Shake and Bake

Outside the VIP section, among the commoners, the social order is breaking down at the portable toilets. The lines are getting long, smelly, aggressive. The spirit of Coachella is being sorely tested. Twenty-three-year-old Crystal looks terrified. "My brother said there weren't enough port-a-potties last year, so they started pushing them over," says the Salinas resident, who drove for 10 hours to see Weezer (and is not comfortable giving out her last name while in line for the toilet).

"I love Rivers," Crystal says of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. Now there's shoving. Cursing. Sweating. "Please don't leave my side," Crystal says. It isn't long before the "tip it over" chant starts.

And sometimes a music festival is just a music festival.

For most fans, Coachella is all about collecting, making lists, who you've seen, who you want to see, who you missed because you were standing in line for those awesome tacos. VIP tents aside, there is a genuine love of music here. Music writers can get jaded about the biz, but Coachella, despite displaying more cleavage than a Russ Meyer retrospective, restores faith in even the most cynical. The sound quality is pretty good considering all the different stages, and artists are accommodating with their set lists, showing off new bits but also closing with the hits.

In hindsight -- and using a program to help my weary brain -- I can see that Saturday had the better lineup of talent. But essentially I'll remember the weekend as a tasty blur of power chords and keyboard twirls, singalongs and shout-'em-outs.

So here's my collection, my lists:

Best Pure Moment of the Weekend: Coachella is a tightly run ship, with bands coming onstage and leaving exactly when the program says they will. But when her newfound fans started chanting "M.I.A.! M.I.A.!" at the close of her 50-minute set, the doe-eyed rapper (aka Maya Arulpragasm) returned for the weekend's rare encore. Never mind that she had worked through the entirety of her album and had nothing left to play. "I only have one album," she said by way of apology after messing around with the beat from Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'," "but I'll be back." That's for sure.

Bands I Can't Wait to See Again: As one of the festival's first acts, Nic Armstrong & the Thieves tore up the second stage with a Stonesian swagger and a surf-rock playfulness, a bunch of young, hunky Brits paying homage to the swinging sounds of the '60s.

Underground rap collective the Perceptionists -- MCs Mr. Lif and Akrobatik plus DJ Therapy -- unleashed their "black dialogue" on the big stage. The crowd grew as the set went on, indie kids asking "Who are these guys?" and sticking around for the answer.

Bands I Missed Because I Was Stalking Cameron Diaz: UNKLE, Stereophonics, MF Doom.

Bands Who Seemed Bored to Be There: Brit-pop trio Keane, family of folk-poppers Eisley.

Old Dudes Who Can Still Thrill the Kids: Punk progenitors Gang of Four, New Order.