To any indie rock music aficionado, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is an annual tradition. The event, held in Indio, Calif., plays host to some of the biggest names in independent music and changes its lineup yearly to account for the ebb and flow of the music industry.
After it was announced that the festival would take place over two weekends, the status of this year’s festival was put in question last October. The city of La Quinta prompted the Indio City Council to perform an environmental review of the event.
Even the Coachella faithful were wary of the change. Fans were initially less than enthusiastic about the change, thinking the doubling of the artists’ workloads would compromise their performances.
There were also worries that the massive flood of 75,000 campers per day would contribute to environmental damage in the area. The change from three days to six days concerned environmental protectors.
In an attempt to encourage concertgoers to camp more sustainably, festival promoter Goldenvoice has already initiated “Carpoolchella” and other sustainable measures.
Fortunately for the fans — especially the ones that had already preordered tickets — the festival is back and more popular than ever.
This year’s extravaganza will feature a more nostalgic lineup. Refused, At the Drive-In, Radiohead, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre are among the notable headliners, forming a sort of 1996 Music Industry All-Star team.
The emergence of these bands as headliners poses the question of whether or not this will become a trend in Coachella festivals.
A supporting argument for continuing onward with these influential artists is the rapid amount of time it took for the event to sell out.
The event sold out in nearly a week last year. This year’s expanded two-weekend schedule sold out in record time. The tickets for both weekends sold out in the same day, according the Coachella’s Twitter account.
The continuing shift of culture for Coachella is even more apparent with the inclusion of multiple popular electro artists. With the emergence of dubstep into the mainstream — all thanks to Skrillex, who is surprisingly absent from the lineup — the event has expanded its list to include Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack, Martin Solveig and Nero, among others.
Even these slight changes to keep up with the latest music trends have propelled the Coachella Fest to the top of a prestigious list of music events across the nation, including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, SXSW and Austin City Limits.
Coachella now has more of a national reach, attracting music lovers from all over the country.
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