By the end of this weekend's Coachella festival, over 100 bands had fanned out across five stages, more than 150,000 people had sweltered through the California desert heat and at least as many bottles of water had been guzzled.

Prince performs during the second day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Kevin Winter/Getty)

But there was one who rose above all others.

Prince, in his Saturday evening headlining performance, firmly established himself in Coachella lore among famous concerts from years past, including the Pixies and Rage Against the Machine. Prince, for certain, didn't plan to share the mantle.

"From now on, this is Prince's house!" he declared at the end of his set, which went well beyond midnight.

Few seemed inclined to argue after Prince put on a funky, rollicking show that featured passionate performances of classics like Let's Go Crazy and Purple Rain, as well as unexpected and creative covers of Radiohead (Creep) and the Beatles (Come Together).

But it was also hard to forget Rogers Waters's performance as the headliner Sunday. In contrast to Prince's celebratory concert, Waters presented the festival's biggest political statement — literally.

At the conclusion of Waters's first set, a giant inflatable pig was led above the crowd from strings to the ground. It was painted with graffiti on one side with the words "Don't be led to the slaughter" and a cartoon of Uncle Sam wielding two bloody cleavers. The other side read "Fear builds walls."

Roger Waters headlined the final day of Coachella. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)

The underside of the pig simply read "Obama" with a checked ballot box alongside.

On the stage, Waters and his band played one of the versions of Pigs from Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals, a concept disc that criticizes capitalism.

As Waters drew to a loud close, flame bursts were exploded on the sides of the stage and the swine was released into the night sky. Waters said sadly and comically, "That's my pig."

He then took a break, having played a set of both Pink Floyd classics and new material. He later returned to play Dark Side of the Moon in full.

Penn urges political action

Earlier in the day, Sean Penn also made a political statement, albeit without the aid of a giant inflatable farm animal. He stopped by to speak twice, urging the mostly young crowd to be more politically active and join him on a cross-country bus trip leaving Monday for New Orleans.

Actor Sean Penn addressed the Coachella crowd on Sunday. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)

Wearing a T-shirt and jeans and smoking a cigarette while he sat on a stool, Penn said he unfortunately couldn't perform his "a cappella Celine Dion cover act" since he had "compromised [his] upper register."

Altogether, this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival — the ninth annual — was as varied as any before it. As usual, it featured several reunited bands, and none more anticipated than Portishead.

On Saturday night, the band filled the night air with steely, cool trip hop and gritty, fierce new songs such as Machine Gun. Singer Beth Gibbons, who tightly clutched the microphone with both hands throughout, broke from her focus at the end of the set to hop off stage and gleefully run along the crowd, shaking hands.

Walking off stage, Geoff Barrow, the band's soundscapist, referred to Portishead's decade of dormancy: "Thanks for waiting," he told the crowd.

Friday night's headliner, surfer singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, appeared too mellow for the plum gig, as many left the festival grounds as he played. He followed a performance by The Verve, another reunited British outfit. Their psychedelic Brit Pop sounded of another era but was still impressively powerful and self-assured.

Newer acts deliver for fans

Coachella, which is put on by concert promoter Goldenvoice, is a hugely diverse mix of sights and sounds — and there were many over the weekend. The uber-cool MC M.I.A. packed them into the Sahara Tent on Saturday night, where even the backstage area was teaming with at least 100 clamouring for her.

I'm From Barcelona, which, alas, is from Sweden, made perhaps the festival's best entrance, taking the stage Sunday 17 strong and bearing dozens of giant red balloons. As the balloons circulated and confetti rained down, it launched into Treehouse, and lead singer Emanuel Lundgren jumped into the crowd.

The Denver-based gypsy band DeVotchKa also displayed theatrics. As the four-piece group thumped away on upright bass and tuba, the Amazing Slavic Sisters acrobatically ascended 10 metres up hanging tapestries flanking the stage.

Newer acts, including Emily Haines of Canadian band Metric, dazzled the crowds as well. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)

Many more played, as well, among them the Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Kraftwerk, Vampire Weekend, Fatboy Slim, MGMT and Aphex Twin.

Coachella kicks off summer festival season

Located in the Southern California desert a few hours' drive from Los Angeles, Coachella has emerged as one of the country's biggest music events and the unofficial kickoff to the summer festival season.

Drawing electronic music, indie rock and pop acts, it's fostered a cool identity of sun-drenched dancing. The crowd was largely composed of fashionable hipsters showing plenty of skin in dry, hot weather that at times cracked 38 C.

"Festivals usually smell a lot worse than this one," National lead singer Matt Berninger told the crowd while playing Friday. "You guys smell really nice."

Battalion Chief Bart Chambers of the Indio Fire Department said about 25 people had been hospitalized by late Sunday afternoon, many of them because of heat-related injuries.

Coachella is a well-run festival where five stages are laid out in an expansive U-shape, behind which a veritable racecourse of golf carts runs, shuttling musicians and VIPs to the stages. Hundreds of fans camped on the festival grounds, and a few dozen took more posh digs in $4,000 tents, complete with air conditioning and candles.

In the middle of the grounds are giant sculptures, typically brought from the Burning Man festival. At night, many of them glow, and the surrounding mountain ranges and palm trees create a memorable environment. Corporate advertising is largely absent.

Coachella's proximity to Los Angeles also has traditionally meant a visible celebrity contingent. Though Paris Hilton and Alicia Silverstone were among those in attendance, the festival didn't appear to have the same celeb buzz as it has in years past — like when Madonna played in 2006.