I’m comfortably sitting here in Palm Springs, bathing in the afternoon heat after surviving Coachella 2010. I’m not going anywhere as I try to revive my senses and wait for the earth to rotate another 23 degrees so that the blazing Sun will be eaten up by that thing we call the West Coast. Working off of very little sleep and sipping a coffee, I thumb through the festivals mini guide lamenting all the bands I didn’t see and cherishing the ones I did; either dancing with friends and standing alone in a crowd of thousands. Let me attempt to share a few of the things happened for me there, this my first year.

Where to begin? Oh fuck Coachella, you are a complex beast. A mainstream mall of all that is alternative and cutting edge. That’s it in a nutshell. Do I love you or hate you? Do I need to break it down further? The crowd, the music, the demographics? Lets just say that I had the opportunity to experience both humanities drunk self entitled lows and its ecstatic highs of unity and love.

Stellar views night and day from the Ferris Wheel ride!

First off, Coachella is huge. They say its 75,000 people deep per day, but I would say its closer to 100,000. Unless I’m in the front row receiving holy rock communion of a band’s sweat in my mouth, I struggle with the idea of did I really “see” a show. If you experience a music group on huge LCD screens, does that count too? Getting to the front of a crowd of thousands at each stage is a bit of a dedicated mission and not one I’m up for each time. So I had to feel okay with being in the back or way off to the sides at times. At other times, I parted the crowd like the Red Sea.

Is the cup half full or half empty? Let me focus on the positive here. Who I did get to see regardless of my position in the audience: Die Antwoord, Fever Ray, Thom York, Bassnectar, Craze & Klever, Gossip, Little Boots, LCD Soundsystem, Public Image Limited, Yeasayer, and Devo to name a few! Was planning on seeing Gary Numan but I don’t think he showed up (sad face). Also caught the usual suspects at the Do Lab stage (R/D, Deru, Beats Antique) as well as the fabulous Lucent Dossier show. Thank God for that inspiring Do Lab stage. Full water misting cannons and hose downs all day long by some of the freakiest circus clowns this side of the Pecos.

Humans finding power together for their personal communication devices. A beautiful group ritual of our times.

One downside I do have to dwell on, one that made me question my involvement with any festival or live event, was the trash left behind every night and at the end of the weekend. It seems that with the ticket price comes the Coachella culture of “leave a big fucking trace and let the immigrant workers clean it up.” Hey, I’m all for simulating the economy by giving people who want to work jobs, but not at the price of serious environmental abuse. Night after night, as the crowd dispersed to their campground or hotel rooms, the grounds were a sea of shimmering plastic water bottles and paper plates reflecting light from the closing stages. Though amazingly, through technology and raw labour, those fields were swept clean of any ecological disregard every night within an hour.

Thousands of dollars worth of new tents, air mattresses, food, and more just left behind.

Okay, back to the positive. Coachella is held in the incredibly beautiful and dramatic landscape of Indio Valley. A stones throw from the Joshua Tree National Park and some of the highest mountain peaks in the United States. That beauty, along with the communal adventure of port-a-potties, hot sun, warm nights, and amazing musical line-up, does develop kinship amongst otherwise isolated urban and suburban dwellers of this globe. I applaud you Goldenvoice, that’s a big show you do –a really big show and it all works for everyone who attends, the bands, the fans, and the vendors (Big UPs to the Javagogo team!).

I’m inspired, bone-tired, and wiped out –and I applaud you for that team Coachella! Well, as I wrap this entry up, the Sun has gone round the bend. Better hop in my Trooper before I collapse from festival exhaustion and start to cry like a little girl. Coachella, the days were hot, crowded, and long, but still, I think I love you. Can we try this again? Maybe!

The dramatic ride home.