Roky Erikson & The Explosives - Good old fashioned Rock-n-Roll by a legend of the psychedelic scene. Erikson ripped through some of his solo classics, some of his 13th Floor & The Elevators back catalog, some Aliens, as well as some new numbers by his reunited band the Explosives. I was really impressed by how great Erikson's voice and guitar sounded after so many years of being mentally unstable. Guess the doc's got him sorted out because he rocked the small tent stage.

Travis - I always felt like Travis got the short-end of the stick in America. They are a great britpop band (on the mature themed end) that always gets eclipsed by Radiohead. I've been wanting to see them for years and was expecting a rather sedate show based on many of their albums. However in the live setting Travis are as energetic and fun as the best of the classic 90's britpop bands. Their bassist is a study in cool, the singer belts out the lyrics with real passion, and their guitarist is a total rocker from the Steve Diggle school of Who-inspired guitar theatrics. In fact the guitarist was so rocking that he climbed a huge tower of speakers and jumped off it whilst playing ripping solo. I didn't see that coming from the band that recorded "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?".

The Decemberists - I watched four songs just to prove to myself that yes indeed they really do suck.

Took a rather long dinner break since the 105 degree heat was taking its toll and the bands playing weren't that great.

Busy P & DJ Mehdi - Went over to the Techno tent after dinner and caught the last 20 minutes of this French DJ duo. Not bad but not really technically impressive either. The highlight was a really cool techno'd up version of RATM's "Killing In The Name Of".

Justice - Got a good spot for the first live show ever by Justice, a super-hyped group from France that are supposed to be the new Underworld. This set was supposed to be a real big deal in the electronic music world so how could I justify missing it? I'm glad I didn't. While Justice are no Underworld they did put on a really awesome set of original dance music. These days electronica is ruled by glorified djs so it was really refreshing to see a couple of guys making original dance music - especially since it had an industrial tinge to it that made for some truly sick bass-lines.

Gotan Project - A French-Argentinian group that does trip-hop style Tango/Parisian Accordian inspired songs. I heard their live shows were something special and I liked their music so I got a good spot for these guys. I was expecting a couple of DJs and a singer. What I got was a big group of mulit-instrumentalists (including a string section and grand piano) backed by two DJs and a female singer. They had very cool films running behind them and they all wore white suits. Very classy and memorable performance.

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen - The second stage was way behind schedule and the festival had a midnight curfew. It was 20 of 12 and GBQ still weren't on stage. Techno was bleeding over from the main stage. Things were looking grim. Then Damon Albarn and his boys (including Paul Simonon from the Clash) took the stage in dapper suits and hats. From the get-go it was obvious that Albarn was hell-bent for leather to play their entire album from start to finish the festival gods and town of Indio be damned. GBQ launched into their set with fervor and the crowd loved it. Albarn took a jab at Tiesto on the main stage by saying that there was a very loud ice cream truck out there. Then Albarn took to his piano and a blast of desert wind picked up. After a day of 105 degree heat the night wind was eerie and the palm trees were swaying like mad. Albarn looked up at the GBQ banner flapping aorund and whispered "looks like a winds coming". From that point on GBQ and the audience became one. I love this band, project whatever you want to call it. They are a classy bunch of mouther-fuckers. Albarn closed out the night a good 40 minutes over curfew by counting down with the crowd from 5 over the band wailing away on their insturments "5,4,3,2,1 - Stop!"

Summary of Day Two - Not too shabby for the "weak line-up day"