I pushed my body to the limit last weekend all in the name of music.
I ventured down to the “Desert Empire” of the Coachella Valley in the Riverside County portion of the Sonoran Desert to partake in a mass cultural event: the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
The festival was in its 13th year. Held in the city of Indio at the Empire Polo Grounds, it is renowned for its musical lineup, a mix of the biggest names in music and rising up-and-comers, as well as its scorching temperatures. Acts as varied as Paul McCartney, Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, Prince and Jay Z have received top billing.
Coachella began as a two-day music festival in October 1999, attracting approximately 25,000 people. The start was apparently bumpy enough that there was no festival in 2000 and the 2001 show, which was moved to April and stands as the only one-day event in its history, nearly didn”t happen. Initially banned, camping was first allowed in 2003.
By 2005, the event had established itself enough to get five friends and myself to drive down from the Bay Area and check it out. An estimated 100,000 attended that year.
By 2007, the organizers added a third day and more acts to the festival, a move so successful that approximately 225,000 people attended.
After the 2011 event, it was announced the festival would be split into two identical weekends. When the lineup was announced in early January, it seemed like those in the know went bonkers all across the social media Internet sites, myself included.
The first weekend was already sold out, snatched up by people signed up for presale passes. Passes for the second weekend went on sale to the public January 17 at 10 a.m. The passes started at prices of almost $300 and sold out within two hours.
Somehow, I was able to log on to the Coachella website a few minutes before 10 a.m., refresh the page promptly and scored a pass. I did not hesitate and purchased it with glee.
I was interested in seeing at least 22 of the 136 acts announced in the lineup. The money I could have spent on individual tickets for each act alone more than made the pricey pass worth it.
As weekend one drew closer, I could feel my excitement for weekend two grow more and more. Festival organizers employed a social media campaign via Twitter and its website that made the festival interactive and customizable. It was brilliant and drew me in.
Once the first weekend concluded April 15, the Internet was abuzz with all the happenings from the event. Gangsta rap legends Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg closed out the weekend and spent more than $100,000 to bring back slain rapper Tupac Shakur for two performances by utilizing a sophisticated hologram computer program.
Aside from reading that, I avoided reading or watching anything from the weekend so I could enjoy it fresh.
The biggest difference between the two weekends was the weather. It rained the first Friday, and temperatures remained relatively tolerable the rest of the first weekend.
Such was not the case for weekend two. Temperatures on Friday and Sunday reached 102 degrees, and Saturday topped out at 106 degrees. Weekend two became part music experience, part physical endurance test.
Water was a precious commodity. At $2 a bottle, lines for water refill stations were incredibly long. However, festival organizers implemented a genius recycling program. For every 10 water bottles turned in, people received a cold bottle of water and points toward prizes.
I became a man on a mission and turned in approximately 270 water bottles during the weekend, earning a poster of the event and more than enough water to stay properly hydrated in the heat.
I also took advantage of the numerous cooling stations and employees with water blasters at the front of the stages whenever possible. Getting soaked was more than desirable.
While I was not able to watch every act on my list because five stages were going all at once, I wandered around often enough to watch about 25 different acts. I documented every act with both my cellphone and camera, loving every minute I was there. My entire body hurt at the end of each 12-hour day and I didn”t even care because it was worth it.
I drove more than 1,000 miles from Lake County to Indio and back, making a few stops to see friends in Los Angeles and the Bay Area after the weekend.
I wish I could properly explain what it”s like to be a part of 100,000 people going crazy for three straight days. It”s something that truly needs to be witnessed.
If you consider yourself a music lover, I encourage you to attend and partake in the craziness next year. It”s expected to continue as a two-weekend event. Presale passes might be released in June if you feel bold enough to buy without knowing who will play.
I”m going to wait until the lineup is announced in January to decide if I want to go again next year. But Coachella 2012 will forever be an experience I will not forget.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Twitter @KevinNHume.
