This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the annual Coachella music festival in Indio, California. The setting was beautiful, the bands were amazing, and the surprise performance by Beyonce was unreal. However, there were aspects of the event that resembled a PR nightmare, and I was almost sure riots were going to break out on multiple occasions.
I mean no disrespect for the hard working people who worked the event, but if it weren’t for the beautiful weather, epic line-up, and fairly inebriated attendees- things could have taken a dark, hard left-turn towards a bad place.
My main issue with the festival started before it actually even began-This was the first year in which the geniuses running the show decided to only sell 3-day passes. The disorganization that came with this decision – was noticeable immediately upon arrival. Irreplaceable 3-day electronic wristbands were distributed upon first entrance into the concert. The notion of an electronic wristband is a wonderful idea- that is, if the scanners don’t break during the peak entrance time on the first day of the festival. Imagine a high desert sun, thousands of people feverishly trying to enter a small entrance, with no water in sight. Before I knew it, people around me began to revolt. Their chants were echoing the exact thoughts going through my head at that very same moment, “THIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD.”
What would have horrified any public health official, was seen as delightful for all the scalpers and ticketless concert-goers. The scanner breakage enabled hundreds, if not thousands of people, to enter the festival without purchasing a $300 ticket. I can attest to this because I, with resentment of course, commingled with a handful of these ticketless concert-goers, who were fortunate enough to somehow receive full functioning wristbands like the rest of us paying patrons.
Add a couple thousand extra people to this mix and we had some serious disarray. The main source of that disarray being that no one-paying concert-goers or not- knew where anything was. Much like a modern day Woodstock- There were no authority figures, no information desk, no loud speak announcements to mobilize the masses- it was a free-for-all. Outside the perimeters of the concert-the parking situation was a nightmare. After looking for several hours, it seemed “lot 3” was some urban legend that had been concocted by the organizers of the event-who were now nowhere to be found. We had asked multiple concert workers where “lot 3” could be- and received multiple “Um, I can tell you where lot 2 and lot 5 are…” or “um I’m sure if you keep walking this way you’ll run into it eventually…” It was clear we were not alone in our quest to find our way as the echo’s of frustration permeated throughout the grounds. I vividly remember hearing an angered festival attendee voice his frustration, “ORGANIZE THIS SHIT!” It was nice to hear someone put so eloquently what we all were feeling.
It was ironic then-that by the third and final day-when we had all finally grown accustomed to the chaos- Coachella seemed to finally get it together. There was more organization, more signage- the crowds weren’t going anywhere, but at least we all realized why we came there in the first place. To celebrate the music- which was amazing. Great bands, great line-ups, and great sets all around. Despite the issues at hand, I can only say that I hope to see you again next year Coachella.
-Arielle
