Natalie and I went to the Coachella music festival in Indio (Palm Desert), California, last weekend. It was great to get away for a few days, as we departed on Thursday evening and returned the following Monday. The weather was beautiful, and we had a grand time shopping at the posh stores of Palm Desert.
The music festival line-up seemed impressive: New Order, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, etc. We were really excited about the prospect of listening to some of our favorite bands. However, festivals tend to attract large numbers of people, and all of the annoyances associated with them.
Most notable of the annoyances was the issue of trash. There were literally no trash cans in sight. People will only use trash cans if they are conveniently located. Someone who has to spend more than 5 seconds visually searching for a trash can will most likely dump their waste on the ground. This is what happened during Coachella: trash was everywhere. Water bottles, cardboard boxes, paper flyers...everywhere. It was nearly impossible to leave the festival on a good note because the sight of so much trash was visually disturbing.
Second, the security protocols were horribly designed and enforced. Pens of any sort were not permitted on the grounds, which resulted in an overflowing basket of pens at the start of every line. I'm sure most of the pens were thrown away, when instead they could have been donated to a needy school or non-profit organization. Also, there weren't any trash cans in the line, resulting in the trash problem mentioned earlier. And no beverages could be brought onto the grounds. Twelve-ounce bottles of water were being sold for $2, and beer was being sold at the outrageous price of $7. The no-beverage policy certainly guaranteed the concert organizers a sizable profit.
While I was impressed by the performances at Coachella, I don't think I'll attend next year. The performance environment is just as important as the performance material. And the environment at Coachella has become less tolerable over time. I think I'll stick with small-scale concert performances in the future.