Coachella

[NoBuses]

Yeah they've had Melvin on their podcast a few times and done DJ sets at Leeds, FWIW Rob was asking on his twitter today how they could get in 

[Madyaker]

On 4/26/2022 at 8:37 PM, Ddiamondd said:

Sorry to hear that. Anecdotally I’ve heard 2018’s crowd was jarring - deserted for a great many acts in the afternoon, rammed for Beyoncé and Eminem, no community spirit at all.

There were def jockbros in attendance this year but they kept to themselves in the bars / probably weren’t crossing over with the acts I saw anyway.

What did you do when everything shut down at 1am or so? Were you not bothered about only being allowed to drink in certain areas?

[Suprefan]

On 4/26/2022 at 12:37 PM, Ddiamondd said:

Sorry to hear that. Anecdotally I’ve heard 2018’s crowd was jarring - deserted for a great many acts in the afternoon, rammed for Beyoncé and Eminem, no community spirit at all.

There were def jockbros in attendance this year but they kept to themselves in the bars / probably weren’t crossing over with the acts I saw anyway.

Can def say lots of people were there early in the day in 2018, especially Sunday cause of Cardi B. That was also the year of the new Sahara tent so a very diff dynamic was in there cause they were putting some higher billed acts in Mojave late in the evening.

 

 

Anyway, finally felt like recapping weekend 2. Still had some issues they couldve ironed out but itll be next year. Dont know how theyll address the Yuma situation. I had to get in there an hour early to see who I wanted, but that was ok since it meant more time to dance. Water stations were added and proper signage now. Did I ever mention there are permanent restrooms on the fields? Makes a huge difference since theres running water and sinks to wash your hands. they were also genderless. I hope with the merch thing they go back to what they did in 2019 with being able to order just festival merch via their app and pick it up within like 15 minutes. Only having to line up for artist merch isnt a terrible thing and normally for me an artist doesnt have something there that I want.  I wasnt impressed with their boutique offerings this year since they had multiple peopel make things and they didnt have some random small items to buy up which I usually like moreso than just t shirts and hoodies.

 

Pretty much saw like  an 80% different slate of acts Weekend 2 so I  essentially went to 2 diff festivals within a week of each other. the schedule favored that sort of thing this year, as other years didnt have that cause there were acts I couldnt miss seeing twice just based on who they were and rarity. The grass was almost all but dead and thats part of the trade off. The artists are still just as excited to be there as they were the week before and often times step their game up. Plenty of acts seemed to like the W2 crowd more than weekend 1. And others can make changes to their show and such as they see fit. Doja Cat seemed much more engaging from a distance because her visuals showed more of her on screen than the previous week. Stromae got his rotating screens to work this time and it provided the extra wow factor he was going for the prior week. Swedish House Mafic figured out their set a bit better and went on time cause they did some schedule changes to make it work. And still plenty of guests to be had over the second weekend. Kendrick, J Balvin, Lizzo, Becky G, Glass animals, Papa Roach, Damon, Hayley Williams to name some.

 

More of a look into the environment. there will be photos below about all this and some video too. So  I imagine a good portion of people here have concerns about not being able to walk with alcohol in your hand and watch music. As its been mentioned, you prob dont want to anyway cause of the weather. You can sneak in plenty of the hard stuff so you shouldnt worry too much. Going to the beer gardens is almost more of a respite than to use it as a way to take in some music, although you can do that comfortably if you want. At the main stage you have the regular beer gardens and vip, and theres the view. You also should notice you will have no problem hearing what youre watching cause they care enough to put extra delay towers in the beer gardens so you arent struggling to listen. Outdoor theatre is similar although a bit better since you can be in the beer garden and theres tables to sit on and see the performance. And yeah, with those visuals how can you miss anything. Sahara has part of a beer garden within sight of the stage so you can take it in. and again, sound will not be a problem. Yuma does have a bar inside of it ( sorry no pics ) and you just have to stay in there to have your drink but you can hear the music anyway. Sonora is likely the best of it all since the  bar is right int he back and you can see it all clearly. I also think another thing that you kind of feel missing at glasto in a sense is some intimacy. By that I mean just being close to the stage if youre up front. Youre not 20 feet away from the artists in the small tents cause of security concerns and such, youre right ther.e And in sonora there is no barrier, so theres gonna be loads of fun to be had with the ability to get on stage without consequence. I think there were some comments about maybe uprading the screens and such at the pyramid. Yeah, that kind of thing should happen because even if youre in the back of the pyramid field or at Other, you should at least be able to see the artist performing and not struggling to see. ( see harry video, thats from the back of the main stage field, clear sound and can still see him. thats not achievable at the pyramid ) Engagement is important and it probably leads to people leaving a set because they dont feel the connection as much. Thus why there seems to be a demand for an artist that has a deep catalog of hits so people stick around or else the performance wont be deemed as good when it comes to a headliner.

So lets talk about food. This is where im sure the shock will come in. If you do the currency conversion youll see how it adds up real fast. of course prices went up this year and it was frustrating, but thats how it goes sometimes. There is a vast selection to choose from. Although if you want to be able to eat everything they offer, you need vip. There is also Outstanding In the Field. Thats in the vip rose garden and happens twice each day. Its a communal sit down meal which takes a coupe hours. Youre at a big table with 50 people maybe and you have food prepared by world class chefs. Gaggan was one of them this year ( if you know you know ) so that was  a huge deal.  So below some food prices of various things.

https://coachella.com/eat-drink

https://coachella.com/outstanding-in-the-field

 

Anyway, we can keep going back and forth on apples and oranges of what each festival does well and doesnt do well. but itll never stop. There will be bias and you can help that either. Hopefully the hate has lessened and just a slughtly more favorable view is seen of Coachella now. Top notch artists, production, art , food and weather all in the desert. Its a good time if youre willing to take the chance. I have for almost 20 years. Come join the party some time. At least you can get a ticket much easier.  More scenic photos to follow.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Suprefan

[balti-pie]

My only real criticism; a pizza is NOT a pie 😡

 

otherwise, excellent pics and reportage! 

[Suprefan]

Photos and thatll be that. Also, the download links I posted a page ago will be taken down in a week. So get to it.

[brettredmayne]

I enjoyed this video 

[Matt42]

9 minutes ago, brettredmayne said:

I enjoyed this video 

Usually can’t stand these guys but I enjoyed this

[brettredmayne]

On 4/30/2022 at 9:05 AM, Suprefan said:

 

Anyway, we can keep going back and forth on apples and oranges of what each festival does well and doesnt do well. but itll never stop. There will be bias and you can help that either. Hopefully the hate has lessened and just a slughtly more favorable view is seen of Coachella now. Top notch artists, production, art , food and weather all in the desert. Its a good time if youre willing to take the chance. I have for almost 20 years. Come join the party some time. At least you can get a ticket much easier.  More scenic photos to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really curious as a Brit fancying trying it once how much the whole thing cost you 

the bit that I think is you have to rent some sort of RV which obviously increases the price 

[Florian Saucer Attack]

34 minutes ago, brettredmayne said:

I enjoyed this video 

I watched a couple of their other videos of the back of this one. What I find funny is how little they care about watching live music despite loving festivals so much. Outside of a few acts they like they are more interested in silent disco's

They do seem like good craic though 

[Matt42]

@brettredmayne ngl the camping experience from their video looks worse than any UK festival. At least it’s easier to manage temperature a bit at UK festivals. 

Not sure about how I feel about camping in 30 degree + weather. Feels unsafe.

[Hugh Jass II]

4 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

 

Not sure about how I feel about camping in 30 degree + weather. Feels unsafe.

It’s what we had to deal with last time.

[brettredmayne]

29 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

@brettredmayne ngl the camping experience from their video looks worse than any UK festival. At least it’s easier to manage temperature a bit at UK festivals. 

Not sure about how I feel about camping in 30 degree + weather. Feels unsafe.

I agree.  2019 felt like very hard work trying to find shade and water and was hard to get comfortable 

the pop up hotels are ridiculous at coachella though 

[stanh]

1 hour ago, brettredmayne said:

I enjoyed this video 

Same, one of their best videos imo - made me want to go and try Coachella even more now (minus the bar prices)

[gfa]

1 hour ago, brettredmayne said:

Really curious as a Brit fancying trying it once how much the whole thing cost you 

the bit that I think is you have to rent some sort of RV which obviously increases the price 

They said £2k each i believe.

1 hour ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

I watched a couple of their other videos of the back of this one. What I find funny is how little they care about watching live music despite loving festivals so much. Outside of a few acts they like they are more interested in silent disco's

They do seem like good craic though 

I think they do like live music just are quite picky with what they watch. they mostly do festivals with no late night live music so are forced to the silent disco e.g. coachella, leeds, download

[Florian Saucer Attack]

32 minutes ago, gfa said:

They said £2k each i believe.

I think they do like live music just are quite picky with what they watch. they mostly do festivals with no late night live music so are forced to the silent disco e.g. coachella, leeds, download

These festivals need to sort their licensing issues out. People pay a lot of money to go to them and the best entertainment they can provide at night are poxy silent discos 

[gfa]

30 minutes ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

These festivals need to sort their licensing issues out. People pay a lot of money to go to them and the best entertainment they can provide at night are poxy silent discos 

I mean its just part of the package's value, if you want late night you go elsewhere at the expense of huge headliners. I think Leeds probably can go later given they have the DJs in the woods and some live stuff even but then it needs to match Reading which is in the town centre.

[dotdash79]

3 hours ago, brettredmayne said:

I enjoyed this video 

Watched this today, think they missed a trick with doing it with an American vlogger, just for the reactions. 

[foolee]

2 hours ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

I watched a couple of their other videos of the back of this one. What I find funny is how little they care about watching live music despite loving festivals so much. Outside of a few acts they like they are more interested in silent disco's

They do seem like good craic though 

They do go to a lot of live music (see Biffy, 1975 and Broco videos) so I think they do really like it and there’s a few of them that record, I just don’t think putting loads of filmed live music in the videos makes them very entertaining. 

[Suprefan]

11 hours ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

These festivals need to sort their licensing issues out. People pay a lot of money to go to them and the best entertainment they can provide at night are poxy silent discos 

Curfew is 1am on fri and sat for the festival and theyve been given a decent leeway on decibel level. The silent discos go til 4am which is pretty generous. If you considered how close people actually  live to the festival site it would be semi bothersome with that noise. Besides, there are plenty of campsites that have their own dj's and such set up. You go find the party afterwards. Either that or if youre in a hotel or willing to leave you find alL the after hours ones. Plenty to pick from. ( flyers below ) Coachella signed an extension  of its agreement  just last year to be there til 2050 with the city of Indio. Glasto got their licensing sorted for the next 30 years? 
 

Bonnaroo is the only one of the big 4 that does have true late night programming cause theyre in the middle of nowhere and can do what they like. At least its not like Lolla, ACL or Outside Lands where its over at 10pm.  But thats city festivals for ya. They make up for it with solo shows of the artists performing at the fest so you can conflict solve that way if you chose to do so.
 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Suprefan

[gfa]

1am isn't even that bad - no UK festival goes that late with their mainstage? IOW and Glasto almost hit midnight and Green Man goes to near 1am but is a far smaller festival. Sure its not mainland europe with headliners at 4am but not everywhere needs to be. There's definitely a market in the UK for a festival that has 4am headliners but theres also a lot of people who want to be in bed at 4am!

[Florian Saucer Attack]

2 hours ago, Suprefan said:

Curfew is 1am on fri and sat for the festival and theyve been given a decent leeway on decibel level. The silent discos go til 4am which is pretty generous. If you considered how close people actually  live to the festival site it would be semi bothersome with that noise. Besides, there are plenty of campsites that have their own dj's and such set up. You go find the party afterwards. Either that or if youre in a hotel or willing to leave you find alL the after hours ones. Plenty to pick from. ( flyers below ) Coachella signed an extension  of its agreement  just last year to be there til 2050 with the city of Indio. Glasto got their licensing sorted for the next 30 years? 
 

Bonnaroo is the only one of the big 4 that does have true late night programming cause theyre in the middle of nowhere and can do what they like. At least its not like Lolla, ACL or Outside Lands where its over at 10pm.  But thats city festivals for ya. They make up for it with solo shows of the artists performing at the fest so you can conflict solve that way if you chose to do so.
 

 

Thanks for the through response.

Do people have to pay extra for the after parties? 

That's great that they have the license until 2050, now that that's in the bag they should work on getting a later curfew 

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

On 4/30/2022 at 9:36 AM, Suprefan said:

Photos and thatll be that. Also, the download links I posted a page ago will be taken down in a week. So get to it.

Your images are fantastic @Suprefan, is it safe to say you were at the festival in a professional capacity also?

[Matt42]

11 hours ago, gfa said:

1am isn't even that bad - no UK festival goes that late with their mainstage? IOW and Glasto almost hit midnight and Green Man goes to near 1am but is a far smaller festival. Sure its not mainland europe with headliners at 4am but not everywhere needs to be. There's definitely a market in the UK for a festival that has 4am headliners but theres also a lot of people who want to be in bed at 4am!

I know it’s a dance festival but Houghton is the closest thing we’l ever get in the UK to a proper European style party. Sleep when you physically need to.

[Suprefan]

19 hours ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

Thanks for the through response.

Do people have to pay extra for the after parties? 

That's great that they have the license until 2050, now that that's in the bag they should work on getting a later curfew 

It depends, some cost and some are invites and rsvp stuff. I used to go to some of the pre fest ones in the days when I did camp and the parties were much more low key. I didnt include the super vip influencer ones on the images cause theres no point. But theres a lot of adjacent stuff that happens there now and its crazy cause theyll book some artists that shouldve been at the fest.  I dont know how much they paid her, but Charli XCX flew in between east coast gigs to do a 45 min set at a party by coachella for Pandora Jewelry. Insanity.
 

I dont think there is a need for a later curfew anyway. 1am is plenty late. As youve read there were some horror stories on leaving the fest via car so making everyone not get home til 5am or later cause of some later acts wont be worth it. They purposefully do try to schedule Sunday so that the headliner only has a couple of clashes so you either wait for them or leave early. I mean they went 30 mins past curfew Sunday night Weekend 1 cause of the set up delays for SHM and Weeknd. Its been a looooong while since it happened. Btw, the penalty for going over noise curfew is $1,000 a minute. Drop in the bucket for Coachella to let The Weeknd do his thing.  Fun fact from back in the day was in 2003, the Mojave tent had set up issues all day on the first day so bands kept running late. The Libertines were closing that night and ended up playing one song cause they went on at 11:55pm with a midnight curfew. They totally pulled the plug on them. They were hardcore back then.
 

Look at the schedule anyway, theres a lot to do in any given day and something that keeps people moving is that there isnt much down time. Thats a big diff between coach and glasto. After one act on a stage is done the next is ready to go in under 30 mins on average. In Sonora Tent theres some bands that set up in 15-20 mins. Friday had that hour silent spot on Main so Phoebe could have her time on Outdoor. They do that sort of thing but outside of that long downtimes are really a thing. Thats efficiency for ya. The crews they have just being able to tear down a production that could be like headline caliber and set up another one thats similar and soundcheck in under 30 mins is pretty incredible.

 

8 hours ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

Your images are fantastic @Suprefan, is it safe to say you were at the festival in a professional capacity also?

Thanks. Nope, not anymore per say. I used to get a photo pass and then they changed how that was handled back in 2016. The festival allows a small amount of media outlets access for photos and the rest of the photographers are hired by them.( its cool, i have friends who do it each year so i get to see em that way )  There used to be much more local and smaller outlets that got credentials but now theyre in more of an image control type of thing. So if you had a press pass and were writing you just get access to a drop box link that has images from their staff photogs and just have to credit them if used in a written article. I just make it a point to get close for acts and I have a decent camera that has a good zoom so I do my thing like I always have at gigs. Doesnt hurt that most everyone gets great lighting so it makes things easier. Ill have some other fests Ill be going to this year that Ill have a photo pass for though.

 

This year for Glasto im totally gonna carry around my SLR and take  pics. I didnt do that in 2017 cause I wanted to take in  my whole time at the fest and not distract myself by taking a bunch of photos. Although I dont know if Ill be able to take 15,000 photos over the course of the weekend cause no way can I get close to lots of acts and such. So likely a lot of scenery stuff which I dont mind. 

 

edit: should post some links to old galleries now that i think about it
https://www.flickr.com/photos/25668040@N03/albums/72157667508507901

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/25668040@N03/albums/72157649807891704

https://www.flickr.com/photos/25668040@N03/albums/72157646598672306

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Suprefan

[gfa]

1000$ a minute is not a whole lot for Coachella I feel. 1 hour is $60k when the event probably makes millions. Its definitely more to do with not pissing off the city of Indio than the fine really.