Your top 5 performances from 2011

[Radiohead]

These are in no particular order:

PJ Harvey
Chemical Brothers
Duck Sauce
The Strokes
Robyn

[Zippy024]

Kanye West
Black Keys
DFA79
PJ Harvey
Duran Duran

Cold War Kids were pretty awesome too and I'm sad I passed out before Scissor Sisters came on.

[Justin170]

Arcade Fire
Trentemoller
Cut Copy
Sasha
Death From Above 1979

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

In this order:

1.Trentemoller
2. Scissor Sisters
3. Cut Copy
4. Robyn
5. The Swell Season
6. DFA 1979
7. Glasser
8. The Joy Formidable
9. Broken Social Scene
10. Cold Cave

[Bons222000]

my top 5 sets based on the order I saw them:

Nosaj Thing
The Chemical Brothers
Arcade Fire
Trentemoller
The Presets

honorable mention:

Brandon Flowers
Ratatat

[milos57]

The Chemical Brothers
Suede
Leftfield
The Presets
Yelle

[moustache]

LEFTFIELD
Aquabats
Animal Collective
Two Door Cinema Club
Chemical Brothers

[deftonepuma]

Presets
Yelle
Kele
Presets
Presets

[rollstar]

1. (tie) Arcade Fire / first half of Kanye West
2. DFA 1979 (the entire reason I went and didn't disappoint)
3. Kele (biggest surprise, really fun, ended with Flux)
4. The Strokes
5. CSS

No legendary, will-talk-about-for-years acts, which kinda puts it in perspective compared to the years past (there were no Prince/Daft Punk/Portishead blow your mind apart performances). And just a few complete disasters (Cee lo and Ariel Pink...). A very middle of the road-chella.

Since I was there for Portishead and Daft Punk and (bits of) Prince, I can categorically say that you mistaken about this years Coachella.

Chemical bros and Animal Co played legendary performances -- greater experiences than anything you reference. The legends are those who rather than leave a spectacle (Kanye) or perform well on the day (Strokes) actually take the crowd on a voyage -- create a world and experience that is more than a live musical performance. Chemical Bros current tour set is that -- it is a perfectly crafted production and is more of an experience than the Daft Punk 2006 show/2007 tour set. What Animal Co turned out on Saturday was incredible beyond words and defied every expectation I had -- sure I'm a fan but I've seen them before at Coachella where they didn't play what I thought was a great set. This year, they created something amazing, had me grinning throughout and I feel very fortunate to have been there.

[dorkfish]

1. Gayngs
2. Animal Collective
3. Lightning Bolt
4. Lil B
5. Tallest Man on Earth

[mag2005]

-Presets
-Caifanes
-Cut Copy
-Two Door Cinema Club
-Empire of the Sun

[travelfan]

Kanye West
Tallest Man on Earth
Erykah Badu
The Twelves
And frankly, I know this will make the purists cringe but from a dancing/having fun perspective I thought Chromeo was ridiculously great. If we're talking pure enjoyment I don't know if I've had that much fun at a set before.

But really this weekend was fantastic, there were only two sets I didn't enjoy during the entire event.

[sonnyboy11]

No order

London Suede
Elbow
Interpol
PJ Harvey
Duran Duran

[Porkchop]

Chemical Brothers
Sven Vath
Trentemoller
LEFTFIELD

and the PRESETS of course!
cut copy & empire of the sun win the honorable mention

[chiapet]

1. Trentemoller
2. Sasha
3. Suede
4. Leftfield
5. Scissor Sisters

I'm pretty much ready to just follow Anders around on tour.

[send me ctrpllrs]

1. Animal Collective
2. Arcade Fire
3. Cut Copy

I've now seen them 9, 5, and 4 times respectively and all were by far the best shows I've seen from them.

4. Trentemoller

Went to this having only heard one album a few times and hearing good things about their live show... but fuck this blew me away. Sounded so fantastic, it was beautiful to turn around and look at the sunset during one of the more ambient moments. Figured it would be good, but nowhere near as good as it was.

5. Leftfield

I didn't catch the whole thing, saw the beginning until 10:15, so about 30 minutes, but I was mesmerized. The crowd was awesome, the music even better. I had never heard anything from them, just knew it was a big deal they were playing. Really struggled to leave, but I had to meet friends for Kanye. Like to be in a big group to end the festival. Really wish I could have seen more, but I am so glad/thankful I saw what I did.

HM: Kanye, Chemical Brothers, DFA 1979, Titus Andronicus, OFWGKTA

[zircona1]

1. Chemical Brothers
2. Kanye
3. YACHT
4. Elbow
5. Duran Duran

[Fig Neutron]

Arcade Fire
The National
Jimmy Eat World
Sleigh Bells
Mumford and Sons

[Hawkings]

Arcade Fire
Suede
Black Keys
Duran Duran
Cage the Elephant for the great ending

HM: Strokes, Kanye, Broken Social Scene, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Sasha (thou the crowd was bro'ey)

Can't believe how i have so many mainstage acts on there...

[moviebruin]

(1) Chemical Brothers
(2) Arcade Fire
(3) Kanye West
(4) Trentemøller
(5) Empire of the Sun

[tral!]

Arcade Fire
The Aquabats
Death from Above 1979
Odd Future
The Swell Season

[chiapet]

I hope someone from GV is reading this thread and will just go ahead and decide to invite Trentemoller back to close out a tent next year.

[aphrael]

This is tough for me.

In no order -

- The Strokes
- Sasha
- The Black Keys
- Nas & Damian
- Kanye

Honorable mention - Arcade Fire, Lauryn Hill, The Twelves (they tore the Sahara Tent up), Shpongle (His stage setup was fucking awesome), Joy Formidable, OFF!, One Day As A Lion (could have been an easy top 5 if I could hear half the shit Zach said), The Chemical Brothers, Animal Collective ( I know some here didn't like it, but for me, at that moment, it was perfect).

I have so many honorable mentions because I had a really hard time picking a true top five and considered including all of these in there. So many good performances to choose from.

Who is in your top 5?

Trentemoeller.
Ratatat.
Mumford&Sons.
Scala&Kolacny Bros.
Chemical Bros.

[aphrael]

I hope someone from GV is reading this thread and will just go ahead and decide to invite Trentemoller back to close out a tent next year.

*YES* *THISTHISTHISTHISTHISTHIS*

[Timestretch]

Sphongle
Empire of the Sun
Magnetic Man
Arcade Fire
Sleigh Bells

[Somewhat Damaged]

1. Arcade Fire - this was my 6th time seeing them and it was basically the same set that I saw a few nights prior, but it was far and away the best performance of theirs I've ever seen. I get into this habit of ranking their shows about halfway through and this time, there was no hesitation that this was the very best within 3 songs. The Creators Project collaboration was only the cherry on top. Their energy & song selection made it seem like they felt they had something to prove and dispel any question that they're a headliner-worthy act. This will give the Portishead shows a tough contest for best of the year.

2. Trentemoller - I didn't even totally familiarize myself with Into the Great Wide Yonder but I had grand expectations based off the video for "Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go!" The band was fantastic and had the crowd in the palm of their hands, with everybody dancing. Seriously impressive and just one of the many acts setting Coachella apart from every other festival.

3. Robyn - I saw her in November and was thrilled to not only have a total dance party with all my friends, but to see the set evolve from what she was doing (which was already terrific) a few months ago. She was good enough that I didn't regret missing Sasha, who I've been looking forward to for a long time and who I knew was going to be amazing (and reportedly was). My only wish is that she had traded out "We Dance to the Beat"/"Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do" with either "Dancehall Queen" or "None of Dem."

4. Foals - I left the Tallest Man on Earth after 20 minutes because I knew I was going to have more fun at Foals, and boy was I right. Their set just seemed like a star-maker, like this is going to propel them to greater popularity like Arcade Fire's set in '05 did. I'm not always the biggest fan of slow songs at festivals (which is weird because the slow songs are the ones I like most when I'm listening to an album at home/in the car) but the build on "Spanish Sahara" was almost masterful. I cannot wait to see them again and wouldn't be surprised if they were one of the repeat acts next year with a prime slot on either the main stage or Outdoor Theatre.

5. PJ Harvey - she sounded terrific, she busted out a lot of her older material, and at the end, she demonstrated she can still rock with the best of them. "All and Everyone" and/or "The Whores Hustle and Hustlers Whore" could have elevated this to a higher slot but Ms. Harvey was the perfect act to end my weekend.

[concertgoer]

1. Kanye
2. Arcade Fire
3a. BAD
3b.Cut Copy
5. Duran Duran

[weeklymix]

1. Elbow
2. Duran Duran
3. Death From Above 1979
4. Foals
5. !!!

Honorable Mentions: The Strokes, Titus Andronicus, Cut Copy, Caifanes and the fact that logistics this year was impeccable compared to 2010.

I might come back and edit this post to explain later. !!! gets my #5 over any of the honorable mentions because what they came out and did at 2 in the afternoon in that heat was fucking amazing.

[cperkins9027]

1. Chemical Brothers
2. Tame Impala
3. Black Keys
4. Fedde le Grande
5. Duck Sauce

[brotherbear]

1. Arcade Fire
2. The National
3. The Strokes
4. Tame Impala
5. Two Door Cinema Club