Started from the bottom now he's here. Headlining Coachella.

I was looking forward to Drake’s set as much as any other act this whole weekend. He has the charisma, the catalog of hits, and the abilities as both a rapper and singer to reach the entire audience. He is at the top of the game right now with only Kanye and Kendrick ahead of him (as much as I love Killer Mike, he's just not there in terms of reach). Putting Drake as THE headliner of Coachella was a huge gamble, but an epic performance could have catapulted Drake up in the discussion as the best rapper instead of the third guy.

Standing with all my friends on the Coachella grounds with tens and tens of thousands of people around us, surrounded by speakers, clouds of smoke, and giddiness, the energy was palpable. Drake had the crowd in the palm of his hand as it was not only one of the biggest crowds of the whole weekend, but everyone was dancing and singing along to warmup tracks like “Lose Yourself,” and “N****s in Paris,” getting hyped to dance and sing along to so many of Drake's great songs. But then we waited. Drake gets on stage 25 minutes late and comes out so soft. No bangers, nothing to get the crowd into it, just a subdued malaise. If he had started the show off with "Started from the Bottom," the whole crowd would have immediately been invested and going wild. Instead, eight songs in my group of friends sadly asked if they could go see another group because they were so disappointed.

Not only that, he was barely even singing (certainly not hitting the notes) any of his parts and he had backing vocals (of himself) on a lot of his tracks. The whole crowd looked a bit shell-shocked. THEN he brings out Madonna (which will be laughed and poked at by every rapper), they weirdly make out, and then she performs some of her own stuff. The whole experience was surreal…and terrible. The one and only rule for acts playing at festivals: PLAY THE HITS. We''ll see you on tour if we want to hear "Preach."

Back on a positive note, the rest of the day was thoroughly enjoyable. I spent the most time of my Coachella career in the Sahara tent, dancing and frolicking with my friends to a number of different EDM acts, including Madeon, RAC, Martin Solveig, and Kaskade. As pictured above, the Sahara tent is like getting showered with lights in a cave. Visually, it’s astounding. I came to a bit of a realization that I had to open myself up a bit musically to hang with my friends from EDM act to act, but I'm glad I did it because I had a great time being with them.

On the indie side, I got to see a bit of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Fitz and the Tantrums, but unfortunately missed Florence and the Machine. Annie Clark from St. Vincent is a real performer, one I couldn’t take my eyes off of. She’s a beauty and shreds the guitar!

I'm going to post my favorite photos from Coachella tomorrow!

2013 was both a testament to the staying power and creativity of established artists and bands (Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, Kanye, Arcade Fire) and an explosion of new artists (Haim, Chvrches, Jagwar Ma, Lorde, A$AP Rocky, Jake Bugg, and St. Lucia, to name some) who, despite the trending emphasis on singles, created phenomenal albums of substance, pace, and ingenuity.

First, lets start with the veterans since two of them took the #1 and #2 spots. I wrote at length about my love of Arctic Monkey’s as well as their amazing album, AM. But what impresses me the most - and why I ultimately chose them ahead of Vampire Weekend - is that they could make an album like this on their FIFTH album.

Coachella - Day 3 Recap

Top 25 Albums of 2013