Coachella 2008

Actor Sean Penn made a pitch for social activism during a brief spoken-word interlude.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Bebban Stenborg, left, Adam Olenius and Carl von Arbin of the Swedish band Shout Out Louds perform on the Coachella main stage Sunday.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Shoegazing favorites Swervedriver and lead singer Adam Franklin led a raucous set in the Mojave Tent.  (Michael Buckner/ Getty Images)

Jason Pierce and Spiritualized followed Swervedriver in the Mojave Tent.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

Festival-goers crowd the stage during a performance by the New York punk band Gogol Bordello on Sunday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Gogol Bordello frontman Eugene Hutz works the crowd from the festival’s main stage.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Sergey Ryabtsev of Gogol Bordello gestures to the crowd.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The crowd holds Gogol Bordello drummer aloft during Sunday’s Main Stage set.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

An audience member goes crowd-surfing during Gogol Bordello’s set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello whips up the crowd during the 2008 Coachella Music & Arts Festival, which boasted record heat this time around.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A silvery Emily Haines of Metric led an energetic set by the Canadian indie rock band.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Metric attracted a sizable crowd to the Outdoor Theater stage.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

My Morning Jacket, with lead singer and guitarist Jim James, performed before Roger Waters on the main stage Sunday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Jim James of My Morning Jacket donned KISS-like boots for his band’s Main Stage set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Daniel Ash of Love and Rockets performs on the Outdoor Theater stage.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

The “Bubblemen” joined Love and Rockets’ set, which culminated in a pillow fight.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Just like old times: A giant inflatable pig floats above the Coachella crowd.  (Karl Walter / Getty Images)

Former Pink Floyd bassist and songwriter Roger Waters performed his former band’s masterpiece “Dark Side of the Moon” on the main stage.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

West Coast underground rapper Murs was one of the few representatives of hip-hop at Coachella.  (Michael Buckner /Getty Images)

The electrofunk duo Chromeo, made up of Patrick Gemayel, left, and David Macklovitch, performs Sunday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The Canadian indie-rock band Black Mountain performed one of the weekend’s final sets in the Mojave Tent.  (Michael Buckner / Getty Images)

The French electronic-music duo Justice closed out the Coachella weekend.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Fans pack the front of the stage during Justice’s Coachella-closing performance.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A dance circle develops in the Do Lab along the Coachella midway.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A couple enjoys a moment outside Chromeo’s Sahara Tent set.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Day Two

Prince took the stage just after 11 o’clock on Saturday.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Prince lays into his guitar on the Main Stage.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Festival-goers seek comfort from the heat at one of the misting machines along the midway.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A mister attracts a crowd of dancers on Saturday.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Temperatures topped the 100-degree mark on Saturday.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Mick Jones and Tony James lead their project Carbon/Silicon through an early day set in the Gobi Tent.  (Karl Walter / Getty Images)

Devotchka performed on the Outdoor Theater stage backed by acrobats.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

Festival-goers seek relief from the heat.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Matt Maust, left, and Nathan Willett from the band Cold War Kids.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Ben Goldwasser leads MGMT through a crowded Mojave Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Stephen Malkmus gestures at the crowd from the stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Former Sleater Kinney drummer Janet Weiss backs Stephen Malkmus on the Outdoor Theatre stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Dwight Yoakam’s set offered a preview of the following week’s country-themed Stagecoach festival.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

Music fans clamor for cooling mist on the festival grounds.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Ruben Albarran of Cafe Tacuba goes airborne from the Main Stage.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

M.I.A. goes into the crowd at the Sahara Tent, where things teetered on the edge of getting out of hand for festival-goers.

Read more on Soundboard  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

M.I.A. whipped the Sahara Tent into a frenzy.  (Steve C. Mitchell / EPA)

Mark Ronson on the Outdoor Theater stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Lights reach for the sky during Mark Ronson’s performance.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A festival-goer crowd surfs during Flogging Molly’s set.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The L.A. band Flogging Molly offered an energetic set of celtic punk at the Outdoor Theater stage  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Beth Gibbons of Portishead led a dark, atmospheric set.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Portishead’s Geoff Barrow gets lost in the haze.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Morris Day leads the Minneapolis funk band the Time through its paces during Prince’s set.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Prince greets his public in Saturday’s headlining set.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Prince exults in the cheers from the Coachella crowd.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

DAY ONE: FRIDAY

A security staffer pats down a festival-goer outside the Empire Polo Club venue for the ninth annual festival.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

The crowd celebrates as the Coachella festival begins.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

DJ Mehdi gets Coachella started with Friday’s first set in the Sahara Tent.  (Charley Gallay / Getty Images)

Erika Oliveria and other festival-goers take a break from temperatures that approached 100 degrees.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Lucent Dossier sprays the crowd during a show on the Coachella midway.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Fans packed into one of the festival’s three tent performance spaces.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Australia’s Midnight Juggernauts perform in the Sahara Tent.  (Charley Gallay / Getty Images)

Mike Ross’ “Big Rig Jig” was among the festival’s many art exhibits.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Dan Deacon leads a freewheeling DJ set on Coachella’s first day.  (Karl Walter / Getty Images)

Concert-goers take in the music  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Jens Lekman performs at the Mojave Tent  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Strings contributed to Jens Lekman’s late afternoon set.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

A festival-goer seeks a break from the heat.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A festival-goer struggles to keep his energy up in the Indio heat.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Vampire Weekend performs a jaunty set of ska-rock on the Outdoor Theater stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend rocks with ‘80s sunglasses.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Tegan and Sara perform on the main stage.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Festival-goers take a break on the grass.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The Breeders perform on the main stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Kelly Deal of the Breeders belts it out in the midday sun.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Festival-goers crowd the fence line to get a closer look at the stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Fans take in the Breeders from the main stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Festival-goers capture their own Coachella moment.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Goldfrapp’s Alison Goldfrapp acknowledges the crowd in the Mojave Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Brazilian Fernanoia Stumpf puts on a show.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Festival-goers get a bird’s-eye view from the Steampunk Treehouse, one of the many art installations on the Coachella midway.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Canada’s Juma La Faive, 22, exults in front of the Steampunk Treehouse.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Matt Berninger of The National leads his band through noirish indie rock.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

The hotly buzzed Santogold onstage in the Gobi Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Jack White of the Raconteurs performs on the main stage.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Fans capture whatever Coachella moments they can on their cameras and cell phones.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings performed high-energy soul.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings rock the Mojave Tent.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

System of a Down’s Serj Tankian performed songs from his solo album.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Serj Tankian works the Outdoor Theater’s crowd.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Lasers lit up the sky for the Verve’s Main Stage set.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Richard Ashcroft led the Verve through past hits.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Fatboy Slim lit up the Sahara Tent with big beats and spinning lasers.  (Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Jack Johnson closed out the Main Stage’s performances Friday night.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)