Those who missed the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last weekend in Indio, Calif., will want to read critic Ben Ratliff’s thoughtful, detailed review in the New York Times.

Ratliff writes the festival “exists in two time zones: the event itself and its digital afterlife” on cameras and blogs and Twitter and video-sharing sites.

Ratliff begins with Sri Lankan/ British rapper M.I.A.’s “gig like a bad dream” and writes about sets by Flavor Flav, Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen (who performs Thursday, April 23, at WaMu Theater), as well as what he describes as an “especially viral” year for crowd-surfing by performers.

Ratliff also notes the festival had a nostalgic bent: “With the narrowing of the reaction time to culture, kids are running out of new stuff and need to scavenge the dumps.” Hence, “1991 ran rampant” with sets by My Bloody Valentine, the Orb, Public Enemy and the Cure.

Coachella is one of the country’s top destination rock festivals.