MF #11
Coachella 2017 – Weekend 2
Date
April 14th – 16th, 2017
Location
Indio, California
Reason
Fun
My girlfriend and I were headed to Coachella! This all happened very quickly. We had only been together for about two months. Two weeks before the event we had no tickets, no plan, and just a slight dream of going to the show. Resale tickets were pushing $700 each and there was no way I could spring it.
Just by chance, one of my college friends Nic decided to change his Coachella plans from Weekend 2 to Weekend 1. He was looking to get rid of his Weekend 2 tickets ASAP, and offered to sell them to me at cost. I texted Kelly to see if she was interested. She responded immediately – YES – and told me to send a Venmo request for her ticket.
While we had secured tickets, we still needed a place to stay. The campgrounds were completely sold out, so we had to get creative. Nic returned from Coachella Weekend 1 on Monday with news of an amazing location – Vestal Village – a private event put on by the Vestal Watch Company at a campground that had a large pool, an open bar, and a stage with live music nestled into the side of the mountain, all next to a lake. The event was invite only. It was the proper VIP Coachella experience.
To get inside, you had to apply for an invite through their website or know someone involved. We had no connections, but I filled out my application anyway. Crucially, I also had Kelly fill out an application. As an attractive blonde female flaunting her ASU sorority on her Instagram, she received an invite to the party in just a few hours. Unsurprisingly, I never heard a word back about my application. Luckily, Kelly could bring a friend with her according to the invite, so once again I found my way inside.
Waking up at Vestal Village
If we wanted to camp, we did have to pay to stay for the weekend. This was another ~$300, which Kelly’s parents generously offered to cover. They wanted us to have a good time together and this setup sounded perfect. Several Craigslist ads offered backyard campsites for the weekend at around ~$150, so Vestal Village was the obvious choice.
We drove down from Santa Clara to Vestal Village on Thursday, arriving relatively late in the afternoon. We checked in, found our campsite, and set up our tent. Once we were set up, we walked over to the common area to meet our fellow campers.
Meeting the rest of the campers was very interesting. Everyone was very nice, but this weekend was marketed as the “Recovery Weekend”. Me, Kelly, and about 20% of the crowd just assumed this meant we were in for a little less action during the day party. For the other 80%, they were planning on staying sober for the weekend. It turns out there was not going to be an open bar this weekend.
Coachella Car Campers get a single spot. This is better.
As the sun set, Kelly and I went on a long walk around the amazing campground. We were in a beautiful scenic location. We were both bristling with excitement. We couldn’t wait for the weekend to start.
We spent the next morning relaxing by the pool, enjoying the views and the music, but mainly just killing time until we could get on the shuttle and head to the event. We got on one of the first shuttles of the day, and made our way into the venue around 3pm. Security getting off the bus and into the campground was insane, but we made it inside the event unscathed and with all of our supplies.
Our first big set of the day was Big Gigantic at the Sahara Dance Tent. We wiggled our way to the dead center of the crowd before the show. This was Kelly’s first music festival. Suddenly, the music started. The crowd surged and all we could do was dance along. Was this too intense of a start? I kept Kelly safe and right in front of me. I caught her eye and she was smiling ear to ear. By the time Big Gigantics set came to close we were soaked in sweat and ecstatic. We fought our way out of the crowd and reconnected over the experience.
Big Gigantic with a live band – Coachella 2017
One set in and Kelly was already having the best time. We had made the right choice going to Coachella. We spent the rest of Friday bouncing from set to set, enjoying the entire experience while exploring the venue. My only disappointment was finding porta potties on site. At Desert Trip, every single bathroom was an air conditioned trailer. Now, I found myself entering horrible blue plastic boxes. How could they pull it off for Desert Trip but leave the Coachella crowds to suffer?
We made our way back to the Sahara Tent planning to see Empire of the Sun. We wanted a good spot for the show, so we arrived early during Steve Angello’s DJ set. In true Coachella fashion, he brought out a full drumline to perform with him. It was quite the show and my first time experiencing any of his music. There’s nothing better than finding an artist brand new to you at a music festival, and this was an insane performance.
Despite the powerful opener, Empire of the Sun lived up to the hype. While everyone knows their hit song Walking On a Dream, the entire show was high energy and impactful. I found myself singing along to multiple songs that I knew, I just didn’t make the connection that they were performed by Empire of the Sun. The entire show from the lighting, the costumes, the visual effects, and the music all worked together to produce a world-class performance.
Empire of the Sun performs at the Sahara Dance Tent
We stayed for Dillion Francis, but as soon as his set was over we made our way back to the shuttle station and returned to Vestal Village. Back at camp, I grabbed a few beers and Kelly and I walked over to the common area. Joining the crowd, I ended up sitting next to one of the workers who had set up Vestal Village. Not part of the sober crowd, he graciously accepted my offer of a free beer and started telling us about how he works these events all year long, and once per year he and his friends pay to go to one festival for fun.
This year, they were going to an insane music festival on a private island in the Caribbean. They were flying to Miami right after Coachella, where they were all meeting up before taking the final private flight to the show. This was the first time I heard the name Fyre Festival. My new friend had picked Fyre Festival as his one paid event of the year. If you’re not aware, Fyre Festival turned into a complete failure/international embarrassment/fraud which has since starred in several documentaries on HBO, Netflix, and other platforms. While we never exchanged contact info, I watched the meltdown at Fyre Festival happen in real time knowing I had a friend there who was caught up in the insanity.
Despite the new friends, Kelly and I retired to our campsite early. Tomorrow was set to be a big day.
Enjoying a morning stroll by Lake Cahuila at Vestal Village
Vestal Village had the biggest day party of the weekend on Saturday. While it still lacked the open bar,, the crowd swelled and we spent the morning relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere at the pool. Given our current environment, we were in no rush to get to the hot festival grounds. We enjoyed the pool into the afternoon and caught a later shuttle to the event around 5 pm.
Kelly had recently left ASU and some of her friends were at Coachella. We arrived at the festival grounds and met up with her friend group for Future. This set was hilarious. DJ Esko had a guy helping him DJ the performance while wearing a bobblehead caricature of DJ Esko. Basically two DJ Esko’s were on stage at the same time. The crowd rapped along with every word, and from the front to the back the entire crowd was dancing and having a great time.
I lit up a joint, something I had begun to do casually at music festivals without ever running into a problem. Just as I was exhaling my first hit, security tapped me on the shoulder. He shouted – “Is it loud?” I responded, “Of Course!” and held it up to him. He took a sniff, said “Oh, it’s loud! You’re good.” and proceeded to let me go to the cheers of the crowd. Pretty funny stuff when the security gets in on the fun.
After Future, Kelly and I took off by ourselves. Tonight was our main molly night and we didn’t need any distractions. Nic had provided us with pink pressed pills featuring the Tesla logo. They came with an amazing review, and we were up for the experience. I filled up my camel back as we each took one of the Teslas. We were about to have a good night.
Martin Garrix was performing at the Sahara tent. We arrived early, made our way dead center, and moved as far forward as we could during the set change. We were in a perfect position. While I had seen Martin Garrix a few years prior at Firefly, he was no longer a 18 year old DJ. Now he was a grown 20 year old killer ready to light Coachella on fire. The set was incredible. It wasn’t just the individual songs, the entire show had a continuous theme. The theme was to be here right now. Focus on the people that are here with you. I focused on Kelly. She focused on me. Together, we danced the night away without a care in the world. I had never felt so close to a single individual.
The show ended and we both felt an immense amount of emotion. We were both dealing without our own issues in life, but through this experience we felt connected. Kelly and I got away from the music and found a nice palm tree to sit under. We needed to talk and that’s what we did. We talked about our problems, about each other, and about the feelings we had felt during the show. After the talk we decided to head back to Vestal Village. While there was still music happening, both of us had gotten our fill for the night. The Martin Garrix set was so impactful we decided to call it. We walked back to the shuttle and headed back to camp to spend some one on one time with each other.
Kelly and I woke in the morning and both felt at ease. We were as close as ever. The previous night was exactly why we decided to do this trip together. We got to know each other on a deeper level. Now that we had gotten that out of the way, the only thing left to do today was to have fun.
Vestal Village was exhibiting “last day of the festival” vibes. There was no official entertainment at the pool today. Sensing an opening, one of the workers pulled his DJ equipment out of his car and plugged into the sound system. He proceeded to play an amazing spur of the moment beach-house set for our last day by the pool.
We decided to head in to the festival early as it was our last day. Inside the event we swung by the merch booth, picked up some chicken tenders for lunch, and proceeded to the main stage early to get a good view for Grouplove. While it was a mid-afternoon set, it was still the main stage at Coachella and Grouplove put on a high-energy show. We were in perfect position, next to the sound booth and just a few people back from a barricade separating the crowd. We had lots of space to dance and a perfect view for one of my favorite sets of the weekend.
Grouplove performing on the Coachella Main Stage
After Grouplove, we wiped away all the good vibes by heading to DJ Khaled. This was one of the worst sets I’ve ever seen. How can you get famous by yelling your own name? DJ Khaled needs to stay inside the studio where he belongs.
Galantis followed up DJ Khaled in the dance tent and had to work hard to fill the place back up after half the crowd left during Khaled’s antics. While I was enjoying the show, Kelly was determined to get in a good spot for Kendrick Lamar, so we left early. Kelly was right as Kendrick Lamar is just about the most talented rap artist I’ve ever seen live. His show was incredible. While I knew most of the songs, Kelly sang along with well over 90% of the words as she smiled ear to ear. It was awesome watching her watch one of her favorite artists perform live.
We caught XXYYXX at the silent disco on the way out. We were having such a great time we pushed it to the last possible moment. The last shuttle bus to Vestal Village was supposed to leave at 2 am. We arrived at the shuttle stop at 1:50 am, ecstatic to have made it on time. Around 2:30 am it was becoming clear that we had missed the bus. Kelly was wearing a small belly shirt and I was trying to keep her warm in my t-shirt. There was nothing left to do but to bite the bullet and call an Uber. That’s exactly what we did. We made it back to Vestal around 3 am – tired, cold, but happy to be alive. It was an insane adventure and a fantastic first Coachella for the both of us.
