Coachella facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Coachella in 2018
Genre	Rock, pop, indie, hip hop, electronic dance music
Dates	Consecutive 3-day weekends in April (currently)
Location(s)	Empire Polo Club (Indio, California, U.S.)
Years active	1999, 2001–2019, 2022–present
Founded by	Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen
Attendance	250,000 (2017, two-weekend total)
Capacity	125,000

Coachella (officially known as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival) is a huge yearly event. It brings together music and art in Indio, California. This city is located in the Coachella Valley within the Colorado Desert. The festival was started in 1999 by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen. It is now organized by Goldenvoice.

Coachella features many different types of music, like rock, pop, indie, hip hop, and electronic dance music. You can also see amazing art displays and sculptures. There are several stages where live music plays all the time. Coachella is one of the biggest and most famous music festivals in the United States and the world. It has set new records for how many people attend and how much money it makes. For example, in 2017, 250,000 people went to Coachella.

What is the History of Coachella?

The idea for Coachella started with a concert in 1993. The band Pearl Jam played at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. They chose this spot because they had a disagreement with another company. This concert showed that the polo club was a great place for big events. Paul Tollett, who helped organize the Pearl Jam show, later thought of holding a music festival there.

Goldenvoice, Tollett's company, wanted to create a festival with many popular artists. They wanted to book artists who were cool but not always topping the music charts. In 1997, Tollett visited the Glastonbury Festival in the UK. He handed out flyers showing the sunny Coachella Valley, which was a funny contrast to the often muddy Glastonbury.

The first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival happened on October 9–10, 1999. It featured bands like Beck, Tool, and Rage Against the Machine. Tickets cost $50 per day. About 37,000 tickets were sold, which was less than they hoped for. Even though the festival was well-liked, Goldenvoice lost money.

How Did Coachella Grow?

After not having a festival in 2000, Coachella came back in April 2001. They moved it to April to avoid the extreme heat. It was a one-day event that year. In 2002, it became a two-day festival again. Big names like Björk and Oasis performed. More than 55,000 people attended, and the festival almost broke even.

In 2003, Coachella started offering on-site camping for the first time. This meant people could stay right at the festival grounds. The festival continued to grow, attracting 60,000 people that year.

A big moment for Coachella was in 2004. Radiohead and the Cure were the main acts. It was the first time all tickets sold out, with 110,000 people attending. People came from all 50 US states! Paul Tollett said this was when Coachella really became famous.

In 2007, Coachella became a three-day festival. The main acts included Red Hot Chili Peppers and Björk again. That year, over 186,000 people attended.

Adding a Second Weekend

In 2012, Goldenvoice made a big change. Coachella expanded to two separate weekends, with the same artists playing both times. This was done because so many people wanted tickets. Even though some thought it was a risky idea, tickets for both weekends sold out very quickly.

The 2012 festival featured the Black Keys, Radiohead, and Dr. Dre with Snoop Dogg. During Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's show, a special projection of the late rapper Tupac Shakur appeared on stage. It looked like a hologram and surprised everyone!

In 2013, Goldenvoice made a deal with the city of Indio to keep Coachella and the Stagecoach Festival (a country music festival) there until 2030. They also bought more land around the polo club for parking and other uses.

Recent Festivals and Challenges

Coachella continued to break records for attendance and money earned. In 2015, AC/DC, Jack White, and Drake were the headliners. Madonna even made a surprise appearance during Drake's show!

In 2018, Beyoncé became the first African-American woman to headline Coachella. Her performances were amazing and paid tribute to Black college culture. They featured a marching band and dancers. Many people called her performance historic. It was also the most-watched performance online, with 458,000 people watching live on YouTube.

The 2019 festival celebrated Coachella's 20th anniversary. Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, and Ariana Grande were the headliners. Ariana Grande, at 25, became the youngest artist to headline. That year, there were some challenges, like Justin Timberlake having to cancel and Kanye West's special Sunday Service performance.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coachella was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. It returned in 2022 with Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, and Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd as headliners.

In 2023, Bad Bunny and Blackpink were the main acts. Blackpink was the first Asian act to headline Coachella. There were some last-minute changes, including Frank Ocean withdrawing from the second weekend. Blink-182 stepped in to fill his spot.

Where is Coachella Held?

Layout and performance areas for 2016 festival

Coachella takes place in Indio, California, which is in the Colorado Desert. The weather can be very hot, sometimes over 100°F (38°C). The festival is held at the 78-acre Empire Polo Club. When you include parking and camping areas, the festival covers about 642 acres! It's about 125 miles (200 km) east of Los Angeles.

During the festival, many stages host live music. There are two outdoor stages and several large tents named after deserts:

• Coachella Stage – This is the main stage where the biggest acts perform.
• Outdoor Theatre – A smaller outdoor stage next to the Coachella Stage.
• Mojave – A mid-size tent for different kinds of artists.
• Gobi – Another mid-size tent for various artists.
• Sahara – A very large tent, like a huge hangar. It usually hosts the top electronic dance music acts. It has been made bigger and moved to a new spot for more space and better flow.

Other cool performance areas have been added over time:

• Yuma – A smaller indoor tent that started in 2013. It's known for playing thoughtful sounds and underground music.
• Sonora – An indoor tent introduced in 2017 for punk rock and Latin music.
• Heineken House – A small venue that started in 2014, known for special performances.
• Despacio – Used in 2016, this tent played "slow-simmering disco" music with a powerful sound system.
• Antarctic – An indoor dome that shows 360-degree videos. It's huge and air-conditioned!
• Quasar - An outdoor stage added in 2024 for long DJ sets.

What Kind of Art Can You See?

Two art installations from Coachella 2014: Lightweaver and Escape Velocity.

Coachella is not just about music; it's also a big show for visual arts. You can see amazing art installations and sculptures. Many of these pieces are interactive, meaning you can touch or walk through them. The art at Coachella has grown bigger and more amazing over the years.

In the beginning, some art was borrowed from the Burning Man festival. But now, Goldenvoice often asks artists to create new pieces just for Coachella. Artists have a short time to build their art before the festival starts. The art collective Poetic Kinetics has created giant moving art pieces for Coachella, like a snail, an astronaut, and a caterpillar that turned into a butterfly!

How is Coachella Organized?

The city of Indio helps a lot with Coachella. They provide police, fire protection, medical services, and other staff. To keep things fair for local residents, there are rules about how late music can play. Since 2010, music stops at 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and midnight on Sunday nights. If the festival goes over these times, Goldenvoice has to pay a fine.

How Does Coachella Help the Environment?

Coachella works with an organization called Global Inheritance to be more environmentally friendly. They have several cool programs:

• TRASHed :: Art of Recycling: Artists design and decorate recycling bins that are placed all over the festival grounds.
• Carpoolchella: If you carpool with four or more people, you can enter a drawing to win VIP tickets for life!
• Recycling Program: If you collect ten empty water bottles, you get a free full one.
• Refillable Water Bottles: You can buy a special water bottle and refill it for free at water stations.
• They also use solar power for DJ booths and have seesaws that charge mobile phones!

Coachella tries to recycle and compost most of its waste. In 2013, they recycled over 577 million pounds of materials!

Camping at Coachella

Camping started at Coachella in 2003. The campground is right next to the festival area. It has its own entrance. In 2010, they added more features like being able to go between the campsite and the festival easily. The campgrounds have recycling, a store, showers, phone charging stations, and free WiFi.

How Are Artists Chosen?

Paul Tollett starts booking artists for Coachella as early as August of the year before. He looks at which artists are popular at other shows Goldenvoice organizes. The process of choosing artists takes about six months.

Big artists who headline Coachella can get paid a lot of money, sometimes millions of dollars! Even other artists can earn a lot.

Coachella has rules called "radius clauses." These rules stop artists from playing at other festivals or concerts nearby for a certain time before and after Coachella. This helps make Coachella a special event. Goldenvoice also promotes smaller "Localchella" shows in Southern California before the main festival.

The Coachella lineup poster lists artists in different font sizes. The bigger the font, the more important the artist is considered. There are often big discussions about how large an artist's name will appear on the poster!

How Does Coachella Promote Itself?

Coachella used to avoid big company sponsors. But over the years, they have accepted some partnerships. For example, Heineken beer has been a sponsor since 2002 and has its own "Heineken House" venue at the festival. Other companies like H&M and HP also have sponsored areas. However, Tollett still doesn't allow sponsors' logos on the main stages.

Since 2011, YouTube has live-streamed performances from Coachella. This means people all over the world can watch the festival from home! In 2019, YouTube streamed both weekends for the first time. In 2023, they streamed performances from all six stages.

In 2016, Coachella even offered virtual reality (VR) content. People could get a VR viewer in their welcome package and watch 360-degree videos of the festival.

What is Coachella's Impact?

Coachella is very important in music and fashion. Many people look to Coachella to see what new music and styles will be popular.

The festival brings a lot of money to the local area. In 2012, it brought $254.4 million to the desert region. The city of Indio alone received $89.2 million in spending.

Coachella's success has led Goldenvoice to create other festivals at the Empire Polo Club. The Stagecoach Festival (country music) started in 2007. In 2016, they also held Desert Trip, which featured older rock legends like the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.

Coachella by Year

Awards and Nominations for Coachella

Coachella has won many awards over the years, showing its importance in the music festival world.

Billboard Touring Awards

International Dance Music Awards

Pollstar Awards

Images for kids

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  Daft Punk's performance at Coachella 2006 is often called one of the most memorable.

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  The 2012 festival during sunset.

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  Coachella grounds in 2013.

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  A view of the ferris wheel from the polo grounds during Coachella 2015.

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  The main stage in 2018.

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  Blackpink became the first Asian act to headline Coachella in 2023.

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  Coachella features Global Inheritance's TRASHed :: Art of Recycling campaign, where artists design recycling bins.

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  Fans attend a performance by Bassnectar at the Sahara tent in 2013.

See also

In Spanish: Festival de Música y Artes de Coachella Valley para niños