Aside from being one of (if not) the best music festivals in the country, Coachella also has a history of showcasing fantastic art projects across the field. This year, they've teamed with the Creators Project to bring some of that artwork into the performances and turning the stages and tents themselves into installations. Last night's headliners did so in a big way — with Animal Collective playing a more melodic than bombastic neurological assault below three giant cubes displaying a series of visualizations called "Jumbletron" by Black Dice and later, Arcade Fire closing out the evening with a bunch of videos and a climactic finale of thousands of glowing LED balls spilling from a giant container hoisted well above the stage created by Chris Milk (who directed their immersive interactive "Wilderness Downtown" video). The lighted orbs bounced through the crowd and were controlled through infrared sensors, resulting in a breathtaking synchronized show during set-closer "Wake Up" and into the encore of "Ready to Start", "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)", and "Sprawl II".

It was a fantastic culmination of the second day of the festival; I'm heading in early to catch Portland's Menomena, scheduled unfortunately early-in-the-day. For now, some photos of those bands, plus the Radio Dept., Two Door Cinema Club, Cage the Elephant, Broken Social Scene, Mumford & Sons, Bright Eyes, and One Day as a Lion after the jump.

Parking: with a horrible sense of direction, lacking comprehension of the Indio street grid, and the various parking lot layouts I somehow spend so much time circling the venue that I wind up leaving my car seemingly miles from the venue and arrive so late that I miss ultra-favorites Foals and the Tallest Man On Earth, which was maybe the least effective way of deciding which of the cross-scheduled acts to watch.

the Radio Dept. : I think that their recordings are lush sonic masterpieces, but their performance is exactly as reserved as you'd expect from a bunch of shy sonic detail-obsessed Swedes.

Two Door Cinema Club felt like the breakout act of the day (or the "I'm out of touch with 'what the kids are listening to' act of the morning) with the tent barely able to contain the dancing kids spilling out from the bouncy, driving, upbeat Irish pop.

Dancing Robots @ the Creators Project

Cage the Elephant: brought wiry garage rock in a modest red dress, with frontman Mathew Shultz diving in and out of the crowd (and encouraging them to lick each other's faces for hydration) throughout the blistering afternoon set.

Broken Social Scene: are always reliable for the afternoon. It's kind of interesting how they're now just basically a bunch of cool dads who like to jam on their guitars.

Bright Eyes: Talking to friends, I think that you're either susceptible to Connor Oberst's quavery compositions or you aren't. I definitely am in the former camp and appreciated how well he and the band have committed to the festival set, bringing a ton of old (Fevers and Mirrors, even!) "hits" into the mix of material off of this year's occasionally splendid the People's Key.

One Day as a Lion: It turns out that Zack de la Rocha still has some rage regarding the machine.

Mumford and Sons: hearty banjo and stand-up bass accented foot-stompers leave me pondering whether British people can really be Americana and realize that if you take it back far enough it's all the same kind of folksy. Reflecting more on my hunger than their performance, this was the time in the day that I learn that even people in the VIP section are willing to wait in massive lines to dine from taco trucks. FWIW, Koji's was way more swamped than their competition.

Animal Collective played a more melodic set than the bombastic neurocircuitry remodeling light shows that I remember from their last tour, bookending some new material with "Can You See the Words" and "Summertime Clothes".

Arcade Fire: continue to make maximalist emotionalist rock anthems and seem bigger and better and more effective with every performance. It was amazing to see them playing their fourth Coachella with a triumphant, participatory, and uplifting headlining set from opening to aforementioned LED ball drop to Regine's ribbon-dancing finale. It's all fantastic enough enough that it offsets my eternal walk back to the parking lot and the inexplicable gridlock that follows it. On the way out, the crowds were dotted with people lucky enough to claim one of the inflatable orbs. Apparently they'll continue to flicker and interact with the even after they're dispersed across the world.