Well, it’s ten days after Coachella and the wounds are healing. We managed to make the most of a disasterous weekend by driving through Joshua Tree, reading all the posts we could find on the web about everything going wrong at Coachella while we weren’t there, and then starting this website, facebook page (facbook.com/clsterfckchella) and Twitter (clsterfckchella). By Monday, we were feeling a little better and now it seems we’ve moved on from it all. Some of us bought tickets to local shows of Coachella bands we missed, others dove straight back into work, and all of us started dreaming about next year and how we hope to get back what we lost.
But that got me thinking. Even with all of the rants and raves, blogs and articles enumerating the things that went wrong at Coachella, what assurance do we have that Goldenvoice will make any changes. And if they do, will Coachella actually go back to what it was before? Goldenvoice can reinstate the single day ticket, get rid of the writstband system, limit the camping, limit the number of people, get rid of ins and outs, organize the acts on each stage better and find a way to get rid of scalpers/counterfeiters, but will Coachella ever be the same again.
On my flight back to San Francisco on Tuesday morning, I had the joy of listening to several groups of guys/girls talk about their Coachella experience. What I noticed about these particular passengers was that they were not people I would hang out with at a music festival. They were young, trendy, douchebag types. Coachella was essentially a whole new world to them and they loved it. It didn’t seem to be about the music at all to them. In fact, I hardly heard mention of any of the bands that played. It was more about what they did (drugs, drinking, staying up late, acting ridiculous) and who they ran into (friends, celebrities, etc.), than the quality of the music. They went not for music but really the experience. And I guess there’s nothing wrong wtiht that. But is this the Coachella-goer of today and of the future? Will all of the rest of us get tired of these people and stop going.
We’re definitely going to go in 2011 to find out if Coachella has been forever lost. I’m hopeful that the amazing atmosphere, vibe, music, style, and crowd will return next year. But at the same time I won’t be surprised if the festival never gets back what it lost.
clusterfuckchella 