INDIO, Calif., â€" It’s nice to have a hobby â€" a job can be stressful, especially when you are good at doing it and it keeps the lights on.
For a musician to take on a second band as a relief from the first generally implies that the one on the side is both less complex and less taxing than the main gig. But even with that said, there will be expectations, pressure and opportunity from the start on any such project.
For one thing, if you are a famous and well-regarded talent in your own right, you get to skip the usual hazing period and secure your charming little side project a slot at Coachella, beating out all sorts of charming projects by people who are not otherwise famous.
Friday’s lineup was teeming with such line-jumpers, performing with various degrees of laurel-resting. Early in the day came the Shouting Matches, a shambolic blues-esque outfit whose sales pitch is that it includes Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. The group took almost a half-hour for sound check, and its set was almost as loose. Mr. Vernon, such a precise and processed singer in Bon Iver, was here far more at ease, pushing his vocals no harder than the amiable songs demanded.
Later, in the dance-centric Sahara tent, Dog Blood performed a loud but not thunderous set. It’s a collaborative project of Skrillex and Boys Noize, and does not quite live up to Skrillex’s typical punishment or Boys Noize’s characteristic exuberance.
Other side projects sprinkled throughout the day included Divine Fits, which features Britt Daniel of Spoon among others. The somewhat dolorous Deathfix included Brendan Canty, drummer for Fugazi. And late in the night, Nick Cave played with Grinderman, his reunited side band, looking pleasantly agitated.
At midnight, behind a scrim, How to Destroy Angels took the stage in the Mojave tent. A side project of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails â€" it also features his wife â€" it is a drowsy approximation of trip-hop, and is curiously inert, especially from someone so tactile and ferocious in his day job. Maybe he has nothing left to give.
