Kanye was running late. He was supposed to start at 10:00, now it was 10:25. Where is this guy? Doesn’t he know there are thousands of people waiting to see him perform? Of course, he is Kanye West and probably doesn’t care much about making people wait for him. Its building up anticipation, I’m sure he loves that. Of course the thousands in attendance, blistering from a hot weekend of constant music and desert heat, are probably less patient then me because I’m at home, watching Coachella from the comfort of my own bedroom.

I really wanted to go to Coachella and my first thought when I saw the lineup was, “Oh my God, Kanye headlining the last spot on the last day is going to be out of this world!” Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money for a ticket, or the travel expenses to get down to Southern California. Luckily, with the power of the Internet, I was presented with the second best thing. This year YouTube and Coachella worked together to stream the entire festival experience LIVE over the Internet. Coachella’s YouTube page featured three channels with provided timeslots of when each band was going to play. A viewer would be able to switch channel to channel and could pretend they’re Southern California for one of the biggest festivals in the country. It is obviously not the same experience as being there in person but it is still something worthwhile that I can witness some fantastic performances for free as it is actually happening.

Another addition to the YouTube page was a live Twitter feed of the event, commentary from around the world. A viewer, whether in person or over the web, could submit their own bit of commentary and add to the buzz. The feed popped when the lights went out and Kanye came out on a crane floating over the audience. The page was crowded with users begging for guest stars, Katy Perry or Rhianna or Kid Cudi or Jay-Z, but Kanye stayed pretty solo the whole set. This could be considered criticism but Kanye has such a larger than life persona and he shared the stage with a gallery of dancers, giving his show a theatrical feel.

When the concert ended, I closed the window, turned over, and went to bed. I did have to work in the morning.

My question is this: Is this going to be a regular in future of concert going? The possibility of being able to witness the concert experience from the safety of your own living room. Pitchfork did the same thing with LCD Soundsystem’s final show at Madison Square Garden. It was an event, tickets went fast, and most of us couldn’t make it to NYC anyways. LCD’s final show was a historic event, thanks to Pitchfork it wasn’t constricted to the people lucky enough to get tickets. Coachella was a whole festival, an entire weekend of music, three channels of different stages and moments of the weekend. With the strength of the Internet, the quality is comparable to watching a concert DVD, something most of us have done. The major difference being the stream is absolutely LIVE, the performance is happening right this second. We’re able to be a part of the live concert experience without having to actually be there.

Was talking to security guard at Austin City Limits and word is that Kayne is the special guest at the SxSW Showdown on Thursday – he’ll prob come on stage with Wu Tang Clan.  Or maybe with Erykah?

He’s also slated to perform on Saturday at midnight at Power Station, as told by Idolator, which has this cryptic weird video:

Goin to that ghetto university to have my songs performed by chamber musicians. BTW, another Fergie reference, who has a cameo on this tune.  Feel for her having her credit card declined. That’s rough.