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Coachella: Weekend 2

05.22.17

A few summers ago I told myself I was done with music festivals. The last experience I had was at Hard Summer where it was extremely hot and whenever the beat would drop, everyone would start jumping up and down. This is expected at music festivals. The thing was, the whole ground was made up of dust. Whenever the beat would drop, not only would people start jumping up and down kicking dust up into the air, the stage would release huge sprays of water, soaking us all and allowing all the dirt to stick onto our sweaty bodies. I stood there in the crowd covered in dust and told myself this would be my last festival.

Fast forward a few years later, Leo and I try getting Coachella tickets (because yes it’s a music festival, but it’s COACHELLA) and we actually get tickets! Despite the sticky time I had at Hard Summer, I decided to give music festivals another shot.

Friday was just as hot and sticky as I remembered it to be. I ended up getting sick as well. We saw Crystal Castles, Mac Miller, Steve Angello, and Empire of the Sun. It was a lot of fun but due to the hot weather and sickness, I was miserable. We decided that we would go later on in the day Saturday and Sunday and that MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE!

On Saturday, we all left around 5:30pm instead of noon. The sun was starting to set at that point so the 100 degree weather was dwindling down. We bought ourselves a nice big watermelon slice and some guava juice then headed to our the first show. We ended up watching Future’s set. I didn’t know too many of his songs but I wanted to stick around that stage because Bon Iver was up next and after that was Lady Gaga. Bon Iver played some of my favorite songs of theirs which I was so happy about and Lady Gaga was amazing! I didn’t realize how far back her songs take me. I remember listening to them at lunch during hig hschool in the quad. We also had the BEST spot. We stood towards the middle of the crowd behind the railing that blocked off a tall spotlight pole. Since we were behind that railing that squared off the spotlight, we didn’t have any people in front of us (5’2″ little me could actually see the stage!) and there was no one bumping into me. It was great!

The next day was filled with artists I really wanted to see. We left our AirBnb towards the end of the day again (best decision ever) and headed to the stages. Our first stop was Hans Zimmer. Who figured he’d plat at Coachella?! He had a whole orchestra up on stage and they did live performances of songs from movies like the Lion King and Pirates of the Caribbean. I wanted to stay for the whole show but Lorde was starting toward the end of his set so we decided it would be best to try and get a good spot. We ended up in the same spot as the day before by the railing. I was SO HAPPY. I’ve been a fan of Lorde’s songs for years now and as soon as she started her first song, I started crying like a baby (may have been because of my lady time but I still love her and would have been emotional regardless lol). She performed a mix of songs from her first album and her new one including Green Light. When her set was over, I stood there with a huge smile because that made up for all the dust, sweat, and sickness I was feeling the past two days. After that, Kendrick was up next which was more Leo’s jam than mine but it was entertaining to watch anyways. Before his encore started, Leo and I headed out really quick to catch the shuttles. Kendrick was the last performer so all of the hundreds of thousands of people at Coachella were still at his set soaking in the last bit of the festival. Meanwhile, Leo and I got on our shuttle with no lines or hassles and were snoozing in our bed in no time (does the fact that going to bed early made me happier than staying late at Coachella make me a grandma lol).

The next morning, we packed up all our bags and hit the road back to our normal lives. This Coachella experience was definitely a good one. Even though I left with a cold and an eye infection, thinking about the actual festival brings back happy memories. If given the chance, I would most definitely go back.

If you want to see a vlog on my experience, the video is embedded below.

Have an amazing week!

 

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