keys, Girl Talk, Silversun Pickups, The Ting Tings, The Crystal Method, Ghostland Observatory, Crystal Castles, The Airborne Toxic Event, We Are Scientists, N.A.S.A., Patton & Rahzel, M. Ward, The Presets, The Hold Steady, A Place to Bury Strangers, Felix da Housecat, Buraka Som Sistema, Ryan Bingham, Bajofondo, Peanut Butter Wolf, Noah & the Whale, White Lies, The Bug, Alberta Cross, Los Campesinos!, Craze & Klever, Molotov, Switch, Gui Boratto, Steve Aoki, The Aggrolites, People Under the Stairs, The Courteeners, Cage the Elephant, Dear and the Headlights.

Saturday, April 18: The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Thievery Corporation, TV on the Radio, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, MSTRKRFT, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Atmosphere, Mastodon, TRAV$DJ-AM, Henry Rollins, Crookers, Turbonegro, Hercules and Love Affair, Superchunk, Glasvegas, Dr. Dog, Drive-By Truckers, Booker T & the DBT’s, Amanda Palmer, The Bloody Beetroots, Surkin, Para One (Live), Calexico, Liars, Bob Mould Band, Zane Lowe, Electric Touch, Blitzen Trapper, James Morrison, Drop the Lime, Glass Candy, Thenewno2, Gang Gang Dance, Billy Talent, Ida Maria, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Zizek, Cloud Cult, Tinariwen.

Sunday, April 19: The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Throbbing Gristle, Lupe Fiasco, Paul Weller, Peter Bjorn and John, X, Antony & the Johnsons, Roni Size, Public Enemy, Jenny Lewis, Groove Armada, Paolo Nutini, Christopher Lawrence, Lykke Li, The Kills, Okkervil River, M.A.N.D.Y., Clipse, Sebastien Tellier, Fucked Up, Perry Farrell, The Horrors, Late of the Pier, K’naan, Junior Boys, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Supermayer, No Age, Vivian Girls, Shepard Fairey, Themselves, Gaslight Anthem, The Knux, Mexican Institute of Sound, The Night Marchers, Marshall Barnes.

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Miriam Celia

at 15:07 on January 30th, 2009

Stars Performing at Coachella 2008, on the main stage.

Miriam Celia has contributed a photo to this story.

Robert Sutherland

at 15:48 on January 30th, 2009

All I can say is: MSTRKRFT!

dannatography

at 17:08 on January 30th, 2009

paul mccartney is rad. he's the closest thing i'll ever get to seeing the beatles. it's the best day out of the 3. but still, it's nothing TOO impressive. coachella has been on a consistent repeat marathon. it's starting to get a lil dull. but that's just my opinion.