Stephen Malkmus Takes On Soundgarden at Coachella

Posted on Apr 27th 2008 11:00AM by Benjy Eisen
Comments

When Stephen Malkmus took to Coachella's Outside Theater on Day Two, he asked the crowd, perhaps rhetorically, if they planned on staying the whole weekend. "That's not how I roll," he said, "because I don't roll. But if I did, that's how I'd roll. I just use a bong."

Done with the puns but not the tomfoolery, Malkmus said he saw M.I.A. backstage "and she said to say, 'Hello.'" Malkmus and the Jicks' set was in the afternoon of a desert day that reached into the 100's. Making light of the heat, began singing Soundgarden's 'Black Hole Sun' a capella. "I would've played that song if we were over there," he said, pointing to the main stage where band's like Tool and Rage Against the Machine played in the past.

Ironically, the Cold War Kids had just finished a set on that stage, performing a new tune -- 'Every Man I Fought For' -- and bringing on a no-name friend of the band's to assist on percussion. It was a long way from Soundgarden.