Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
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| Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival | |
|---|---|
| Location | Indio, California, United States |
| Years active | 1999 2001–present |
| Date(s) | Last weekend of April |
| Website | www.coachella.com |
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly known as Coachella or Coachella Fest) is a three-day (formerly a one or two-day) annual music and arts festival organized by Goldenvoice held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley. The event features many genres of music including alternative rock, hip hop, and Electronic music as well as large sculptural art. The event has several stages/tents set-up throughout the grounds, each playing live music continuously. The main stages are: Coachella Stage, Outdoor Theatre, Gobi Tent, Mojave Tent, and the Sahara Tent (2006 also saw the addition of a smaller Oasis Dome).
The Coachella Music Festival has a desert setting (the city of Indio is a part of the Colorado Desert), with daytime temperatures frequently rising to over 100°F (38°C). The festival enjoys little cloud cover or shade. The temperature drops drastically after sunset.
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[edit] History
On the evening of November 5, 1993 the rock band Pearl Jam performed before almost 25,000 fans that stood and sat through the night on the lawns of Indio's historic and previously rock-festival free Empire Polo Club. Although band management had chosen this untested and under-developed site as part of the boycott of Ticketmaster and the Southern California auditoriums it controlled, the event established the new venue's suitability for large-scale rock events. Such suitability was not a given: the grounds, essentially one vast irrigated desert lawn, sit in one of America's hottest and driest spots, and the region's lightly populated towns, while having a history as resorts, are between one and five hours' drive from regional population centers (San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix).
Six years later, on October 9 and 10, 1999 (a mere three months after the disastrous Woodstock 99 festival) the first actual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (usually abbreviated simply as "Coachella") was held. Due to Woodstock 99's fires and riots, Coachella promoters weren't allowed to offer on site camping, a ban that continued until the 2002 festival.
About 25,000 people attended the two-day inaugural event, supporting headlining acts Beck, The Chemical Brothers, Tool, Morrissey, and Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Jurassic 5, DJ Shadow, and Underworld. Originally, promoters had hoped to make the event three days (Friday-Sunday) and even considered the UK band Massive Attack to be the third day headliner - but those plans never came to fruition. The event went smoothly, with the biggest complaint being the blistering heat. It is reported, however, that the event failed to generate any profit, which nearly put an end to the festival.
No festival took place in 2000, likely due to the financial troubles of the inaugural festival. In 2001, however, festival organizers decided to give it another try. They decided to move the event to April (to avoid the intense heat of the late summer), and it was only scheduled for one day, most likely due to a tighter budget. However, the 2001 organizers once again ran into some trouble organizing the festival. Just months before the event was to occur, promoters still did not have a big headliner, and the festival was once again at risk of turning a net loss. In a surprise move, promoters turned to friend Perry Farrell, and were able to bring a reunited Jane's Addiction to the main stage as the event's headlining act.
In 2002, the event once again returned to the two-day format, and saw a reunited Siouxsie & the Banshees, as well as headlining acts Björk and Oasis. The strong supporting acts helped prove to the community of Indio, California that the event was capable of bringing in money and ending without conflict.
Following the 2002 festival, Coachella began to generate large-scale interest, and the 2003 festival featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Beastie Boys (as well as a reunited Iggy Pop and The Stooges) drew the largest crowd yet. (This record, however, was broken by Rage Against the Machine's 2007 reunion performance which drew nearly 100,000 attendees.) Around this time, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival began to develop worldwide interest.
The 2004 event, featuring a reunion of the Pixies, as well as Radiohead, Kraftwerk, The Cure and a number of other major bands, was the event's first sellout, with 50,000 tickets sold for each Saturday and Sunday. Since then, the festival has continued to generate large draws due to strong lineups from top to bottom, including such bands as Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Tool, Daft Punk, and Massive Attack.
The 2007 show was extended to three days and included headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, a reunited Rage Against the Machine, and Björk, with all three headlining for their second time. Other notable performers included Arcade Fire, which had made a memorable 2005 Coachella appearance, LCD Soundsystem, Manu Chao, a rare American performance by former Pulp-frontman Jarvis Cocker, and Scarlett Johansson singing with a reunited the Jesus and Mary Chain.
Each year, the festival also features interesting installation art and sculptures. Most of the pieces are interactive, and provide entertainment and eye candy for attendees walking throughout the Polo grounds. Some of the works were initially created for the Burning Man festival. In contrast to the largely non-repeating roster of musical artists represented at the festival, a few of the visual artists, such as Robochrist Industries, the Tesla Coil (Cauac), Cyclecide, and The Do LaB, have appeared during several consecutive years at Coachella.
The 2009 event will be hosted for the first time a week earlier then normal. The new dates are April 17, 18 and 19 with the country festival, Stagecoach, to start the week after.
[edit] Coachella Camping History
In 2002 Coachella started to include tent camping as an option for staying at the festival. The camp ground site is on an adjacent polo field next to the venue grounds. The campground has its own separate festival entrance on the southside of the venue. Goldenvoice/AEG Live contracted out Kevin Lyman, owner/promoter of Warped Tour, Taste of Chaos, and Mayhem festivals, to coordinate and run the Campgrounds[1]. Kevin's campground employees are usually his friends or employees from the Production Office of his tours. Kevin also has a series of interns come out from Citrus College, they are paid a minimal day rate and given free camping for helping work the grounds. The first year saw camping attendance around 10,000. For the 2007 festival, it was reported that camping attendance was in upwards of 17,000. The campground includes a karaoke lounge, general store, and shower trucks (semi trucks with around 30 showers in the trailer)[2]. Kevin Lyman was also contracted out to do the Stagecoach Festival camping, which is usually the weekend succeeding Coachella. Unlike Coachella camping which is all tents, Stagecoach is mostly Recreational Vehicle camping.
[edit] Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival by year
- 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2006 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2005 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2004 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2003 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2002 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 2001 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- 1999 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
[edit] Musicians reunited at Coachella
[edit] Performers who have played more than once
In order to keep each festival unique and fresh, the organizers of Coachella tend to book performers who have not appeared at the festival previously. To date, there have been only 19 individuals or artists who have played at Coachella more than twice.
[edit] References
- Alexander, Donnell. "Big Things". Los Angeles City Beat. April 26, 2007. Accessed May 15th, 2007.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Coachella |
- Coachella Festival Official website
- Empire Polo Club Official website
- Palm Spring Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
