Photos: Janelle Monae performs at Coachella

Complete coverage: COACHELLA 2013

INDIO – Janelle Monae started nearly 20 minutes late and had some sound issues at the Gobi Tent Saturday night at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival but the potential is clearly there.Monae released the EP “Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase)” in 2007 and the album “The ArchAndroid” in 2010 and is known for having a diverse musical style of R&B, neo soul, funk, alternative rock, dance punk and more.

During her set, which started with a six minute introduction before she started performing, she had a large backing band including horns and keyboard and fans cheered her every dance move and vocals.

I had to get over to see Phoenix so my time was limited to see her, but her set was riddled with microphone problems as her vocals had a strange echo on them and her band’s sound was a bit muddy and not clear.

She started with “Dance or Die” as well as “Locked Inside” and “Sincerely, Jane” before I was off to Phoenix but her energy and enthuasiasm was inspiring to watch as she just pushed through it all.

wes.woods@inlandnewspapers.com