coachella
coachella. this was a foreign word to me when i heard it a few months back. people around work were talking about it, how they went last year, and how amazing it was. i decided to google it (cuz that’s what i do whenever i don’t know what something is). god forbid i look stupid and ask “what is coachella?” no, i’d prefer to just nod my head in agreement like i know what the hell everyone is talking about.
i went back to my desk to do a little research and was intrigued by what i found. this music festival has been around since 1999, is only a few hours from my house, and features some of the best indie bands around! where have i been hiding? i was so excited when i saw some of the artists on the lineup that i impulsively bought two tickets and decided to take my friend for his birthday.
cut to: 3 months later. saturday, april 29th, 2006. we are on our way to the coachella valley music festival. we were already pretty tired, as we didn’t get much sleep the night before. not a good start, but we’re hangin’ in there. we got off of the 10 freeway at the jefferson exit where we were met with a line of cars as far as the eye can see. no, let me rephrase that, further than the eye can see. by the time we actually pulled into the parking lot, it had been an hour. then, we embarked on the journey through the massive parking lot and campgrounds, and waited in line another half hour or so just to enter the festival. while in line, i badgered other festival-goers cuz i realized we forgot sunscreen and i was already burning. i kept wishing i was wearing shorts. sometimes my stupidity amazes me. why would I not think to bring shorts and sunscreen…to palm springs? ugh…
by the time we got into the festival, we were so taken aback by the number of people there and just the unbelievable size of the venue. apparently, there were over 100,000 people there over the entire weekend. anyway, we decided to just walk around first and kinda check everything out. there were food stands everywhere, merchandise booths, and even a virgin megastore (which was more like a virgin ministore). the longest lines were for the id bracelets for people to be able to drink in the “beer garden.” the smell of pot permeated the air, as well as cigarette smoke. i couldn’t help but wonder if we were the only people that didn’t smoke.
there were also some very random things throughout the festival, aside from the people. there were bizarre sculptures, weird rides like the “clown rodeo”, and theme tents. the theme tents just cracked me up cuz you would walk in and it would be like a winter scene, for example. i don’t know if they were trying to create the illusion of “cold” or what, but it was hotter than hell in there regardless of how many snowflakes they had hanging from the ceiling. didn’t work for me.
but the overall scene was just mesmerizing. there were so many different types of people there. the best people watching ever, for those of you that are into that sorta thing.
the first artist that we actually saw was lady sovereign, followed by animal collective and deerhoof, while we waited for imogen heap. now, the 3 main artists i wanted to see were imogen heap, sigur rós, and cat power. and, of course, as luck would have it, imogen and sigur overlapped. so, we figured we’d get to see imogen for at least 20 minutes or so, but there were major technical difficulties and she started late. we did get to see her perform one song at least.
the crowd for sigur amazed me. i seriously didn’t think they had that big of a following. they were playing on the main stage, and their performance (although there were technical difficulties once again) was the best part of the whole day. their music is captivating. you just disappear and get lost in it. it’s epic, really. you should check them out: sigur rós
after sigur, we headed back to one of the other tents to see cat power. we didn’t stay very long though cuz, once again, you guessed it, technical difficulties! we couldn’t even hear her. aside from the fact that the sound was awful, they had her playing right next to the dance tent, so all you could hear was the techno music blaring.
overall, it was a good day and an interesting experience. i can’t say i would jump at the chance to go again, although at least i would have a better idea of what to expect if i did.
i went back to my desk to do a little research and was intrigued by what i found. this music festival has been around since 1999, is only a few hours from my house, and features some of the best indie bands around! where have i been hiding? i was so excited when i saw some of the artists on the lineup that i impulsively bought two tickets and decided to take my friend for his birthday.
cut to: 3 months later. saturday, april 29th, 2006. we are on our way to the coachella valley music festival. we were already pretty tired, as we didn’t get much sleep the night before. not a good start, but we’re hangin’ in there. we got off of the 10 freeway at the jefferson exit where we were met with a line of cars as far as the eye can see. no, let me rephrase that, further than the eye can see. by the time we actually pulled into the parking lot, it had been an hour. then, we embarked on the journey through the massive parking lot and campgrounds, and waited in line another half hour or so just to enter the festival. while in line, i badgered other festival-goers cuz i realized we forgot sunscreen and i was already burning. i kept wishing i was wearing shorts. sometimes my stupidity amazes me. why would I not think to bring shorts and sunscreen…to palm springs? ugh…
by the time we got into the festival, we were so taken aback by the number of people there and just the unbelievable size of the venue. apparently, there were over 100,000 people there over the entire weekend. anyway, we decided to just walk around first and kinda check everything out. there were food stands everywhere, merchandise booths, and even a virgin megastore (which was more like a virgin ministore). the longest lines were for the id bracelets for people to be able to drink in the “beer garden.” the smell of pot permeated the air, as well as cigarette smoke. i couldn’t help but wonder if we were the only people that didn’t smoke.
there were also some very random things throughout the festival, aside from the people. there were bizarre sculptures, weird rides like the “clown rodeo”, and theme tents. the theme tents just cracked me up cuz you would walk in and it would be like a winter scene, for example. i don’t know if they were trying to create the illusion of “cold” or what, but it was hotter than hell in there regardless of how many snowflakes they had hanging from the ceiling. didn’t work for me.
but the overall scene was just mesmerizing. there were so many different types of people there. the best people watching ever, for those of you that are into that sorta thing.
the first artist that we actually saw was lady sovereign, followed by animal collective and deerhoof, while we waited for imogen heap. now, the 3 main artists i wanted to see were imogen heap, sigur rós, and cat power. and, of course, as luck would have it, imogen and sigur overlapped. so, we figured we’d get to see imogen for at least 20 minutes or so, but there were major technical difficulties and she started late. we did get to see her perform one song at least.
the crowd for sigur amazed me. i seriously didn’t think they had that big of a following. they were playing on the main stage, and their performance (although there were technical difficulties once again) was the best part of the whole day. their music is captivating. you just disappear and get lost in it. it’s epic, really. you should check them out: sigur rós
after sigur, we headed back to one of the other tents to see cat power. we didn’t stay very long though cuz, once again, you guessed it, technical difficulties! we couldn’t even hear her. aside from the fact that the sound was awful, they had her playing right next to the dance tent, so all you could hear was the techno music blaring.
overall, it was a good day and an interesting experience. i can’t say i would jump at the chance to go again, although at least i would have a better idea of what to expect if i did.
posted by the shorter story... at 5:44 PM
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