#coachellafest

Coachella is home, literally. I was born in the city of Indio and grew up in the Coachella Valley. For the 18 years that I lived in the desert, the only thing that was ever special about this place was Coachella fest. 

I grew up watching the festival become what it is today. I grew up heading to school in the mornings during the month of April passing the Empire Polo Club, grabbing a glimpse of the festival being built year after year from the ground up. I grew up dreaming that I could experience what thousands of people came to experience at the venue. 

I never had the money to go to the festival, I would see all the rich kids from school show up to class with their wristbands in their hand bragging about being 15 and on their 3 year going. When I finally got my first job at the La Quinta Kohl’s, I saved every paycheck so I could go to the festival during my senior year of high school. $375 dollars to be exact. 2013 came around and I finally had my chance to go, and let me tell you...I was hooked. I realized after that year, that I would come back again and again just to feel what I felt during those three days. For having grown up in the desert, Coachella felt like a whole different world, a world where everyone shared one common interest and that was to listen to and enjoy music. 

There is something nostalgic that I feel every year as I pass the windmills by Cabazon and make the exit on Jefferson. Coming home and coming to the festival are synonymous not only because I grew up here, but because over the past 7 years the festival has felt more and more like my thing. Every year I learn new ways to navigate the venue, and I start noticing where the least crowded beer gardens are. I have also learned that getting to the venue early is key, that the crowd you go with makes the for the entire experience, and to never step foot in the Ralphs at the corner of 50th and Jefferson during Coachella weekend. 

This year marks the 20th anniversary for the festival, this year the festival was also postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now scheduled to take place in October. To all my Coachella friends reading this… it is April 10th, which means today would have been the first day of Coachella, and it is gloomy and raining (maybe things do happen for a reason) 

This year, in response to the postponement of the festival and as a way to commemorate the 20 years that the festival has been in the valley, YouTube and Goldenvoice gave us a 1 hour 43 minute documentary showcasing how the festival came to be and highlighting some of its most iconic moments.

Here’s a little recap of the documentary and story of Coachella: 

Back in the late 90’s Southern California was starting to become the hub for all new music. LA became the birthplace for young and upcoming artists. At the time Paul Tollett, the President and CEO of Goldenvoice, was a promoter and a relatively minor player in the national concert scene until he and his team decided to create a festival in my hometown. 

The set up was as follows, during that time the ticketing giant ticketmaster held the majority of contracts with SoCal venues. Meaning they also held the power to dictate ticket pricing for events at those venues. Pearl Jam was on a tour and had planned a stop in LA at one of the venues held by ticketmaster, however prices for that concert were so high that the demand was very low. Pearl Jam as a result decided to look for another venue that wasn’t managed by ticketmaster, a place where they could sell their tickets at the price they wanted. After some talks with Paul Tollett the Polo Empire Club became the spot for a 25 thousand people concert, a concert that would soon give Paul the idea to start the now famous festival. 

Paul couldn't afford to maintain the scene of bands like Pearl Jam, so he started looking at a different music genre, Electronic music. Like Punk Rock, the rave scene had its own world, Paul began to ideate a festival that looked like Organic, a 1996 festival that would become Southern California's first legitimate dance fest. Drawing inspiration from this festival and the European rave scene, Paul came to Goldenvoice with the idea of a 3 day event he would call Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In 1999 the festival was born. 

Coachella became a cultural and musical hub for people of all walks of life to come together. A festival that would blend the sounds of Rock, Electronic, and Hip Hop for 35 thousand people in its first year. Nevertheless, financially the festival did not work out, with a 850 thousand dollar loss during its first run.  

Paul and the team who put the festival together wanted to see the festival succeed, 2001 was the first year the festival saw some financial gain but not enough. A year later as Paul put it, was the year they “got it right”, and in 2004 the festival began to turn a profit. 

Here's a brief rundown of some of the milestones for the festival: 

In 2004 the festival brought The Pixies, an American alternative rock band, back together for a performance. This performance marked the benchmark for the years to follow, and established Coachella's notoriety with bringing legendary bands back together. 

In 2006 Madonna became the first mainstream hitter to perform, not only did she perform at the festival, but she performed at the dance tent, a billing that gave way to the festival being able to garner popularity for all its stages. 2006 also saw Daft Punk’s iconic performance and visual setup. A setup that would make Coachella the birthplace for new visuals and audio concepts for many DJ’s. 

In 2007 Rage Against The Machine reunited at the festival. A performance no one believed would ever take place. From this performance, Coachella began to gain its respect and place in the festival scene.

In 2010 Tiësto became the first EDM performer to make it to the main stage. That same year, we saw a breakthrough in the Hip Hop scene at the festival, with Jay Z headlining one of the nights. 

2011 became the first year the festival began to livestream on YouTube, it also became the year that the festival sold out for the first time in less than a week. From this high demand, Paul saw the opportunity at a second weekend, and therefore in 2012, Coachella introduced its 2 weekend set up.

Near the end of his headlining set at the 2012 festival, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre brought what is arguably one of the most iconic performances of the festival. They both performed next to a hologram of the legendary Tupac Shakur, a culturally defining moment for Coachella. 

Years later in 2018, Beyonce would become the first black woman to headline Coachella. A billing that allowed the festival to represent a more fuller picture of culture, gender, and race. 

And in 2019, Kanye West got introduced to the billing months after the lineup was published, when he decided to bring his iconic Sunday Service to weekend 2 of the festival.