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Coachella 2011

Guest indie-anna

By Guest indie-anna,
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indie-anna Newbie

indie-anna

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Hi,

Having exhausted UK and European festivals I now want to venture further afield and exerience Coachella, but do not know a single person who has ever been. Would love to hear from anyone who has been from the UK, how did you get there, where did you stay etc and was it worth the effort to go all the way to California?

Much appreciated!

Indie-Anna

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Infinite Jest Newbie

Infinite Jest

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Hi,

I went in 2004, but I was already in the US for other reasons. I drove up from San Diego with a couple of my American friends, and stayed in a hotel in Palm Springs (I think? - it was about a 30-60m drive from the festival). I'm sure it would be easy to get rooms closer to the festival if you booked earlier. I would imagine you'd need a car - it's the US, probably not set up for getting public transport to the festival, though perhaps someone else can confirm this.

I know some people took campervans/mobile homes; I don't remember seeing anyone camping (it would be very hot and unpleasant anyway).

It was a good festival. Fairly corporate compared to something like Glastonbury, but generally well organised, from memory. Sound OK but not outstanding. Good mix of artists. Flaming Lips set got cut short because they were running late, which made me grumpy. Crowd seemed fairly relaxed, don't remember any hassles or anything.

Overall: Not as good as Glastonbury or Primavera. Better than Benicassim or Reading [though I haven't been to Reading in a decade or so]. Basing those comments on organisation, vibe, sound quality, etc, not music which will obviously depend on your taste. I probably wouldn't bother going all the way to the US just for Coachella, as most of those bands will play the European festival circuit in summer anyway; but it's worth going as part of a bigger trip to the US.

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parray Newbie

parray

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Hi indie-anna, ive been over to Coachella from Scotland twice, back in 2007 and 2008, thinking about making it back again next year.

Getting to Coachella is pretty easy to be honest, both times I went I flew into Vegas first, not for the ease of it more just because I wanted to go to Vegas for a couple of days! haha But both times I hired a car in Vegas and drove down to Indio, which is roughly about 350 miles and takes around 5 hours to do the drive depending on the traffic which can get pretty bad around LA. There is a railwaystation in Indio so you could probably get a train from LA down to there, I know that in 2008 Coachella actually ran there won train out of Union Station in LA, not sure if they still do though. There's also an airport in Palm Springs which isnt far from Indio so there are a few options for getting there, my preference would be to higher a car!

Both years I went I camped out at the Coachella campsite, to be honest I found it perfectly comfortable. They have good shower and toilet facilities, and the people who camp are usually a good crowd, there was a lot of talk about the supposed 'riot' in 2007 after Rage Against the Machine, but it was really nothing at all! The only drawback about camping is the heat, you'll get woken up around 6 in the morning with the suffocating heat in the tent, but you'll have to tolerate the heat the whole time anyway!

Hope this helps you out, if you've got any other questions just give me a shout and ill be glad to help out, still planning my trip for next year, so ill probably pick up extra little pointers as I go along!

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ABathingJert Newbie

ABathingJert

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Yeah, me and my girlfriend went over to Coachella this year.

In the end we were really lucky to get there. We flew out from Heathrow the day the volcano started erupting. Fortunately, our flight at 10am in the morning left, unfortunately, my mate's flight (the same as The Cribs) an hour and a half later didn't! Gutted.

Stayed one night in LA with a friend who lives over there then headed to the festival on the Friday. Indio's about a 2.5 - 3 hour drive east of LA. Really nice drive though and we only hit a bit of traffic due to some roadworks. We weren't camping but it's similar to Glasto, as in you can camp early before the music starts.

We stayed in a hotel in Desert Springs. We didn't wanna camp purely because of the heat. We left it pretty late booking our hotel and ended up paying a fortune, £270 per room per night. It was a pretty sick hotel though like, and we'd saved up to treat ourselves. We also paid $90 extra for a shuttle pass. This was 3 seperate shuttle lines which ran to a variety of hotels. It went really well, no hitches at all, getting there or getting back to the hotel after the festival.

The festival itself it pretty small, which I prefer to Glasto. 5 stages, 2 uncovered and 3 tents. And there's no boozing whilst watching the bands, you have to drink in designated beer gardens. At first I thought this was gonna be a right royal ballache, but to be fair the beer gardens are positioned so you can see bands from them if you wanna stay in there rather than head to the stage. Also, Americans can get quite arse-y if they've been waiting half a day for the headline act when you try and move your way up front.

All that said though, I loved it! It's an amazing setting for a festival, and an overall great experience. Needless to say I've booked my hotel again for next year. (My excuse is that my mate didn't make it this year, so I have to go again, don't I...?!)

The FAQ's on the Coachella website pretty much answer every question you might need answering and there's a forum too, although it's not the most welcoming forum I've ever posted on.

I'd definitely go. This year we're doing London > LA > (train to) San Diego > Las Vegas > San Francisco (You have to go!) > London and the flights were £660. Can't argue with that!

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rideincircles Newbie

rideincircles

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From a USA perspective,

I went to Coachella in 2007 and it was awesome. The lineup is almost always incredible and they seem to beat every other USA fest almost every year. That is the biggest plus. I heard this year was really packed and it gets way hot in the desert. It was 107F or about 40-41C the day rage against the machine played.

Coachella ranks about third on my USA festival list, Bonnaroo is my personal favorite which is more like Glastonbury than Coachella in regards to being all encompassing. It is a camping festival and you camp by your car and just go to the venue area to see all the shows. It's on 700 acres compared to Glastonbury's 1100 acres.

SXSW (south by southwest) is the most unique festival we have to offer. It runs from March and is based in fowntown Austin with around 2000 bands playing at every club, venue, parking lot and just about any open space located downtown. Most of the shows themselves are free, but not all and some will be impossible to get into (Muse at a club). Also, there are tons of shows with free Beer and drinks. I spent all day at Fader Fort Saturday and they had free beer for the masses.

I can answer more questions if needed, but I recommend SXSW for international folks, Austin is a funass town. Coachella still kicks plenty of ass, no reason to discourage that, and it;s one of the easiest fests to fly into, bonnaroo wouldn't be as much since you need all your camping gear and supplies.

Also, I went to Glastonbury this year so I can compare against that, but nothing really comes close other than who is playing.

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coxy99 Newbie

coxy99

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Are you nuts? That line-up is amazing. Me and my mate are planning our trip from the UK after this was announced yesterday. Not sure I can be arsed with the whole camping thing. Might try and book a hotel.

Seems the concensus is that a hire car is a good option..not really confident about driving in the US but will give it a go. If I can hire a manual I would do it...!

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Mariner Newbie

Mariner

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Posted (edited)

Looks like camping & lake cahuilla is sold out.

Guys, if anybody is still interested in going, 4-man Eldorado tents are still available for $1600. I'd be willing to get a group of 4 people together.

Hit me up on PM if anybody is interested.

Edited by Mariner
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rideincircles Newbie

rideincircles

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Coachella will be webcasting the hell out of the festival this weekend. not sure if there are any issues watching it overseas though. The quality was great last year.

http://www.youtube.com/coachella

Death from aBove

Warpaint

the Strokes

LAuryn Hill

Mumford and sons

It's somewhere around 60 bands and this year they have 3 channels.

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JC-Mo'Fucka Newbie

JC-Mo'Fucka

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Coachella will be webcasting the hell out of the festival this weekend. not sure if there are any issues watching it overseas though. The quality was great last year.

http://www.youtube.com/coachella

Death from aBove

Warpaint

the Strokes

LAuryn Hill

Mumford and sons

It's somewhere around 60 bands and this year they have 3 channels.

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