In case you haven’t read this blog in the past 3 months, I’m going to Coachella. I consider myself a seasoned festival attendee at this point, but I’ve never made the trip out west until now. And it just so happens that I haven’t talked about much else since I purchased that ticket way back in January, but now the day is almost upon us, so I figured I would share some tips and tricks I’ve learned over time in hopes that it can make your Coachella experience a bit more enjoyable. A lot of this is probably common sense, but it’s still nice to have a reminder.
** Since this list is somewhat lengthy (but hopefully useful), I’ve inserted a few rad tunes from Coachella artists throughout to listen to while you read.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up from Below
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PACKING
So it’s time to pack your bags. But what do you need to bring? Well, aside from the essentials, here are a few items you may not have thought about. I’m not camping for this fest, but a lot of these items are much more essential if you will be camping.
- Mini-flashlight: There is nothing more frustrating than dropping something in the grass at your campsite and trying to find it with your cell phone. You can get a powerful and compact mini-Maglite for about $10 and it’s worth it.
- TICKET! Do not be the guy who flies all the way across the country only to realize that you’ve forgotten to pack your ticket, rushing to arrange ridiculously expensive overnight shipping so you don’t miss the first day of the fest. I know it’s been sitting in a drawer out of sight for months in my case. Out of sight, out of mind.
- Car chargers: Unless you can wait in long lines to use recharging stations on site, make sure you have car chargers for your phones and ipods (for all that campsite rockin out). Plus I just read that even charging your Blackberry for 10 minutes will give you about a 25% charge.
- Small backpack: You will likely want to bring a few things into the fest with you so you don’t have to go back to your campsite once you’re on the festival grounds for the day. Even though you’ll likely pack up all of your weekend clothing in some sort of backpack, you dont want to have that stuff scattered all over, so bring an additional empty pack.
- Mini “first aid” kit: It would behoove you to bring a quart sized plastic bag with some essentials that you’ll want throughout the weekend. I usually have Tylenol, Tums (an absolute festival necessity), bandaids, allergy meds, nail clippers (nothing ruins a weekend like a painful hangnail. Or maybe that’s just me) and other things of that nature.
- DUCT TAPE: Duct tape cures all camping problems. Pack it.
- Collapsible chairs: Believe me, you’ll want a few of these when you’re sitting around the campsite. It’s also convenient if they have cup holders in the armrests, on account of all the burrs you’ll probably be drinking throughout the weekend.
- Dr. Bronners: Try to pick some of this stuff up. It’s a sort of all purpose cleaner. You can use it as soap, shampoo, or even to clean those pots and pans that you made breakfast with on your portable burner. It’s better than carrying a whole bunch of products and works pretty well.
- Bathing suit: While you probably won’t be swimming at the fest, a swimsuit can still come in handy. At Bonnaroo last year, there were trailers with a bunch of sinks. So we threw on the bathing suits, took the Dr Bronners and took “sink showers”. It wasn’t nearly as good as a real shower, but it did feel nice to freshen up a bit without exposing ourselves to the other hippies in attendance. Plus if you’re a chick, you can get away with shorts and a bikini top in the hot sun all day.
- EARPLUGS! It’s usually pretty difficult to get a good night’s sleep camping at a festival, but it’s damn near impossible without earplugs. There are lots of people around, and they usually are not afraid to blast their music at all hours of the day or night. An eye mask isn’t a bad idea either if you can’t sleep when it’s bright out. These things might help you sleep past 8AM, my standard camping wake up time regardless of how late I was up the night before. That is, until you get woken up by your flesh baking in the sauna that is a morning tent in the sun.
- Shade tent: It’s a bit of a hassle to bring and set up, but believe me, it is WELL worth it to have some shade to sit under in the mornings. If you don’t want to bring one, you can alternately hope that you have some nice neighbors who brought one that you can befriend. But do you really want to take that chance?
- Comfortable footwear: I know this goes without saying, but if you haven’t been, you probably aren’t aware of all of the standing/dancing/walking you’ll be doing. It’s better to be comfortable than fashionable in situations such as this.
- Sunscreen: Sort of obvious, but don’t forget to pack it. I know I did until someone reminded me.
- A hat: I never wear hats, ever. But it’s important to wear something on your head so your scalp doesn’t burn and peel, since you can’t apply sunscreen to the scalp in any sort of non-gross way. Believe me, you do not want your scalp to burn and peel. If the hat’s got a brim, it will help to keep you a little cooler too. So wear a hat, even if you never do. There are a million styles out there, I’m sure you can find one you like.
- TOILET PAPER: If you’re going to be using only the porto-johns for 3 days and nights, it is imperative to bring your own toilet paper, just to be safe.
ON THE WAY TO THE FEST
Above is a picture of the crazy amounts of windmills you might see on your drive in through Palm Springs (assuming you’re coming in from southwestern California). I just saw it for the first time in January, and it was pretty neat. Those of us coming from San Diego may also drive through Temecula, hence the contextually relevant song. Here’s a few things to remember on your drive into the fest.
Dirty Projectors – Temecula Sunrise
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- Charge up those electronic devices.
- It’s best to fill up your gas tank shortly before arriving so that you can run your car when needed to charge phones, etc (sorry environment!) without worrying about getting stuck. Plus who knows what traffic will be like? I went to a Phish festival and waited in stop and go traffic for 12 hours after exiting the freeway with no gas stations in sight (which, from what I hear, is one of the shorter waits that people experienced). Not sure what the traffic is like for Coachella, but better safe than sorry.
- For cooler purposes, I’ve found that it’s better to use those plastic blue liquid filled reusable ice things. I think that’s what they’re called at least. Bags of ice will melt all up in that cooler and get all of your food wet. And grilled cheese on soggy bread is unsavory to say the least. If you do have to use ice though, wait until you’re close to the fest (depending on where you’re coming from) to buy and throw in the cooler. A few hours can make a difference.
- Enjoy awesome playlists. Roll down the windows. GET EXCITED!
WE’RE HERE!
Remember that backpack I told you about? Here are a few things you can use it for, if you’re anal like I am. But also keep in mind that you’ll be carrying this with you all day. It’s best if you and your friends can all pack into one bag and then take turns carrying it.
Pavement – In the Mouth A Desert
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- Mini “first aid” kit: After your third round of carnival food, you’re probably going to need those Tums we talked about earlier. Although, to be fair, the food at these fests is typically much better than you’d expect. There’s always a wide variety of options and you can usually get away wiith something pretty healthy/not too scary for the stomach like corn on the cob, baked potato, plus a variety of veg items. I’m hoping that my Lollapalooza staple, the potstickers, will be in attendance.
- Long sleeved shirt/sweatshirt: In the desert, the days are excruciatingly hot (though as of now it looks like a bearable lower to mid 80s) and the nights get pretty cool. I’m planning on carrying some sort of long sleeve shirt to wear later in the day.
- Sunglasses case: I’ve destroyed many pairs of sunglasses from putting them directly into my pockets at music fests. Just bring your case in your bag and you can tuck them safely away when the sun goes down.
- Hand sanitizer: Porto-johns. ‘Nuff said. Bring hand sanitizer.
- TP: See above. You do not want to get caught in a compromising situation without some TP in your back pocket (both figuratively and literally).
- Sunscreen: Reapply liberally and often.
- As one of my favorite South Park characters says, “Don’t forget to bring a towel!” Although I hardly sit at these things and am not worried about the ground being wet or muddy, so I probably won’t be bringing one.
I would also advise you to bring snacks/camelpack/sealed bottles of water, but I guess these are Coachella no-nos. Although my friend Timmy did sneak in a liter water bottle of vodka into Lollapalooza two years back strapped to the inside of his leg, so anything is possible here.
GENERAL FESTIVAL ADVICE:
Faith No More – Epic
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This is definitely the raddest way I’m ending a post, assuming you clicked the play button above. I chose to end with this track because I fully expect an epic weekend. Including hearing this song live, which is going to be sort of nuts. Here’s some parting words of wisdom on how I like to do things.
- Planning your days: In my experience, I typically plan out my entire day ahead of time, then end up only seeing about half the people I planned on. This happens for a variety of reasons. The first is that I forget to take into account the time spent walking from one stage to the next. This is especially disastrous at Lollapalooza, which is arranged like a giant alleyway with the main stages at either end. But I hear Coachella is much smaller and more manageable. My advice is to have a general outline of who you want to see, but to play the whole day by ear. Some of the best acts I’ve seen were the ones that I decided to go to spur of the moment.
- Accept the fact that you won’t see everyone you want to see. There are going to be conflicts. You’re going to miss someone that’s on your list of “acts I am seeing for sure”. If there’s a conflict, just see how you feel beforehand and decide on the spot. Festivals are all about going with whatever you’re in the mood for at that moment, if you ask me, which you didn’t.
- When using the “restrooms”, depending on the setup, it’s best to find the most inconvenient porto-john and use that one. I’ve seen it all to many times when there’s a row of 100 porto-johns that there will be huge lines at one end and 10 at the other end with no line. Believe me, it’s worth it to walk the extra 20 feet. Alternately, if there are long lines at both ends of the area, try the ones in the middle. Besides the shorter wait, they’re also usually a bit less gross.
- There’s typically a lot to see and do at the fests aside from the music. Make sure you at least take in a little piece of the rest of the fest.
- Do NOT be afraid to branch off on your own. I know we all like to stay with our friends and enjoy things together, but if your friends all want to see one show and you want to see another, then go see the show you want to see. Don’t give yourself an opportunity to regret anything. Plus it gives you another opportunity to meet other cool people like yourself if you’re flying solo.
- USE LANDMARKS! Before you leave to branch off on your own, set up a meeting spot and time if you want to meet up with your friends again. Cell phones often don’t work in groups that number in the tens of thousands, so pick a spot ahead of time. And find big landmarks that are easy to spot from far away. Use these landmarks over and over again. At Lollapalooza, we always meet at the eyeball tower. It’s just easier that way. I hear Coachella has plenty of landmarks.
- Recycle what you can, and throw away what you can’t. Don’t be that guy that leaves his garbage lying around. Because I have to make it up to the environment after suggesting that you idle your car to charge your cell phone.
- Make sure to eat and stay hydrated, especially in the desert sun, it’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of the day, and before you know it you realize you haven’t eaten anyhting or had a sip of water all day. Although I prefer when you can bring a camelpack and drink from it all day, the bottles of water are only $2, so it’s not a total rip-off. Don’t be that person who passes out in the sun because you didn’t drink any water. At other festivals, there are usually lots of people giving out samples of various sponsor products, so try to snag some free bevs.
And finally, most importantly, have a fucking blast. Rock out. Enjoy every second. Take it all in. Dance like a madman (or woman). Meet new people. Listen to new bands. Everyone is there to have a good time, so don’t be a dick (or a vagina, if you’re a female) to other concertgoers. Let’s make it an epic weekend.
