Confidence in Coachella Wanes
The past two weekends were supposed to be the biggest weekends for music of the year. However, many people found Coachella disappointing and underwhelming this year. The festival struggled to sell tickets that were heavily overpriced for both weekends. Perhaps the American music scene is reaching a point where Coachella is no longer as trendy as it once was.
In recent years, the festival has been an influencer frenzy. Many of social media’s biggest influencers have made the event a trendy and fashionable part of pop culture. This year saw a lack of influencers and celebrities showing up to enjoy the festival. Like many others, I watched most of the festival on the YouTube livestream.
Declining interest in the festival was shown not only in ticket sales but also in the thousands of people in the crowds. During the performances, many of the crowds looked “dead.” I would have to agree with this. The only time I saw genuine excitement from the crowd was during pop star Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO.” Rock bands like Blur and Bleachers did their best to put on entertaining and engaging shows, but the lack of enthusiasm from the audience made their shows difficult to watch from an online perspective.
Friday night headliner Lana Del Rey gave one of the most memorable performances in the past few years of the festival. She entered on a motorcycle through crowds of people in the most glamorous way. Throughout her concerts, she elegantly sang her hits and even invited friends to the stage, including Billie Eilish and Camila Cabello. Yet, her set had technical issues with her microphone and sound system.
The technical issues were not just unique to Del Rey. Electronic-pop artist Grimes also had issues during her first set. Rather than singing, she opted for a DJ show. Unfortunately, she was not as nonchalant about the issues as Lana was. Throughout the performance, track delays and looping issues resulted in her yelling and making the matter much worse. She apologized on social media the next day but continued to have similar issues the fol- lowing weekend.
As per usual, rapper and producer Tyler, The Creator brought a unique and larger-than-life persona to the otherwise yawn-inducing environment, bringing on surprise guests such as A$AP Rocky, Kali Uchis, and Charlie Wilson. The reunion of the ’90s alternative band No Doubt was another highlight of the festival. It was also nice to see singer-songwriter Sky Ferreira on stage again after being absent from music for a few years. Even with a few stellar performances, this year has shown that Coachella is not what it used to be.
The collective disapproval of this year’s Coachella may result in a future rebranding of the festival. I personally hope that this opens doors for other music festivals to become as successful and appealing as Coachella once was.