Coachella countdown – The Knux & other Top Picks for the festival's final day!

April 17, 1:36 PMPop Culture ExaminerDominic Patten

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Saving the best for last might be an almost unmentionable cliché, but when it comes to this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival it happens to be true. Yes, Day One has M. Ward, Leonard Cohen, Ting Tings, Girl Talk, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand and former Beatle Paul McCartney. Yes, April 18, Day Two has TV on the Radio, Henry Rollins, Drive-By Trucker - both playing their own set and backing up the truly legendary Booker T -, Turbonegro, Atmosphere, Band of Horses, Thievery Corporation, M.I.A. and The Killers. Half of those line-ups on either day make up more talent than most festivals ever even get close to but Sunday April 19th packs in some serious firepower.

Click here for Turbonegro, Atmosphere & more Top Picks for Day Two of Coachella 2009

Want the full line-up for Coachella weekend and all the set times? Click right here

Click here for Morrissey and the Top Picks for Day One of Coachella 2009

The Cure is headlining Day Three of Coachella 2009. The Eighties Goths are still sad, still dressed in black and still crafting disarmingly honed tunes, but the real heat, as well as Paul Weller, Perry Farrell, and Public Enemy, all of whom you have to see live at least once before you die, comes before Robert Smith even steps onstage. You'll hear what I mean.

Day Three - Sunday - April 19

Vivian Girls - Once you see this Brooklyn trio you might find yourself repeating the sentiment of then critic Jon Landau when said of the Boss back in 1974, "I have seen the future of rock'n'roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Think that I might be exaggerating, listen to their 2008 single "Wild Eyes." Better yet, see them at Coachella. (Mojave Stage, 12:45 - 1:30PM)

The Knux - Krispy Kream Lindsey and his brother Alvin party hard and play their New Orleans via LA hip hop even harder.  Lewd and almost too talented, if that's possible, for their own good, the Knux are very serious about not seeming to take themselves too seriously, and hip hop and Coachella are all the better for it.  (Coachella Stage 1:35-2:20PM)

For more on The Knux and why their record Remind Me in Three Days was one of our Best of Albums of 2008, click here

Shepard Fairey - Raised on the DIY attitude of punk rock, the artist and entrepreneur was also the one who created the defining image of Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign. An image so of its time that, even though the Associated Press are in dispute with him over the original photography his HOPE poster was based on, Fairey's creation is already in the National Portrait Gallery. Imagine you got to see Andy Warhol at The Factory during the height of his influence in the Sixties - that's why you gotta see Shepard Fairey at Coachella (Sahara Stage 2:15- 3:15PM)

For more on Shepard Fairey, including his recent arrest in Boston, click here

Anthony and the Johnsons - He has one of the most moving and expressive voices in the world - a black clothed angel. If that isn't enough, Lou Reed has liked Anthony for years and the Street Poet of the New York Underground rarely likes anyone for long. (Outdoor Theatre 5:25 - 6:15PM)

Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - It's hard to imagine seeing Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase playing while the sun is still out - they just seem such a downtown NYC kind of band. It's hard but, as the band that constantly defies expectations, not impossible and the ever changing Yeahs are always worth the effort, more than worth it (Coachella Stage 6:15 - 7:15PM) 

X - Sorry Germs fans, but Darby Crash didn't front the best punk band to come out of LA in the 1980s, John Doe and Exene Cervena did. Joined by Billy Zoom on guitar and DJ Bronebake on drums, the duo had the riffs that reached far back into American music as they clasped forward. And then there were the Raymond Chandler and Charles Bukowski lyrics that told the story of the City of Angels. They were poetry you could pogo to then, and, after taking a few years to go their separate ways, X are actually even more so now. (Mojave Stage 6:30 - 7:20PM)

Click here to see to see classic X live on YouTube

My Bloody Valentine - back in the early 1990s, Kevin Shields and gang created and cranked up some of the most experimental and loudest music this side of Can procreating with Black Sabbath and getting remixed in the vein of Lou Reed's Meal Machine Music. Then MBV got lost in the studio and eventually sorta slipped away, with Shields popping up playing with Primal Scream and vague notions of unreleased material that one day might see the light of day. Other bands like Japan's Boris have waved the flag, but since 2007 MBV have reunited and while they didn't play last year's Coachella as they were rumored to, they are there this year. Your ears will bleed, in the best way. (Coachella Stage 7:50 - 9PM)

Throbbing Gristle - This year's Coachella has more than its fair share of legends. There's Henry Rollins, Paul Weller, Perry Farrell, the Jane’s Addiction genius came up with Lollapalooza when Coachella wasn't even a glint in anyone's eye, and the pioneering Public Enemy, not to mention this guy Paul McCartney, whose old band the Beatles you might have heard of.  Legends all, but they are, and they would all admit it I'm sure, no Throbbing Gristle. For one thing when they play live they essentially play their songs as they were recorded, not so for Genesis P-Orridge and the rest of Throbbing Gristle. The industrial band, which were together from 1975 to 1981 and then got back together in 2004, pull their own songs apart, rearrange them and put them back together in a million different ways. Doesn't that sound exactly like the band you want to see on the last night of Coachella? Of course it does and you really should  (Mojave Stage 10:10PM)

So you've got Top Picks for Day One, Two and now Three of this year's Coachella. But that's not the end for Examiner, we'll be live from the desert all weekend with the festival, the parties, the scene and summaries of every day's shows. Stay tuned.