Thousands of people gather in the middle of the desert every April. They come together and camp out under the desert sun. All for music. All for the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival.
Located in Indio, Calif., the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival, sometimes referred to as Coachella Fest or simply Coachella, is a three-day music festival that hosts well-known performers as well as independent artists sponsored by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Entertainment. Indio is only a two-hour drive from Azusa, which attracts many students every year.
This year the festival will be held over two weekends, which is different from past years when it was held over only one. The first weekend will be from April 13-15, and the second weekend will be held April 20-22, each weekend showcasing the same lineup.
Coachella released their lineup Monday, Jan. 9, which includes performers like the Black Keys, headlining Friday; Radiohead, headlining Saturday and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, both headlining Sunday. Other headliners include Swedish House Mafia, Bon Iver, The Shins, David Guetta, Florence + the Machine, La Roux, Beirut and Feist among many other performers.
Andrew Laleian, a freshman biology major attended Coachella last year for the first time.
“It had the reputation of being the most awesome three-day music fest of our time and it lived up to that pretty well,” Laleian said.
Coachella is more than just various concerts back-to-back for three days, it is an experience.
“Imagine your favorite band just playing a really kickin’ show. Now imagine going to that like nine times a day for three days and a ton of cool art tents in a really weird trippy lookin’ place,” Laleian said.
Part of the Coachella experience is camping out with the other attendees and being part of a community for three days. Professor Daniel Pawley who received his Ph.D. in theology and ethics of communication from the University of Edinburgh, studies fan cultures.
“The festival is similar to the convention. The intentional social component is done on the mass stage, it’s where they [the fans] get together with other people. Festivals are the big ritualistic component of socialization for fans,” Pawley said.
Pawley has never attended Coachella, but as a former professional musician, he has played at many festivals and understands what the mentality at a festival like Coachella is like.
“You get a lot of people on the same wavelength. These big group gatherings have an almost religious intensity where socializing around the product, in this case contemporary rock music, it becomes a kind of fellowship. There may be times when people are united for a cause, which you might get at a mega-church,” Pawley said.
Both music festivals and mega-churches have large groups of people, gathering for a common purpose. There is a community built and an intentional socialization occurring within both.
“Mega-churches and music festivals like Coachella are very similar socially. There’s a lot of excitement. There’s this great emotional outpouring. Emotion is what defines most fans. It’s about what you feel, and being with other people who are feeling the same thing,” Pawley said.
But Coachella is not free. One ticket costs over $340, and that is not even including the fees for parking and camping. This year, tickets sold out on day one of going on sell. People who were not able to get a ticket this year have to purchase them from scalpers and now most tickets are on sale through websites like eBay, sometimes costing even more than the original price.
Jryd Olson, a freshman music major, attended Coachella last year and plans on attending this year, regardless of the ticket price.
“The price is worth the memories and I’d rather have something I can remember for the rest of my life than have pieces of paper in my pocket that have people’s faces on them,” Olson said.
Pawley also agrees that students should go to Coachella, or any other music festival, if they can afford it.
“I would like to have gone to Woodstock for the music. And if students are likewise going to Coachella for the music, rather than for the drugs and sexual activites, I don’t have a big problem with it. Realize the temptations, though. And don’t allow the big festival/spectacle experience become your substitute for truer, life-giving forms of fellowship and social experience,” Pawley said.
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