Friday, April 29, 2005 | 8:38 a.m.
If you've been to a rock show, or even a cultural event such as First Friday, recently, odds are you've had one handed to you.
A flier, advertising the 2005 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, to be held this weekend at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, Calif.
In its first five years the event attracted plenty of Southern Nevada music fans, who found it well worth driving 3 1/2 hours to see acts such as Radiohead, Oasis, the Pixies, the Beastie Boys, Kraftwerk and Bjork, among hundreds of others.
But this year Coachella organizers have ramped up their promotional efforts in and around Las Vegas, recognizing it has become one of their top drawing areas.
"I treat Las Vegas like Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix. It's the local area," said Paul Tollett, president of concert promoter Goldenvoice and founder of Coachella. "I don't think of Los Angeles as any more local than Las Vegas. They're all about equidistant (to Indio)."
As it has since its first year, Goldenvoice ran Coachella print advertisement in several local publications. And this year promoters "went a little harder with our flier team out there," Tollett said.
"We get a good percentage, maybe as much as 10 percent, coming from that area," Tollett said, referring to Coachella's expected crowds of 50,000 on Saturday and Sunday. "It's a natural. Vegas is blowing up right now. All the California people are leaving to go there, so we need some of them to come back for the weekend."
Serious fans of independent rock, electronic and hip-hop music who haven't attended Coachella in the past ought to consider doing so this year.
The two-day lineup includes bands that rarely tour the United States (Gang of Four, Bauhaus), a group reuniting specifically for Coachella (Black Star) and dozens of acts that have never played Southern Nevada.
All told, the bill features 92 acts, scheduled to perform on five stages, two outdoors and two inside giant tents. The Empire Polo Fields are grassy, well maintained and -- cross your fingers -- expected to bask in ideal mid-80-degree daytime temperatures this weekend.
Admission is $81 per day or $152 for a two-day pass. Tickets remained available at press time, though finding a hotel or camp site at this late stage can be tricky.
Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails headline Saturday and Sunday, respectively, with the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy slated to close out nights one and two in the dance tent.
Hot acts heading in include British buzz band Bloc Party, Canadian indie-rock collective the Arcade Fire and Sri Lankan dancehall vocalist M.I.A.
This year's full schedule, as revealed this week by Tollett:
Saturday
Coachella Stage: Buck 65 1:55 p.m., the Raveonettes 3 p.m., Snow Patrol 6:35 p.m., Keane 5:30 p.m., Wilco 6:45 p.m., Weezer 8 p.m., Bauhaus 9:15 p.m., Coldplay 10:40 p.m.
Outdoor Theatre: Nic Armstrong and the Thieves 1:40 p.m., Jamie Cullum 2:50 p.m., Razorlight 5:10 p.m., Rilo Kiley 6:20 p.m., Cafe Tacuba 7:35 p.m., Sage Francis 8:45 p.m., Mercury Rev 9:50 p.m., Spoon 11 p.m.
Sahara Tent: Evil Nine 1:30 p.m., Peretz 3:15 p.m., DJ Marky 4:15 p.m., Tiga 5:15 p.m., UNKLE (James Levelle) 6:30 p.m., Josh Wink 7:45 p.m., Hernan Cattaneo 9 p.m., the Chemical Brothers 10:20 p.m.
Mojave Tent: The Sexy Machines 12:30 p.m., Gratitude 1:15 p.m., Ambulance LTD 3:35 p.m., the Kills 4:50 p.m., Stereophonixs 6:10 p.m., MF Doom 7:15 p.m., the Secret Machines 8:25 p.m., Bloc Party 9:30 p.m., Fantomas 10:40 p.m.
Gobi Tent: Boom Bip 12:30 p.m., Katie Melua 1:35 p.m., k-os 2:35 p.m., M83 3:40 p.m., Immortal Technique 4:55 p.m., Jean Grae 6:05 p.m., Swayzak 7:15 p.m., Four Tet 8:30 p.m., Amp Fiddler 9:45 p.m., Zap Mama 11 p.m.
Sunday
Coachella Stage: Gram Rabbit 1:40 p.m., the Perceptionists 2:50 p.m., Thrice 3:55 p.m., the Futureheads 5:05 p.m., Gang of Four 6:15 p.m., New Order 7:35 p.m., Nine Inch Nails 9 p.m., Black Star 10:40 p.m.
Outdoor Theatre: Shout Out Louds 1 p.m., Donavon Frankenreiter 2 p.m., Jem 3:05 p.m., the Fiery Furnaces 4:20 p.m., Tegan and Sara 5:30 p.m., the Arcade Fire 6:45 p.m., Aesop Rock 7:55 p.m., British Sea Power 8:55 p.m., the Faint 10 p.m., Bright Eyes 11:10 p.m.
Sahara Tent: DJ Jun 12:30 p.m., Diplo 2 p.m., Matthew Dear 3 p.m., Ben Watt 4:15 p.m., Miss Kittin 5:30 p.m., Junkie XL 6:45 p.m., Armin Van Buuren 8 p.m., Roni Size 9:15 p.m., Prodigy 10:30 p.m.
Mojave Tent: Goodbye Radar 11:50 a.m., Midlake 12:40 p.m., Sloan 1:35 p.m., Autolux 2:45 p.m., Kasabian 4 p.m., the Bravery 5:15 p.m., Roots Manuva 6:30 p.m., the Dresden Dolls 7:45 p.m., Pinback 8:55 p.m., the Blood Brothers 10 p.m., the Locust 10:10 p.m.
Gobi Tent: Zion I 1 p.m., Subtle 1:45 p.m., M.I.A. 4:10 p.m., Beans 5:25 p.m., Z-Trip 6:40 p.m., DJ Krush 7:40 p.m., Matmos 8:50 p.m., Wolf Eyes 10:05 p.m.
Music notes
Rough Reception: After fielding numerous calls, letters and e-mails from angry classical music listeners, Nevada Public Radio President and GM Lamar Marchese responded on the air over the weekend.
Marchese recorded two spots that ran during a pledge drive on KCNV 89.7-FM, detailing the station's recent difficulties in staying on the air and in maintaining a powerful broadcast signal.
"We figure honesty is the best policy. We can't pretend that these things didn't happen, because they certainly did," Marchese said. "It seemed that everything that could go wrong did. We were off the air several times, sometimes days at a time because of the ice and snow on Mount Potosi."
Although KCNV is back on the air, it and sister station, all-talk KNPR 88.9-FM, have experienced short dropouts in recent days, a problem Marchese said is still being researched.
Marchese stressed that KCNV and KNPR should experience no signal loss because of weather conditions next winter, as both are in the process of adding backup transmitters. KNPR will utilize a site on Black Mountain in Henderson. KCNV's backup site has not been finalized.
Hip hop haven: Legendary rapper KRS-One, the former leader of Boogie Down Productions, returns to Las Vegas on Saturday for a 7 p.m. show at the Roadhouse Casino (2100 N. Boulder Highway). Tickets are $14.
Also at the Roadhouse, underground MC Sage Francis is slated to perform at 7 p.m. Monday. The Rhode Island native was scheduled for Jillian's in March, but canceled hours before the show, citing transportation difficulties. Tickets are $12.
Quick hits: Hard-rock band Mudvayne plays an all-ages show at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay at 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $22 to $30 ...
Las Vegas' the Killers will be among the acts at this year's Lollapalooza Festival, a two-day event scheduled for July 23-24 at Chicago's Grant Park. Also on the lineup: the Pixies, Widespread Panic, Weezer and the recently reunited Dinosaur Jr. ...
All-girl rock quartet the Donnas will perform a free-to-the-public set at the Palms' Skin Pool Lounge at 5 p.m. Saturday, following the hotel's Volleypalooza fashion model volleyball tournament.
On sale
Rappers Eminem and 50 Cent team for an "Anger Management" tour stop July 24 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Tickets are $75, $103 and $153 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center, UNLVtickets outlets, by phone at 739-3267 and at www.unlvtickets.com.
Avril Lavigne plays The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel on Aug. 13. Tickets are $51 and go on sale at noon at the Hard Rock box office, at Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 and at www.ticketmaster.com.
Toots and the Maytals will headline the Reggae in the Desert Festival on June 18 at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater. Also slated to perform: Don Carlos, Tippa Irie and the Toasters. Tickets are $16 and are on sale now through Ticketmaster.
Anthrax storms the House of Blues on May 21. Tickets are $25 and $30 and are on sale now at the House of Blues box office and through Ticketmaster.
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