Chella Vibes
Coachella, Indio, California, April 10th-12th, 2015. The concept of "Coachella" was a foreign idea to me previous to the fall of 2011. When I learned what Coachella was all about-music, fashion, celebrities, and food-while sitting in a fashion styling class at LIM college, I knew I had to make my way out to the dessert. At 21 years old, it seemed an impossible trip to do on my own without the help of my California companion, my mother. There's no direct flights out to the dessert from JFK (& my mom simply wouldn't let me fly out of any other airport without her) and the hardest part was I would have to rent a car. Not only would I not know where I'm going, not really every haven driven out of the New York Tri-State area, but there's also extra insurance fees for renting a car under the age of 25.
Coachella seemed like a dream that would never come to life, until I watched the live stream on AXS at my uncle's house in 2014. Flipping through my uncle's maxed out Verizon Fios cable package of channels, we landed on Cage the Elephant playing the Coachella stage as the sun was setting. It was in that moment I decided I would go the following year. It didn't matter how, I was going to make it happen. In September 2014 I started planning a trip I knew nothing about. Where does one stay in the dessert? I'm certainly not the type for onsite camping, sorry not sorry. What's the difference between General Admission and VIP? Is it better to do a layover or drive 2 hours from LAX? I was pressured to put all my effort into planning the trip of a lifetime before the lineup was announced and prices hiked. I didn't even know who was playing the show, but I knew I had to be there.
Coachella is an unnamed experience. The hype of seeing celebrities in festival fashion jamming out to their favorite bands with their friends is an indescribable excitement. Even if by this time celebrities were sponsored by brands to be seen in their clothing at the festival, and what looked like paparazzi pictures were planned photo shoots. I learned this by sitting in my favorite spot at the main stage. Like clockwork, every 15 minutes groups of celebrities would come skipping out of VIP looking natural and "not paying attention" to the cameras as they walked to the other VIP section all the way on the east side of the Empire Polo Grounds. They literally did not have to interact with the General Admission heathens at all aside from their paid publicity stunts. That doesn't make it any less special that I witnessed this with the likes of Gigi Hadid and Cody Simpson, the Victoria's Secret Angels, and Julianne Hough to name a few. There are some celebrities that have peasant friends in GA like McLovin (who's real name I did not know until I googled it to write this-Christopher Mintz-Plasse!) who we stood next to during Vance Joy's set at the Mojave tent. There are also celebrities who are legitimately there to have a good time, even if their time has passed, like when Paris and Nikki Hilton skipped along and someone exclaimed, "Who's that?" and another bystander, "Is that Paris Hilton?" and finally, "She used to be cool."
What's actually more fun than the celebrity sightings though are the sponsored tents. The sponsor that gained the biggest buzz in 2014 was Sephora for their flash tat services. I had been collecting flash tats ever since I knew I was going to Coachella, and of course I was not prepared to actually apply them lacking basic tools like a scissor. I figured I'd save mine for another time and take advantage of the Sephora tent. I picked a gold palm tree so big is covered nearly my whole upper arm, but I figured I'd scrub it off later and get a new one the next day. NOTE TO FLASH TAT USERS: THEY'RE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET OFF!!! These are not normal tattoos! There is not enough soap or rubbing alcohol in the world to remove one of these bad boys after only being applied 24 hours before. Needless to say I rocked my palm tree for all of Coachella, and for my return to New York at that.
The best surprise of Coachella 2014 was the introduction of Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. I knew that name. Familiar with Jack's Mannequin? Remember Something Corporate? This man is my adolescence. From standing room only shows in NYC to the Outdoor Stage at Coachella, it only made "Dark Blue" that much more magical. I don't know what was better, reliving my high school days or matching a name to the wacky haired dude on the billboard going down the I-10. Day in and out on the way to Coachella, we couldn't figure out the meaning behind the fathead billboard on the side of the highway. It was clearly a Coachella advertisement, but what was this sorcery? When The Weeknd closed out the Main Stage, it was like seeing fireworks. Firstly because all the dots were connected, but then more importantly because he is amazeballs.
On a similar note, I was most excited to connect a face to Fitz and the Tantrums on the third evening of the festival. For those of you that have worked in retail, you know the monotony in listening to the same playlists over and over again that can really make you hate a song. There was only one song on all of the Tiffany & Co. playlists that I had never heard before and loved it so much I needed to find it. After hearing it countless times, I ran to get my phone to Shazam it so that I could download it as my own. This beauty of a song is called "Out of My League" by Fitz and the Tantrums. When I saw they were on the bill for Coachella that year, I couldn't believe it. Truthfully it was too cool to even be on the Tiffany & Co. playlist, and now it was even cooler because it was going to be played at Coachella. I was pleasantly surprised to see how big of a following they had as there were bigger acts up against them at the same time. Dancing under the neon lights to their funky, fun, and laid back vibes was truly more just a dream (to quote the lyrics of the song).
Sidebar, let's talk about food. I would not consider myself a foodie by any means, but let me tell you the food vendors at Coachella are to die for. With LA's best food trucks and restaurants as vendors, how could they not be? From mac and cheese grilled cheese to Coolhaus make-your-own ice cream sandwiches, I would literally go to Coachella just to eat. The amount of things you discover at this festival is unreal. Three 12+ hour days of festival and there still isn't time to see and do everything!
Who would have thought that the merch tent at Coachella would have enough items to fill a small store?! We waited until the third night to buy our souvenirs since we were weren't aware we could have bought a locker. Of course me and my boyfriend picked the same sweatshirt because I have refined taste and passed it on to him, naturally. This amused a high concertgoer who said in great excitement, "Did you know you're wearing the same shirt?!" You don't say! (Note to readers: the dessert is nearly 100 degrees during the day, but then it drops to the 60's at night-and boy do those winds pick up off the mountains. Needless to say, I could have really used that sweatshirt the other two nights!)
There couldn't have been a better closer for the weekend of a lifetime than Mr. Aubrey Graham himself, the one and only, Drizzy Drake. From Degrassi to "One Dance", I grew up watching and listening to this super-talent of a man. Drake hyped the crowd with a message from his momma who told him, "I need you to go on that Coachella stage tonight and I need you to kill that muthaf* *ka", and that was enough to make the crowd go wild. And just like that Coachella weekend 1 was done. It took me three days to understand the sandstorms I had heard about. When the whole festival leaves at the same time, get your sunglasses out and cover your mouth because the sand is about to kick up and consume you. I'm glad I anticipated it because it made it that much easier to deal with. But even after that little bit of trauma this place was incredibly hard to leave.
The idea of not going back the next year gave me major FOMO and it had only just ended. My name was written all over that presale in June, a whole 10 months in advance. Who even knows what they'll be doing 10 months from now? Well I knew I was in for round two; if there's a will there's a way. I had successfully passed all of the obstacles that once stood in my way and now I knew I could do it again. So in honor of the Coachella lineup being announced every September, who do you hope to see play the 2017 festival?
