Jagwar Ma’s Afternoon Delight

Jagwar Ma’s Afternoon Delight

Coachella 2014 - Jagwar Ma

Rock bands such as Afghan Whigs, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Title Fight drew paltry crowds to their various tent shows, while the Sahara Tent’s ceaseless stream of EDM artists was always busy. That’s not surprising; it’s pretty much a given that the key to success at music festivals is making people dance. Still, I was shocked to see the Gobi Tent packed out for Australian dance-rockers Jagwar Ma so early in the afternoon. Using a mixture of live instrumentation and sampling, they worked the teeming masses into a frenzy, and while they might have been cribbing directly from Primal Scream, I don’t remember the Primal Scream festival set I saw being anywhere near this much fun.