Every year we patiently wait for Coachella, although prices are extremely high, housing is limited, the dessert is uncomfortable, and it not really a pleasant experience, unless you have a VIP or artist wristband. But it wasn’t always like this.
Coachella started as a two-day-concert, a Pearl Jam concert, all because the guys were fed up with Ticketmaster and high-cost tickets, the irony, so they found a spot in the dessert; Coachella Valley, to put up a concert for fans, low cost, and no Ticketmaster administration. If pearl jam didn’t stand up against the fees, we might have never known Coachella.
They named it Coachella as an accident, they meant to name it “Conchilla”, but a printing error changed it to “Coachella”, and it struck. Over the years the valley adapted to the name, even though the festival is held at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio. The Valley has a large farmwork population, especially immigrants. In 1965, The Coachella Valley Grape Strike, help define the farmwork movement. Given its name, the festival takes over the attention of a hard-working population.
The first Coachella Festival was held in October 1999, with Tool and Rage Against The Machine as headliners. Tickets cost $50 a day and was named “festival of the year”. But it was a financial bloodbath. This was partially about timing, the festival has held a few months after Woodstock 99, and as we know, that was quite a show. After 1999, insurance costs rose and ticket sale dropped.
Coachella skipped 2000, and returned in 2001, as a single-day event, and it was then where they slowly rebuilt.
The success came from booking artist that were trendy but not necessarily chart successful. Wich gave them credibility in the music industry. In 2004, known as the turning point for the festival, was the first sellout, with Radiohead as headliners. After that, big artist started to headline, artists like, Björk, Daft Punk, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Kanye West, and many others.
Around 2012, Coachella stopped being just about music, it started focusing in fashion and social media as well, as we know it now.
This year’s Coachella has Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G as headliners. And many firsts for the festival. Justin Bieber is the highest paid artist in history, highest ticket demand, most goggled performance ever, most viewed performance ever, most expensive tickets ever sold, and highest merch sales, in just the first weekend.
We only hope for rockstars to take over Coachella again, or for an artist to boycott Ticketmaster that way.
Keep Rocking x Paulina
Keep Rocking by Paulina 
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