Coachella 2017 || Lisa's Weekend Two Experience

Coachella finished strong with more room to play with and more attendees to entertain than ever before.

At first, I was okay with missing Coachella 2017, but after seeing how amazing the performances on Weekend 1 Livestream, I had to go to weekend 2! I bought a ticket on eBay with a car camping pass and made my way, alone, to the Empire Polo Fields of Coachella.

Looking for the car camping entrance was not as easy to get to at 7 pm Friday night but I made it through by 8 pm with only my scissors taken away by Staff Pro. I sent up my tent with help from my neighbors then walked 15 minutes to the entrance gates. The security checkpoint was super smooth and was in the festival within minutes. Even in the dark, I could how much bigger Coachella was this year with the expansion. The distance from mainstage to the Outdoor, Gobi, and Mojave stages looked arduous but doable. I was more concerned about the sound between the Coachella main stage and Outdoor stage and listening for any overlap. I had no friends to go stage to stage with so I took my sweet time at Coachella in my own little festie bubble for most of the festival.

Overall, Coachella is still one of the many festivals I continue to enjoy. I love the diversity in the music selection and how Coachella never feels like the same for me. There might be the same food vendors, some repeat artists, same stages but that never really mattered. The artists themselves are always giving their best on the Coachella fields and each headliner had their own unique stage set up for the festival.

I agree with Sydney about Coachella needing more water stations or water stations actually facilitated by people. The water stations towards the end of the festival more closely resembled a kitchen sink with a broken garbage disposal. Most water stations run by volunteers or people often added ice to the water filters to provide cold water like EDC does. Given that there was more space and even an outdoor artists food hang out, Coachella has the space to add a water station near the entry by the lockers or even near the main stage by the general store in the back area where the 2016 Besame Mucho sign was. I’m looking forward to the next Coachella and seeing what Beyonce brings to the Coachella fields. Here are some of my thoughts from 2017.

My highlights of this year’s festival…

The Music

1. Hans Zimmer

When you think about a Coachella lineup, who would even think or imagination to have Hans Zimmer playing? Not me. Kudos to Goldenvoice for adding Hans Zimmer and the live orchestra for this year’s Coachella. I loved how powerful the music was that it silenced the audience. I was close enough to the stage to witness people mesmerized by the “Bane Theme” which sounded extremely powerful and raw live than in the movie theater. Zimmer selected some of his most powerful tracks that destroyed any notion that orchestras would not have a place at music festivals. From playing select tracks from the Pirates of the Caribbean series to closing with Time from Inception, Zimmer and the live orchestra was flawless. The Outdoor Stage was packed for this performance but I only wished Lorde opening with “Magnets” from the Coachella main stage didn’t spill over to the set. It was an amazing set that I hope will allow for Zimmer to return to Coachella for a future performance. Meanwhile, catch Hans Zimmer on tour coming to a city hopefully near you soon!

2. Porter Robinson & Madeon

Though there were microphone issues for their last Shelter live performance, both Madeon and Porter Robinson’s sunset performance in the Coachella Mainstage on weekend 2 was a dream coming to an end for many fans as seen on facebook groups as hundreds of fans searched looked for Coachella Sunday wristbands to see them play one last time. This was my second viewing of their show and my favorite since the performance was outside and there was enough space for everyone who wanted to see them perform. There was space for everyone to dance and enjoy this stunning sunset performance. The beautiful part of this show was the effort of both artists to mix their own songs with each other’s, for example, Madeon’s “Pay No Mind” melody combined with Robinson’s “Easy “with MatZo. Combined with a really strong setlist that they created, you could also tell how much work went into testing the visuals and lasers with the music to make the performance unforgettable and convert any electronic naysayers at Coachella to their music. My thanks to Coachella music organizers for putting Porter Robinson and Madeon on the sunset set so we could compare their digital beauty and music to the beauty of a California sunset. Though it was sad to see them end their collaborative performance, I eagerly look forward to the new music they have in store for fans in the years to come.

3. Grouplove

The most energetic performance of Day 3 on the Coachella stage has to be Grouplove. I have only listened to a handful of their songs but the minute the Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi step out wearing metallic doorway fringe from party city, the set was electrifying. The band exuded massive amounts of energy as though they were playing their last set ever. They were constantly fueled by the audiences’ energy and gave it back to them. I found myself rocking out to their fun track, “Shark Attack” and “Tongue Tied.” Hooper gave an intro to “Tongue Tied” being a song created to just hanging out with friends and dance to the music. At the end of the performance, Ryan Rabin dove into the crowd for some crowd surfing. He was so unrecognizable as the drummer that a security guard almost didn’t let him walk backstage.

The Food and Drinks

1. Cupcake Vineyard

I have a major sweet tooth so naturally, when Cupcake Vineyard announced they would be serving their Poptails at Coachella, I went to go get one on day 3. It was delicious. I selected their new Cupcake Rose with a strawberry and tangerine flavored popsicle.

2. Corn Dogs and Crab Fries

There are many different types of fries in the world such as garlic parmesan or carne asada fries, but my favorite at Coachella will be the Crab fries that come with some lobster meat and crab meat aioli which was delicious. I wish I could have bottled up that aioli and have it on my fries for life. Even with the $11 price tag, I paid for it.

3. The Power Smoothies

Power smoothies were my favorite for weekend 2 in given me some much-needed fruit as I selected the Strawberry Banana over the Mango Pineapple flavor. I often get leg cramps that hurt so bad due to lack of potassium. The fact that the smoothies came out chunky with ice made the heat of weekend 2 more bearable. Sadly, I wish they gave a bigger portion of a smoothie when each smoothie costs $10 per cup but way more satisfying than the lemonade stands which were $9 but the lemons in the cup filled up a quarter of the cup space and didn’t provide enough hydration.

The Art

One of the first Coachella art pieces I fell in love with was the Giant Astronaut in 2014 where it moved around the polo grounds and when it stopped. You were able to shoot a little video with your face inside the astronaut’s helmet. I also enjoyed the three stages of a butterfly for Coachella 2015. This year, there were no moving art installations at Coachella on the polo grounds. I did like how the Do Lab turned into a beacon/ pineapple. I was not impressed by Chiaozza Garden (the weird, twisted fruits), Crown Ether (the multicolored looking Star Wars Walker). Probably one of the weaker Coachellas when it comes to art.