• Coachella, from the Grand Wheel (click to embiggen)

The only difference, which turned out to be kind of major, was outside even Paul Tollett's hands: the extreme contrast in weather between the two events. While weekend one opened with fans bundled in hastily-procured hoodies and rain gear, by the second time around temperatures soared above 100 degrees at the peak of each scorching day, dramatically shaping the character of the twin weekends.

Some photos from & a few quick thoughts on Weekend Two after the jump.

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California's Coachella Music and Arts Fest kicks off weekend number two today. Will Paris Hilton show up again? Or David Hasselhoff? Will Tupac rise from the dead, JUST ONE MORE TIME?

Most importantly, though: WHAT TO WEAR?! The fashion choices of adult humans really floored me last weekend. And unlike People of Walmart, these folks have great big buckets full of money to shop wherever they choose.

More photos after the jump! All were taken on the festival grounds last Saturday, April 14, 2012.

• Kelly O
• Gee, I wonder what his penis looks like?

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• Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg

The day also featured a infectiously theatrical early afternoon set by Santigold who performed with a pair of dancers, modern oompa loompaesque rhythm section, a stuffed horse, and a stage full of kids pulled up from the audience that included a couple of toddlers and maybe also recently "freed" Earl Sweatshirt. Wild Flag turned the midday temperature up even further for a modest but devoted audience; the Hives returned to Coachella after nine years with no noticeable dampening of energy or hilarious egomaniacal attitude; Goyte held a tent full of people hostage waiting to hear "Somebody That I Used to Know", the song that catapulted a twenty year career into overnight international success; the Weeknd spun drearily cinematic Noir & B to a massive crowd of kids who've never needed to pay a cent for one of his albums; and Florence + the Machine bewitched hordes of devotees. Seriously, with the flowing cape, barefoot dancing, and incantations, she might be one of the good ones, but I'm pretty sure that she is (or believes herself to be) some sort of mystical creature.

Returning from Beirut (my predictable, but always beloved festival favorite) to catch some of the fiery At the Drive In reunion, I wondered whether Justice had raptured the massive audience away to dance heaven with their glowing white cross. Either that, or maybe everyone sprinted over to catch the end of Girl Talk. I'd worried that the massive audience for the French DJs would leave no one to pile onto the Outdoor Stage to dance with Greg Gillis and his mixtape masterpieces, but he seemed to be doing just fine from the look of the confetti explosions from across the field.

Oh, and celebwatch. I'll have to try harder next weekend because I only managed to see two yesterday: HBO werewolf Joe Manganiello (who merited a dedication from At the Drive In) gamely posing for photos with fans between tweets and WB vampire Ian Somerhalder (BOONE!) trying to get some fries to go with Dre & Snoop's performance. The poutine wagon, though, was closed and neither of us were famous enough to convince them to throw one last batch in the fryer. Good stories, right?

A bunch of photos of bands and fans after the jump. As I said, I'll be returning next week to see how it looks and feels to photocopy an entire festival. While I expected to be a bit more exhausted, I have to say that as I was filing into the parking lot I was relieved that I'll get to do it all over again in a few days.

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• Radiohead

• the crowd for the Head and the Heart

Various observations: I was pleasantly surprised to see that Seattle's the Head and the Heart drew an impressive midday crowd (above).

Department of the Kids Are Alright: The lightly stoned kids in front of me wiping away so many secret silent tears during Jeff Mangum's set. Although this was my third time seeing him, I was right with those dudes. The previous Radiohead digression applies perhaps even more strongly here, particularly since Neutral Milk Hotel was long defunct by the time someone shoved In the Aeroplane Over the Sea into my hands. Although Jeff Mangum doesn't want to be photographed or have video recordings of himself made, he's seeming more and more relaxed with every performance, cajoling the audience to sing along, and asking everyone whether they're happy (they are) throughout the set. This show was maybe the first time in history that a crowd went wild with applause at the mere appearance of a French Horn player on stage. By the end, he'd called out a miniature Balkan-style band, complete with accordion, drum, and various muted horns to spectacularly close out the hour with "Two Headed Boy / Fool."

Other observations: St. Vincent has grown up from cheery Sufjan acolyte in to a dark eyed rock goddess. At one point, diving into the crowd to furiously sing not-yet-released "Crocodile". I love Bon Iver. His (their?) doubly self-titled album was one of my favorites of 2011. But I was pretty shocked when the massive audience went wild at just the opening chords of sleepy "Holocene". But still, it's an impressive graduation from his spinning platform guest spot last year at this time during Kanye West's epic festival showstopper. As much as I like him, I did leave early to make sure to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor for the very first time. There, I learned that it turns out that the thing that appeals to the fewest Coachella attendees is listening to a Canadian post-rock collective sitting in the dark while playing gloomy symphonies that conjure visions of dire survival after the apocalypse. There were some phenomenal moments, but staying for their whole performance was among the luxuries of knowing that I'll be back next week to catch the more upbeat likes of Miike Snow.

Similarly, the knowledge of repeating the festival made me more comfortable chilling out with Andrew Bird's golden hour set, laughing as devotees in the audience had the audacity to try whistling along, pondering whether any other living human musician is more suited to covering Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Being Green", and appreciating his hit-packed closing montage with a vision of nuclear-induced environmental collapse much sunnier than Godspeed's. I'll take snacks, dancing bears, and adderall over large barges and radio discharges any day.

More photos after the jump. I'm gearing up to head back for the final day of the first festival weekend where Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg will be closing out the festival. If you're not here, tune in to Coachella's incredible videography, which should streaming the hits all day.

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• Coachella

• PULP, Coachella Mainstage

In some sort of delusional ambition, I'm going to both Coachellas—this weekend's original recipe and next week's expected clonechella zombie apocalypse. As such, I'm trying to make each of them less hectic by checking out bigger chunks of sets rather than sprinting from stage to stage to see little bits of everything. Though it makes me feel supremely uncritical, like a fawning American Idol judge, pretty much I saw yesterday was top notch. Everyone's in it to win it, slaying the biggest fish, wanting to have it, killing it, etc.

That said: Pulp! Are an extremely good band, right? And have you heard that Jarvis Cocker is ridiculously charming? A thrower of poses, grapes, and banter. The recent reunitees brought all of this to the mainstage along with a pretty major laser and light show, holding everyone's attention through a lull through back catalog wanders until a triumphant "Common People" finale.

Also spectacular: the Rapture, back from the bloghaus era with just enough cowbell. It was nearly impossible to get anywhere near the tent (let alone the stage) where churned up an undeniable dance party that boiled over with "House of Jealous Lovers". M83: you already have your tickets to see them at the Paramount, right? This is the first time that I've managed to see them touring behind Midnight City and they're playing at a staggering level of cosmic.

I also enjoyed: the ever-reliable and increasingly strong (and very well attended) sets by world conquering Black Keys, seeing that Arctic Monkeys seem thoroughly over their dejected-with-fame era, and noticing that GIRLS have added a trio of hype-women soul-chorus backup singers to enliven their stage presence; the tortured vocals over optimistic post-rock discordance of WU LYF; and the return of Refused: still insistent after seventeen years, but now with a power-to-the-people in place of a world conquering agenda.

And finally, CelebWatch: spotted David Hasslehoff posing for every possible camera, hamming it up with fans; more excitingly, Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul (not pictured) all over the place.

A bunch of pictures from day one after the jump. Today looks sunnier, watch along on the Coachella YouTubes and let me know what I would be a fool to miss.

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