Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, better known as just ‘Coachella’, is an annual music festival that takes place in Indio, California. The festival is two weekends in April, bringing in an estimated 500,000 people each year across 250 acres of desert. Numbers have increased since the first festivals in the 90’s, with the daily capacity capped at 125,000 people per day in 2017.
The origins of Coachella come from a 1993 performance by Pearl Jam. The festival always strived to be artist and music-first, but modern-day festivals seem to be more about money than the music.
Tickets to the inaugural festival in 1999 cost $50 per day; general admission for a weekend now costs $600, and VIP can set you back $1,200-$1,300. Not to mention that tickets sell out incredibly fast, and resale tickets can exceed $2,000. After hotel, flight, and food, a weekend can cost $3,000-$5,000 per person.
For that price, you do get a lot, some of the biggest names in music, and incredible up-and-coming artists perform at the festival each year. This year, 160 artists performed across 7 stages, with headliners such as Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Young Thug, and performances from Turnstile, Katseye, Sexxy Red, Blood Orange, The Strokes, Giveon, Laufey, Clipse, and many more.
Despite the title of ‘music festival’, most content around Coachella is not about the music. Influencers and celebrities go to Coachella to network or promote a brand deal, not to enjoy the music. With the price, true music fans are simply priced out of the festival. Of those who do go, they are subjected to terrible conditions. Fans often sleep in tents or their cars, and showering is a luxury.
True music fans are better off going to festivals like San Francisco’s ‘Outside Lands’ or Chicago’s ‘Lollapalooza’. Both bring the same tier of headliner, while being cheaper and truly focused on music.