For kids growing up in Los Angeles, attending Coachella is a rite of passage. The cool kids got to go in high school, while those of us who worked on the high school newspaper didn’t make it until college.
But over the last few years, Coachella has lost a little bit of that magic. It fell in love with pop. It got overrun by influencers. It felt less like a music festival and more like a convention. It got too dang big.
The festival had suffered through a tough stretch, shutting down during the pandemic and then failing to sell out the last two years in a row. Tollett, the concert promoter who started the event in 1999, wanted to book some A-list acts to ensure the malaise wouldn’t continue into a third year. And he knew exactly who he wanted: Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna.
But both passed, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Coachella has become a victim of its own success, according to several people familiar with the booking process. Fans expect the festival to offer them an experience they can’t find anywhere else. While Lollapalooza can get away with booking the same acts as many other festivals, Coachella can’t.
Posted by cmaia1503
4 Comments
I have a friend who goes every year but just for the smaller acts – he enjoys it every time because he’s just really into music.
If you’re going for the celebs and influencer BS it’s probably going to be an overpriced mid/subpar experience.
i wonder if they lowballed kendrick and rihanna. rihanna was also in her 8th month of pregnancy in ’22 and ’23 during coachella time. artists get paid like $1k for superbowl but they cover production costs up to a point while coachella is out of pocket. their offer is probably not high enough because she went and performed a 19-song set for a billionaire’s wedding party this march.
>For kids growing up in Los Angeles, attending Coachella is a rite of passage. The cool kids got to go in high school, while those of us who worked on the high school newspaper didn’t make it until college
my hs missed the message i guess lol, at most maybe 3 people a year went and usually it was the same friend group each time
I’m more surprised how many artists and fans continue to perform and attend a festival that’s owned by Philip Anschutz, who is a staunch conservative and hard anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, has financed pro-charter-school propaganda (Waiting for Superman), owns The Weekly Standard and through festival, has directly contributed to gentrification in the Coachella Valley.
[A quick profile of the man](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/style/article/2022/04/15/meet-philip-anschutz-the-very-conservative-boss-of-progressive-coachella_5980693_40.html)