When fans buy tickets for Coachella, the iconic music festival that draws stars and influential crowds that want to bend their social media in the desert in California, they probably do not think about where they will pee while waiting for the entrance.
However, it was some who paid for parking cars and the camp in the place where they struggled at the end of last week, and the fans reported long expectations to get to the festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
The user Tiktok @notiss wrote that her group was waiting in their cars for 10 hours, calling it “dehumanization”.
“People literally use the bathroom behind the bushes, such as animals, and they paid over USD 600 (USA) to be here,” she said in Thursday movie.
For fans who went to Coachella, it was only the first obstacle, and the participants reported that the food options were even more expensive than usual. This, in combination with complaints to lete, crowd reactions from fans watching live broadcasts and some musicians, have a lot wondering: simply, who is Coachella for: artists, festivals or fans watching from home?
Stage of recognized and emerging stars
Coachella is easily one of the biggest music festivals in the world, known for attracting one of the most famous names in music that stuff stunning performances.
This year's event, which started the first weekend last Friday with Headliner Lady Gaga, will continue this weekend with performances from recognized acts such as Missy Elliott, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Charli XCX, Green Day and Travis Scott, among countless others.
In the case of bands such as beaches and peaks, two Canadian groups that debuted this year Coachella as part of the main composition, the festival is still an exciting opportunity.
Coachella has always been a “wishes festival” for Jordan Miller, the main singer of Rocker from Toronto The Beaches.
“If you were a really nice band, you would play Coachella,” said CBC News. “And so we grew up with dreams about it.”
With a new album, No hard feelingsPublished in August, the team after Hit 2023 Blame Brett They were excited to bring their sound to the audience.
During Sunday, the beaches issued surprises – the Australian artist G Flip, who helped write his new single, Last girls at the party.
A surprised guest is the base of Coachella: Charli XCX made Troye Sivan, Lorde and Billie Eilish; Queen Latifah went to stage with Megan Thee Gallion; And the US senator Bernie Sanders presented Clairo in a speech in which he called the crowd to appear to the administration of US President Donald Trump and “fight for justice.”
Any caviar on your self -circuits?
TOPS, four-price dreams from Montreal, approached the Coachella concert, but they never materialized-and this year.
“It was said that this could happen several times and I never believed that it would be like that,” said guitarist David Carriere. The band said they were most excited about playing new music in the Coachella crowd, teasing that they were releasing a new song in the next few weeks.
Although the two members of the band had previously participated in the festival as fans, it was completely new for Carriere and the leading singer Jane Penny, who said that “almost outside my price range, unless I was reserved as an artist to be honest to be honest.”
Coachella tickets start from around $ 539 (USD 752 CDN) to an overall admission to one of two weekends and can reach over USD 1199 (USD 1,673 CDN) for VIP cards.
And this does not affect food or drinks.
Although artificial elements of the menu, such as chicken self-tongues, crowned with caviar for 100 USD and pop-up luxurious experience of Omakase, run by the chef Nobu Matsuhis-Pradic Price offer, according to participants.
“The food has always been expensive, but I go to my tried and real favorite food racks, which return to the festival every year and suddenly does not cost $ 7, it is 9 USD,” said Kristi Cook, influential, which has participated in every Coachella since 2017.
Cook, which runs Spill Sesh, a series reporting on pop culture, said CBC News that this year a friend bought a “small sandwich”, which cost 27 USD.
“It's crazy.”
Live or live?
Another sign of disconnection between festivals and musicians was the crowd's summer reaction to some of the greatest musical names. Cook, which says that she generally spent her time at this year's festival, she mentioned that she was surprised by the lack of dance during the Lady Gaga set, despite the energetic, creative performance that quickly gained praise online.
This is because her performance was live on the Coachella channel on YouTube. This is a service offered since 2011, but in the last few years has become a larger part of the event.
Cook claims that some performers clearly take part in live broadcasts during their performances, aimed at creating viral moments that circulate outside the festival.
“I definitely think that this is more than the participants for which it is all,” she said.
Penny notes that live broadcast was one of the things that made Coachella a “good opportunity” for TOPS.
“We have as many friends and fans as we tune,” she said.
But live broadcasts did not calm the complaints about the weak audience of Coachella – many who watch online, commented that the crowds are not as scrubbed as they believe that they would be if they were present.
Even the artists combine in the shade. The singer Benson Boone led the legendary guitarist Queen Brian Maya during his Coachella performance. Later he wrote ticks in which he pretended to react to a quiet audience, writing: “I am trying to make the crowd in Coachella understand what the absolute legend of Brian May and the cultural influence on music and the world is.”
But complaining about Coachella is part of this experience, says cook because everyone wants to be involved at these moments of pop culture.
“It's a kind of fun with all this because it creates a conversation and people love to talk about things.”
Some complaints regarding the festival are higher rates. Toronto DJ Bambia, who was invited to appear on the Coachella stage to Lab last Friday, made available on the weekend on Instagram that during her set the equipment was provided with “incorrect” and that the artist who was warned against her. She said that she thought Coachella should, as a “absolute minimum”, provide work equipment, considering that she was not paid for her appearance.
“It can be safely assumed that we would be larger artists on the main stage, this problem would be established far during the day of the show,” she wrote.
CBC News contacted Coachella for a comment, but did not receive a response to the publication.
Criticism that the festival is too expensive and also bends a bit in Cachet of Celebrities and supporting “is fair”, according to Miller beaches – but he says that she also saw other festivals trying to use trends. For her, a performance in new crowds makes everything worth it.
“This is still an extremely popular music festival and regardless of why people do not necessarily participate, it can be a great opportunity to win your name and band from new people,” she said.
“A concert is a concert at the end of the day.”