Coachella

[mccdyl001]

Social media is making a lot of noise this weekend about Coachella. As a fomo sufferer, how does it compare to Glastonbury? Could it be compared to certain areas of Glastonbury (or to certain UK festivals, like is it an American V-festival). Or is it a chalk and cheese comparison and Coachella is a one of a kind?

[Spindles]

Chalk and cheese from what I have read. Strict controls on alcohol and smoking, extremely corporate, it sounds unrecognisable as a festival to me from the description of the setup on their website.

[Slugworth]

Line up comes close.

Experience must come no where near.

I have never been Coachella but to only be able to drink in designated areas must be lame.

[Gnomicide]

80° right now though.

[bennyboi]

Line up comes close.

Experience must come no where near.

I have never been Coachella but to only be able to drink in designated areas must be lame.

That's nucking futs! I'd be pretty jarred off if I'd spent all that money to spend a long weekend doing literally whatever I wanted to only to be told I can't drink/smoke somewhere!

[Icewulf]

Their NFR NFC thread must be really really short.

[Matt42]

Imagine Glastonbury's lineup attended by the people who go to creamfields and v festival.

[morph100]

Average

[dentalplan]

Imagine Glastonbury's lineup attended by the people who go to creamfields and v festival.

Don't have to imagine.

[SirDaniel]

Their NFR NFC thread must be really really short.

I think they have NFDS NFC

[bennyboi]

Looking at site maps & aerial pics I didn't realise it was so small!

[Wooderson]

I've been to Outside Lands and really enjoyed it. Coachella has a whiff of bullshit off it. A "social media" festival if ever there was one.

[WS_Jack_III]

I was told Bonnaroo is the place to be when it comes to American festivals.

[Wooderson]

I've a ticket for Lockn this year. Bonnaroo does look super tho.

[the wonderwhy]

Eagulls and Cloud Nothings are up first on the live stream. Worth checking out if you've got nothing better to do

[bennyboi]

I've been to Outside Lands and really enjoyed it. Coachella has a whiff of bullshit off it. A "social media" festival if ever there was one.

To back up that point, "couchella fashion" comes up really high on Google, hit it and there's a million blogs and articles on what the birds are wearing. I know there is an element of that at glasto but seriously wtf?!? Regardless of if you've showered that morning your going to be sweaty and drunk by mid afternoon who gives two shits what your wearing!

It makes a flippin' mint too!! It's all a bit too polished & glam to call it a festival, I'd call it a show.

[Bisque]

I went for a day when I was working as cabin crew. Not much hassle getting in but it's more like a three day Wireless festival than a camping one. We feigned being foreign & ignored the drinking rules but you still felt like you had to be "careful". Bloody expensive & anything in a tent sounds shite. c**ts everywhere, couldn't avoid them either as they hear our English accent. Got a few homophobic comments sent our way too. Chances of pulling are low as you don't have enough money or cba to go to a bar.

[bennyboi]

There's no late stuff either, once the stages shut its bed time.

I went for a day when I was working as cabin crew. Not much hassle getting in but it's more like a three day Wireless festival than a camping one. We feigned being foreign & ignored the drinking rules but you still felt like you had to be "careful". Bloody expensive & anything in a tent sounds shite. c**ts everywhere, couldn't avoid them either as they hear our English accent. Got a few homophobic comments sent our way too. Chances of pulling are low as you don't have enough money or cba to go to a bar.

Sounds a bit weak really, I think the states are quite far behind us on the homophobia front anyway.

I think pulling is alway a challenge at external camping festivals anyway if your not camping there.

Edited April 10, 2015 by bennyboi

[klipper]

I just love that swans are playing coachella this year. Seems like a fucking odd choice for both of them (the festival and the band).

Edited April 10, 2015 by klipper

[Gnomicide]

Just looking through this year's line up. Without investigation, 6 bands I'd want to see all weekend.

[WS_Jack_III]

some decent stuff on as always. Last year you could do a handy google calendar thing with the schedule but i can't figure it out this year.

[Spindles]

re: the fashion, the official site links to a h+m site devoted to a whole range of clothing for the festival, so you can dress up as a festival drone. Madness. They seem to have taken the image of festivals and turned it into a theme park.

[Matt42]

I've been to Outside Lands and really enjoyed it. Coachella has a whiff of bullshit off it. A "social media" festival if ever there was one.

I'd love to go to Outside Lands! Was visiting my family in san francisco the day it was on, was hoping to become one of those lucky people who hovers round the gate and is able to buy a ticket from someone desperate on the day! Was in the mood to see Macca!

[punkrawkjoe]

I apologize in advance for the essay, but having been to Glastonbury twice now, and Coachella 4 times, here's my take:

It quite simply does not. Other than the lineup, anyway. There's quite a bit of overlap there, but mostly Pyramid/Other/Park/JP type of acts. They don't really book West Holts type of acts. And certainly nothing you'd see in the Circus/CabaretPoetry/Greenfields/etc. Not being all that up on electronic music, I can't fully speak on that, but I know it's pretty big at Coachella, especially in the tents at night. Not late at night, mind you, because EVERYTHING shuts down by about 1, maybe 2am. There may be a few electronic acts finishing up after the headliners are done, but that's it. At that point, you leave the festival grounds and walk back to the camping area, which is essentially a giant parking lot (sorry, car park), where you have a 10x12 ft space in which to fit your car and your tent. There are a few "art installations", a silent disco, and a roller rink set up in the camping area, but again, all of this shuts down shortly after the headliners finish. There is nothing to do at night, except party in your campsite, with whatever beer you brought. You walk by a lot of campsites having their own "parties" and a few of them are friendly enough to invite passers by to join, but there no real community spirit, just a lot of hipsters/bros/basic chicks (for lack of a better term) walking by yelling COOOOCHELLLLLAAAAA!

That said, I've only ever camped at Coachella. A lot of people stay in hotels or rent houses/condos and take the tram to and from the festival. From what I've heard, it's easy to be lazy, wake up late, and spend the day poolside to beat the heat, not getting into the festival until 4 or 5 in the evening. I've heard there are a lot of sponsored after parties where secret sets can happen, like when Thom Yorke showed up and played a DJ set a few years ago. But again, having never done Coachella that way, I can't say too much about it.

As far as inside the festival, as I said, it's no comparison. Getting in is similar, I suppose, as when the gates open, you wait in a line similar to when the gates open at Glastonbury, which can take well over an hour, as they thoroughly search you on the way in. The problem with this (aside from the music starting when the gates open, so you often miss the reason you were trying to get in early, anyway), is that it's often 90 degrees + (F) and nobody has water, because you can't bring it in and I've seen more than one person pass out from heat exhaustion while waiting to get in, on more than one occasion. As mentioned above, there are beer gardens. So IF you're over 21, you go to an ID check, and get a wristband that gets you into the beer gardens, where you can buy $8 Heineken, Heineken light, or surprisingly, Strongbow. I believe there are some mixed drinks sold, but they are even more ridiculously expensive. They place the beer gardens so that you can see/hear the main stages, but you are quite a ways away, and the one that faces the second stage has ridiculous sound bleed from the main stage. That's actually a problem all over the site, which is as mentioned above, quite small.

Last but not least, the other huge difference is that there is nothing to do there but watch music. Arguably, that's why you're there, but the ability to wander around Glastonbury and stumble upon all sorts of not musical entertainment is a big part of what makes it so special. So at Coachella, if you've got a big gap in your schedule, you can check out the few "art installations" they have on site, take a ride on the ferris wheel, or use that time to make the hour walk back to your tent for warm clothes/food/booze.

Anyway, I think that more or less covers my observations. Long story short, they share some bands and not much else.

[bennyboi]

re: the fashion, the official site links to a h+m site devoted to a whole range of clothing for the festival, so you can dress up as a festival drone. Madness. They seem to have taken the image of festivals and turned it into a theme park.

Your right, the yanks have seen and read about the Kate moss types partying at glasto and thought "I want too look like that & Id love to show people on facebook just how cool I am but I don't want to get too wasted, dirty"

Oh well I'm sure they still have a good time but they don't know what there missing.