By Marissa Mooney |A&E Editor|
Coachella embraced the Empire Polo grounds once again with two weekends, three days, six large stages and 190 plus artists.
Golden Voice welcomed thousands of festival-goers from around the world to the music and art of the Coachella Valley. Even notable celebrities from Katy Perry to Solange Knowles scoured the polo grounds.
The desert heat, green grass and the palm trees framing the festival created a reminder of the annual festival’s environment.
The first Friday welcomed an exciting realm of bands and artists including Dillon Francis, Passion Pit, Modest Mouse, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tegan and Sara, Earl Sweatshirt and more.
Dillon Francis hit the Sahara tent earlier in the day to hype up the festival-goers for an exciting weekend ahead. The Sahara was filled with fans dancing and jumping to his DJ set.
As the day wore on, artists like Passion Pit, Modest Mouse, Beach House and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were interchangeably performing on the main stage and outdoor stage. It was easy for fans to run back and forth in between sets to catch everyone they wanted to see. Modest Mouse went over their set time which caused an interruption in their closing number and hit “Float On.”
Earl Sweatshirt and Tegan and Sara closed out Friday night with late start times which meant they couldn’t skip a beat at performing their full set. Young artist Earl Sweatshirt from Odd Future was supported by fellow member Tyler, The Creator at his set in the Gobi tent.
Tegan and Sara closed out the Outdoor stage with many long time fans singing along to even their most recent album Heartthrob.
All the artists performing Friday were a great welcome to the start of the weekend.
Saturday greeted many anxious Postal Service fans with the promise for a good day as they awaited to see their set that evening on the main stage.
Rapper 2 Chainz blew up the Mojave tent in the late afternoon, although 20 minutes late to his set, the first weekend, the famed rapper rocked the stage and performed for only 25 minutes of his 45 minute set time. He performed hits like “Birthday Song” and “I’m Different.”
Major Lazer featuring Diplo brought electric dance music to the Mojave tent rather than the infamous Sahara tent known for EDM acts like Bingo Players, Moby, and Benny Benassi. Major Lazer’s set was very hands on as they included fans in the popular Harlem Shake and the dance form “twerking.”
To close out Saturday night, Postal Service surprised fans when Jenny Lewis joined the stage alongside singer Ben Gibbard.
Phoenix surprised the festival-goers by inviting R. Kelly on stage to sing along with them. It was surely an interesting Saturday night for Coachella.
Sunday embraced the sad realization that Coachella was coming to a close. Female artists like Jessie Ware and Grimes filled the Mojave and Gobi tent with an amazing unique sound.
Vampire Weekend returned after performing in 2010 while Wu-Tang reunited to perform at the outdoor stage. The mass of people at Wu-Tang’s set filled all the way from the front of the stage to almost reaching some of the food vendors in the back.
By the early evening during Weekend 1, the wind whipped up and the sand began to blow all over the festival. People ran under tents, and huddled close to each other to try to bear with their dirt filled lungs and watery eyes.
Red Hot Chili Peppers didn’t hold up the crowd by hitting the stage on time to perform an almost two-hour set. The wind and dust didn’t get any better as fans of the band stayed strong and continued to enjoy the set.
Lead-singer Anthony Kiedis jokingly stated about the dust storm, “When I get home I am going to throw up a sandbox for my small child.”
Kiedis lightened the mood and the festival-goers put up with the heightened wind. Many people began to dwindle off and leave the festival as the dust storm began to get worse as the night wore on.
Another year in the bag for the Coachella music and arts festival and many more years ahead.
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