coachella.

I’m home, tired and trying to reconcile the feelings, experience and musical magic of the last few days. I now understand the draw for the 10′s of thousands (closer to 100,000) of people from all over the world who have the means to travel to Indio, California to experience a festival like no other. When I saw the line-up for Coachella this year I just wanted to go to Day 2 (Saturday), then I discovered the band Little Dragon, saw I had just missed their stop in Los Angeles and vowed to see them on Day 1 (Friday). I bought a 3-Day pass for Fatima and myself and began a countdown to a weekend I would soon obsess over. The thought of three days in the desert scared the shit out of me as I don’t deal well with large, dirty & sweaty crowds. My sisters thought I wouldn’t last a day but I lasted two. I sold my wristband to some girl from OC on Day 3 (Sunday) and called it a show. I actually didn’t care too much for most of the artists on Sunday aside from Thom Yorke and Julian Casablancas but they didn’t care enough to bring the rest of their band members so I think we’re even. Prior to start of the festival, Fatima sold her ticket on ebay for a substantial profit being that she wasn’t nearly as excited about Coachella as I was. I figured going by myself would be another experience in itself and made like my favorite Star Wars character, Hans Solo.

Day 1

Fatima and Robin dropped me off at the back entrance to Coachella, Lot 2 to be exact. I was greeted with a line that was about a thousand people deep and not moving. I busted out the sun screen, made a couple of friends and waited, waited and waited. The natives were getting restless and Calle 13′s set time loomed so I joined in on restlessness. They’d just started playing and I was still in line with about two hundred peeps in front of me. A shit faced aristocrat wearing a Dodgers hat noticed my Dodgers t-shirt and struck up a conversation that made the next fifteen minutes feel like two. I was in, I bee lined it to the main stage and caught about half of Calle 13′s performance. They were great, not spectacular but I enjoyed their jovial spirit. I then bought a couple of bottles of water, threw one back, stored one in my bag, walked around a bit, grabbed a beer in the garden and headed over to the Mojave tent and waited to see Ra Ra Riot. They were good but halfway through the set I realized how many teenagers were there. I started to get annoyed and thought I’d head over to the main stage and grab a sweet spot to see The Specials. As I waited for The Specials’ set to start I realized it kind of sucked being there solo. Coachella is like sex; yes, you can do it alone but it’s a lot more fun with at least one more person. The Specials hit the stage and boy was I impressed. These dudes are in their fifties and put out more energy than a six year old on coke. Speaking of six year olds, there was a kid sitting on his dad’s shoulders singing along to every Specials song. This performance really got the festival started for me. As I was walking back to the beer garden I ran into Favi, an acquaintance who I feel comfortable calling a friend at this point. She had ventured on her own to see The Specials and was trying to find her friends. We headed over to the Outdoor Stage and half watched the Passion Pit performance. The sun was starting to set and the festival was taking a turn towards chaos. I mean, you could just feel it. Also, what is it about white people and large open spaces? They just start to dancing like jackasses? Is this in the DNA? Anyway, the setting sun created such a visually stunning atmosphere for Passion Pit. They were pretty fantastic but it was way too crowded to get close to the stage. I was pumped to see them but was disappointed by the enormous crowd. Eh, a glimpse was enough. Alas, Favi found her friend and we soon found ourselves eating shitty hamburgers. We split up and I was on my way to the Gobi tent to see none other than Little Dragon. It was such a meaningful performance for me. They were my 2nd reason for going to Coachella and they delivered. I can’t find the right adjectives, metaphor or analogy for their performance but this is why people come to Coachella, for moments like this. I left a new person and headed over to the main stage for Jay-Z and caught a glimpse of Vampire Weekend: queue up the white people hippy dance in open grass fields. Hilarious. Jay-Z was late and I didn’t stay until the end but what I did see was crazy. He opened to “Run This Town” and when Rihanna’s voice appropriately rang, “Feel it coming in the air and the screams from everywhere,” I think anyone within an earshot got a serious hit of goosebumps; I know I did. Jay-Z is no joke. That boy is blessed, as am I.

Day 2

One of the many lessons Day 1 taught me was that one requires a healthy level of stimulation to truly enjoy and tolerate the overall Coachella experience. Marijuana is perfect for this but given the fact that I don’t smoke Marijuana I opted to throw back a few beers before my arrival to the venue; Dodger game stylo. Sure, you can pay $7 for half a pint in the beer garden but who wants to do that all day? Anyway, I arrived with a nice buzz and supplemented that with a couple of half pints in the beer garden soon after I had met up with Favi. I was in a good place when Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes took the stage in the Outdoor Theatre. I enjoyed their performance but they are much better on record than they are live which kind of surprised me. Anyway, they were fun to watch and I’m glad I saw them but they didn’t blow me away. I headed over to the Mojave stage to see Gossip. Damn, they were hella entertaining. They had me and that tent rocking. I’d heard a lot about them leading up to the show but didn’t think they’d live up to the hype. They most certainly did. I tried to meet up with Favi which proved near impossible and caught The xx in the process, another hyped up band but this one didn’t deliver. Their sound is reminiscent of The Cure minus the stage presence of Robert Smith and not nearly half the talent. Two songs in, I was bored and sorta coming down from my buzz so I headed to the Dolab and rested a bit. A girl casually walked by and blew pink chunks twenty feet from me. I giggled, took pictures, watched more white people hippy dance in open fields of grass, giggled some more and went back to the beer garden. I bought a slice of pie, had another beer and patiently waited for Aterciopelados in the Mojave tent. In a matter of five minutes, an empty tent was sardine solid and I was about ten feet from the stage. Andrea Echeverri is a sight to see. She’s not traditionally beautiful but is gorgeous in every other way. I am in love with her soul, her music, her view of the world. This was thee highlight of Coachella. Little Dragon was amazing but Aterciopelados reminded me of why I love being Mestizo, why the experience of having conflicting blood of conquerer and the conquered can bring about a deep understanding about humanity because quite frankly, colonialism literally runs through our veins. Yet, we strive to not see flags, color, borders, etc. I love this band and I love that I saw them at Coachella. Few things in the world of music can compare to this. I’d given up hope of meeting up with Favi again and quickly made my way to see MGMT. As I was approaching the Outdoor Theatre and looking for a spot to chill I felt someone tap my arm. There was Favi with friends in tow. We chatted while MGMT did their thing. As one can imagine, there was a huge crowd for them and I actually enjoyed every bit of it. Tens of thousands of people singing along to “Time to Pretend” was a moment I will probably remember for the rest of my life. We decided on leaving Coachella after at least a few songs by Muse later that night so we headed back to the Mojave tent to catch Majer Lazer. We were there for less than five minutes before we realized Muse had taken the stage and headed over to see them. Muse was probably the biggest surprise for me. I’m not a big fan but fell in love with their live, grandiose stadium style performance. Their performance of “Starlight” was another, “Oh shit, this is fucking amazing, I feel fortunate to be here,” Coachella moment that people will talk about for years to come. That song reminded me of my family and friends and I felt compelled to call my sister Claudia hoping she could experience a snippet of what I was but she couldn’t hear a thing. Fatima had arrived and we made our way to the exit.

Like I said at the beginning of this piece, I didn’t go to Day 3 of Coachella. I sold my wristband and opted to swim and drink in the confines of Robin’s family Palm Springs home. Part of me wished I had gone to Day 3. I had already developed the tolerance and still had energy enough for another day but the artists weren’t enough for me. Besides, there was no guarantee I would see and actually stick with Favi, who was an awesome partner in crime while in the beast that is Coachella, for better or worse. I found we shared a similar experience in feeling like we’d been at the festival alone, just tagging along. I was thankful to have her there and I hopefully found a friend in her. I missed a lot of artists that I really wanted to see mostly due to set time conflicts and the like but that was okay with me. L.A. Is a mecca for live events and Coachella will always be there in April. While it does suck to be alone in a sea of strangers in the process of it all I discovered that I really like myself. I’d debrief performances in my head and think about what was happening around and think to myself, “Ha! Lucio, you are one cool dude man, I’m glad I’m you.” These are the things that happen at Coachella my friends. Yes, there are moments where annoyance is in the forefront of the mind. Dudes, jumping into one and yelling in our ears, drunk fucks stumbling about (wait, that was me), long lines, portable toilets, white people hippy dancing in grass fields (I can’t get over this one) and on and on. In reality Coachella is an amazing experience, be it the music, the drugs, the people, the atmosphere or a little of everything. In all likelihood I will return but this time with girl and/or friends/family in tow. I can’t wait.