Dreaming of Coachella


Coachella is a huge music and art festival held in the city of Coachella, California. Coachella is a two-weekend, three-day music festival. The opening weekend this year is April 11-13 and the second weekend is April 18-20. This year, the line-up consists of 170 bands.

A junior at high school says, “Coachella is an event I’ve been wanting to go to since around eighth grade because I’ve always been into that type of music and a lot of the bands that play there I’ve been into for a long time. Also, many of the bands performing there this year are known to be good live.”

At Coachella, participants have the option of leaving the grounds whenever their want; however, they can also choose to stay the night and pitch a tent for the weekend.
Before 2002, onsite camping was not allowed due to the fires and riots at Woodstock 1999. Now lodging accommodations on the grounds include many new features, such as re-entry from the campsite to the festival grounds and parking next to your tent. At the 2012 event, on-site facilities included recycling, a general store, showers, mobile phone charging stations and an internet cafe with free WiFi.

Another junior at school, says, “During the two weekends at Coachella, I would pitch a tent and stay with my group of friends I came with. Although staying in a hotel would be much better for the comfort aspect, but staying in a tent would be a lot more fun. Also, staying in a tent would just add the Coachella experience.”

Some of the bands that are going to be performing there this year are Antony Green, Cage the Elephant, City and Colour, Foster the People, Lana Del Rey, Grouplove, MGMT, The Head and the Heart, Arcade Fire, and many others.
Typically bands playing there have an indie and/or alternative feel to them. This tends to attract a lot of different groups of people, who all have a common love for music.

Coachella started in 1999. That year, it attracted 10,000 people and the number has continued to rise. For example, in 2012, 85,000 people came to Coachella.
Coachella occurred for the first time only three months after Woodstock ‘99 festival.

One junior at achool says, “Coachella has been an idea of mine that I have since I was pretty young. The idea of going from concert to concert is what completely intrigues me.”