I wanted my first post to be about my experience at Coachella 2019. For those not in the know, The Coachella Music and Arts Festival is held in Indio, California (about 2 hours east of LA and about 30-40 minutes from Palm Springs). Coachella means a lot of different things to different people. For some, it’s a juggernaut of an event. It’s the biggest music festival in the USA and arguably the world. In 2017, attendance was clocked at 250,000 people. It brings together the best of rock, pop, hip hop, EDM, trance etc has to offer. It’s a yearly trend setter for the music industry and for pop culture. For others, it’s an Instagram party. A-list celebrities, IG influencers and everybody in between roll into Indio to make their social media feeds the Kings/Queens of the weekend. For others, it’s about the surprise performances/reunions. Guns N Roses, Destiny’s Child, Daft Punk to name a few! Coachella is a big deal for people who aren’t even into the music. They just want to be there for the experience. And for others, well they could care less. For me, the best word I can describe Coachella is it’s Iconic. This was the 20th anniversary of the festival. It’s come a long way since 1999 in terms of production, size and overall impact. When I told friends & co-workers where I was the weekend of April 12-14th they couldn’t believe it! People were stoked. I was too. I WENT TO COACHELLA BABY!
So how did I end up at Coachella 2019? Well, it was a bit of luck and fate. Like what I think a lot of life is if you ask me. I was in Southern California for Desert X (another post you should look out for soon) the first weekend of Coachella and realized the morning before I flew out that I should take advantage of the opportunity to attend my first Coachella. The festival was headlined by Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande. The headliners were cool and all but it was more the undercard that made me think this is probably the best Coachella of the past 4-5 years. Rock vets Weezer, alt/rock/pop band The 1975 (my favorite band of the past 3-4 years), Kacey Musgraves (4 time Grammy winner including Album of The Year) Pusha-T, (Daytona was one of my favorite albums of 2018) Janelle Monae among others. This was it! Now or never. I just had to get a pass for myself which turned out to be harder than I expected..
I probably asked close to 100 people when I was out in Palm Springs if they were selling passes. I came up short every time! From pleading on the Coachella Facebook page to reaching out to hopeful sellers on Craigslist it was hopeless. I felt like I was Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trying to secure my golden ticket but not to some stupid candy factory. I was going to the biggest festival in the world! I ended up buying on Stubhub (hate stubhub usually) but I bit the bullet and decided if it was going to happen I needed to make moves. And fast. I only had a half a day that allowed me to go to the fest (Saturday to be clear) and spammers were hitting me up left and right on facebook. ALWAYS BE SAFE. BUY FROM LEGIT SOURCES. Common sense stuff but you’d be surprised how many people I saw on the Coachella boards saying they were scammed/tickets weren’t legit etc. I ended up paying less than face value so I was alright with that. So there I was! In the Uber from Palm Springs onward to Indio! I was hyped! I picked up my pass from the Stubhub pickup center twenty minutes from the festival site and here I come! My Uber driver was a good dude and he knew the hoopla surrounding Coachella. He said he was too old for the fest. I told him he should start living and hit it up. Older crowd or young crowd music is music. The one pain in the ass thing was that the fact that I had a duffle bag that I had to carry around with me during my time at the festival. I didn’t have a place to stay that night so I pretty much winged it. The bag was coming in! One thing I did not know is that there is a LONG ASS WALK from the parking lots to the area that is known as the Empire Polo Grounds (That is if you don’t have VIP wristband). It felt like a long 2 mile walk with my green duffle in hand. My anticipation was at an all time high. THIS. WAS. HAPPENING.
What seemed like an infinite journey finally became realized. Walking up to the guy and the scanning machine I had that Eminem lyric in my head, “His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy”. And they were god damnit! My arms were TIRED! But whatever, I wasn’t going to let it defeat me. Once in, I was in! People all around me walking and running in all different directions. The big, larger than life ferris wheel was straight ahead of me. OH MY GOD! This was the Cali dream. Even if I was just living it for a few hours I was still living it. Daylight was fading fast. I had a mental list of what I wanted to see, accomplish and conquer. #1. The art! Coachella is known to have some of the most beautiful and most photographed art pieces out of any festival in the world. It’s truly something you have to see in person. I had the opportunity to see some real kickass stuff that I’ll post about in an upcoming post! 2. Last but not least MUSIC!! After all, it’s why I was there. As I got my bearings together, I was able to download the map and set times. From there, I was off! Aimlessly drifting from one end of the grounds to the other over to the Outdoor Theatre. There I heard the sweet sounds of something that sounded like Michael Jackson? Or was it Prince? I had absolutely no idea who they were but they stopped me in my tracks for sure! Watching it felt like a cross between Prince AND Michael Jackson had a baby and Christine and the Queens were the offspring. See, it took me a minute but I always get there! The choreography was insane. A dude next to me said they were Christine and the Queens. They’re big in Europe. That’s all I needed to hear. I was hooked. Highly recommend them if you’re looking to check something new out. Breath of fresh air!
After C&TQ, I made my way over to the Coachella stage where OG Rock vets Weezer were about to rock the hell out of Indio. The guy next to me had a bandana on and recommended that I get one sooner or later. He said that once the dust and winds kick up it really messes up your breathing. Roger that. (If you ever come to Coachella remember that)! Weezer played for around an hour and a half. All the hits. Buddy Holly, Beverly Hills (added new meaning for me being close to there) Plus “AFRICA”! Oh and they brought out Chili from TLC to perform “No Scrubs”! Real tight. Rivers Cuomo said this might be the last time Weezer could play Coachella. SAY IT AIN’T SO Rivers! Say it ain’t so!
Next up over at the SAHARA stage, I got to check out Wiz Khalifa. I haven’t really listened to him since his first album but I was thoroughly impressed by his stage presence and energy. He played his hits and some newer stuff I hadn’t heard before. His song “Roll Up” will always be one of my favorites from him. Last but not least I ended my night jamming to Kid Cudi. He’s a warrior for sure. Scott Muscudi brought the hype and energy…sort of. In my opinion, it took him a minute to get to where he needed to be but once he got there (near the end of his set) he was on fire. I always respected Cudi’s soft spoken demeanor and it translates into his live show. It’s like he was in a trance of some sort but fully aware of his surroundings. Hits were coming in numbers starting off with a few KIDS SEE GHOSTS songs (collab album with Kanye that dropped last year). From there he took it to another level a cover of KW’s “Father Stretch My Hands PT. 1”, “Memories”, “Day N Night” and finally “Pursuit of Happiness”.
And with that my Coachella experience was over. It was after midnight and the stars danced along the night sky giving us a final encore. I wish I could have held on to this moment but like everything else, I knew everything comes to an end. As I walked across the Empire Polo Grounds for the final time, I knew what I experienced was epic. Walking that last mile out to the parking lot, I heard Dr. Dre’s “Still DRE” from a guy’s bike riding two girls away into the night. West coast anthem shit right there! Perfect way to end my Coachella. Thank you for that Coachella. What was your best music festival experience? Was it here in the USA or somewhere else? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading! See ya soon!