Bands with buzz but little radio love proved they can hold their own at a big festival. The Faint provided some much needed firepower with an awesome, electro-clash assault. Earlier, on the same stage, the Arcade Fire's brash ensemble sound attracted the biggest midday crowd of the weekend.

Then there were '80s legends New Order [ tickets ] and Gang of Four [ tickets ], both progenitors of the sound that ultimately led to Nine Inch Nails [ tickets ] and The Prodigy. Discovery is good, indeed.

Nine Inch Nails
"Where have you been, Trent Reznor?" was the mantra on Sunday night (5/1) at Coachella. And when the raven-haired industrial hero appeared on the main stage in white shirt and black slacks, a very clear answer emerged: he's been sharpening his ax. Indeed, the quiet opening notes of "The Wretched" led straight into the heart of a storm. Before an array of flashing strobes and marauding bandmates, Reznor screeched, roared and yelped as he gripped the microphone with both fists. Clearly, the devoted crowd, arms and voices raised, missed their guy. For their loyalty, they got NIN classics like "Terrible Lie" and the always-fun sing-along "Closer." Of course, Nine Inch Nails also took the opportunity to promote their upcoming album with the first single, "The Hand that Feeds." Elsewhere, "Piggy," with its beefy bass, was a set highlight, allowing Reznor the time to do some stage marauding of his own. And a nation of industrial Goth kids was lonely no more.

New Order
Although New Order began its much-anticipated evening set with a classic, Joy Division's "Atmosphere," the legendary indie icons spent much of the early goings rattling off a trifecta of newer songs, leaving some fans in the awkward position of feeling pissy. But frontman Bernard Sumner was the consummate English gentleman, thanking fans after each song, and warning them when he was about to let them down again; "Here's another new song!" he said, as the band played "Jetstream." Peter Hook's bass was too loud through much of the set, but Sumner's voice still sounded fresh and buoyant. "Here's a disco song," he announced, before the group dropped "Bizarre Love Triangle" to positive adulation. The band concluded with "Crystal" and a remixed reading of "Blue Monday."

Ben Watt [ tickets ]
One half of Everything But The Girl, Ben Watt offered a tight DJ set in the Sahara Tent, Coachella's largest indoor venue. Watt's brand of house music may have seemed a tad out of place with the bright desert sun creeping into the thick tent, but, if you closed your eyes, you could well have been deep inside some Manchester nightclub. Sure, the kids toward the rear of the tent were lounging away in their bikini tops and flip flops, but, up front, underneath Watt's attentive eye, a party was raging. Down here, the music was louder, the air hotter, the bodies closer together. And Watt deftly pumped up the bass here and turned up the high hat there for maximum effect. For every "tsss tsss," he found a perfect "fwuu fwuu" to elicit the rowdy applause so dear to DJ and raver alike. By the show's conclusion, when Watt mixed in his band's "Like the Desert Miss the Rain," even the loungers were on their feet raving it up.

Gang of Four
The progenitors of disco punk, Gang of Four looked out of place on Coachella's main stage in their middle-aged man attire, but they sure sounded like they were in the right spot. "Return the Gift," off the band's 1979 release, "Entertainment!," got things started. Singer Jon King held his own, doing his best to recall the voice of his youth. Once he and his band got rolling--which didn't take long--they sounded great. "What We All Want" was tough and aggressive thanks to Andy Gill's jagged, distorted guitar and Dave Allen's fat bass tone. "Damaged Goods" was awesome, belying the band's age, as King's angular vocal melody sang, "The change will do you good/I always knew it would/Sometimes I'm thinking that I love you/But I know it's only lust." And when King killed a microwave with a baseball bat midway through the set, you could tell it was true love all around--or was that lust?

The Arcade Fire
Montreal's The Arcade Fire was clearly the festival's most buzzed-about band. Indeed, it seemed that many in attendance had only heard of the group and not actually heard its music, but the audience seemed no less enthusiastic. Dressed in black and white suits with red ties, the dapper ensemble made a lasting impression. The group has a few singers and a pair of utility players who can switch off between violins, accordions and other assorted instruments of Americana. Consequently, The Arcade Fire are often epic, startling and satisfying. Their buzz is well-earned. As they rattled off songs from their debut, "Funeral," two band members climbed the stage's side girders and pounded away at the steel with their drumsticks--easily making the Arcade Fire's set among the more memorable from Coachella's second day.

Bright Eyes
Conor Oberst is a whiner. And, miraculously, his band is still great. As a devilish windstorm swept through the Empire Polo Fields, Bright Eyes battled the elements with their Coachella-closing set at the festival's Outdoor Theater. Focusing on tracks off "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" early on, the group swung through the sparse, sentimental "Gold Mine Gutted." Then, with red, blue, green and yellow squares moving randomly left to right on the screens behind them, Bright Eyes offered "Arc of Time (Time Code)." The whining got a bit more intense soon after, as Oberst cried, "I wanna be your shower in the morning," from the song "Ship in a Bottle," another track off "Urn." And if he was still whining by the end of his headlining set, it is likely Oberst's fans were crying for more.

Black Star
This year's Coachella was significant for the attention given to hip-hop acts, and no MCs could have been more psyched to be there than Mos Def and Talib Kwali, the Brooklyn rappers who years ago formed Black Star. Kwali had some vocal trouble but he managed OK. Headlining the main stage after Nine Inch Nails, the duo provided big break-beats and a party atmosphere, but the crowd was pretty thin by the time Black Star grabbed their mics. While much of the set focused on the Black Star songbook, the set also featured some solo material too. Mos Def's "Close Edge" was clear and tight, with Kwali playing the perfect party emcee. Backed by heady, old-school beats, Def and Kwali were the perfect closer to the sun-baked weekend--even if a majority of Coachella's ticket holders were seen making their way to the parking lots as the beats played on.