When it is all said and done--and the final note is played by the last of roughly 120 acts on the three-day bill--the 2009 Coachella [ tickets ] Valley Music and Arts Festival will likely be remembered best for bringing Paul McCartney [ tickets ] to the Empire Polo Club grounds in Indio, CA.

That's more than a bit ironic, given that the festival, now in its 10th year, has a worldwide reputation for presenting new "alternative music" acts and Sir Paul was a member of the most popular rock band of all time, The Beatles. Yet, it's also in keeping with the recent, and controversial, trend that has brought many mainstream rock/pop artists--such as Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Madonna and Jack Johnson--to Coachella in recent years.

Many argued that the inclusion of McCartney, who ranks as the absolute antithesis to "alternative," ran contrary to the (perceived) mission statement of the event. Yet, those with complaints were nowhere to be seen during McCartney's headlining set on Friday night (4/17) as 50,000 fans sang along with the Beatles and Wings tunes offered up, then tolerated the few selections from the vocalist's latest project--The Fireman's "Electric Arguments"--so that they could then sing along with more Beatles and Wings songs. Highlights of his set included "Blackbird," "Eleanor Rigby," "Jet" and "Hey Jude."

McCartney will turn 67 in June, but he was not the most senior of citizens to provide a sensational set on this night. A few hours earlier, Leonard Cohen [ tickets ], 74, turned in a thrilling hour-long gig that included such numbers as "Dance Me to the End of Love," "Ain't No Cure for Love," "Bird on a Wire" and "Everybody Knows."

Cohen isn't in McCartney's league when it comes to record sales--not by a long shot--but he was just as big a drawing card for many concert-goers at this year's Coachella. That's because he's widely considered to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time--on par, in many eyes, with Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and, yes, even McCartney--and he rarely tours. His current North American trek is his first in some 15 years.

There was something incongruent about seeing this polished pop poet, dressed as always in a sharp suit with a fedora hat covering his white hair, perform an open-air set in the middle of the desert, against a backdrop of tall palm trees. Yet, it definitely worked, thanks to his husky one-of-a-kind baritone voice, superb band and a songbook that just seems to get better, and more moving, as the years progress.

Factor in a set by Morrissey [ tickets ], who at 49 is approximately twice the age of many of the fans in attendance, and you had an opening night of Coachella that brought to mind a popular bumper sticker, the one that reads "Old guys rule!"

Balancing out the age scale were, of course, many younger acts. Some of the better sets this critic saw on Friday came courtesy of Scottish New Wave-revivalists Franz Ferdinand [ tickets ], bluesy-rock duo The Black Keys [ tickets ] and Los Angeles' own Silversun Pickups [ tickets ]. The latter, which this critic also had the pleasure of seeing during last month's South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, is just on fire right now, fully capable of delivering the kind of magnificent alt-rock anthems in concert that fans could have expected from the Smashing Pumpkins in their early-'90s prime.

In all, more than 40 acts played on Friday, which meant, no matter how fast one ran, there was no way to catch everything worth seeing. It's going to be a similar deal on Saturday and Sunday as fans try to juggle watching such worthy acts as Paul Weller, Public Enemy, Antony and the Johnsons, My Bloody Valentine, Fleet Foxes, Calexico and TV on the Radio.

Check back with LiveDaily as this reporter attempts his own juggling act on Saturday and Sunday. It's tough work, but, thankfully, somebody has to do it.

Full Coachella coverage:
Day One: Photos
Day Two: Review | Photos
Day Three: Review | Photos