Coachella 2012: The Lost Photos

Tomorrowland: Coachella on Steroids

Tomorrowland is massive 3-day music festival held in Belgium. It is among Europe's largest festivals, and is known for its strong visual experience and dance heavy line-up. Tomorrowland has been described as a "trippy technicolor fantasy," whose insane art sets it apart from other music festivals.

Tomorrowland has a unique overall fantasy amusement park setting, complimented by amazing art and music for a cohesive dream-like experience. 


Tomorrowland started in 2005 as a relatively small festival, with only 10,000 attendees. It was intended to rival America's incredibly popular Electric Daisy Carnival festival, with its amusement park atmosphere and dance heavy line-up. Over the years the festival has massively, attracting people from all over Europe and the rest of the world. Today Tomorrowland is described as one of the biggest music festivals in the world.

The festival has won many awards including “Best European Festival” and “Best Belgian Summer Festival” as well as being nominated for “Best Global Festival” at this year’s IDMAs (International Dance Music Awards). 


This year Tomorrowland is taking place July 27th through 29th. The 2012 festival line-up features such big name artists as Avicii, Calvin Harris, Alesso, Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, David Guetta and Steve Aoki. Tomorrowland

Attending Tomorrowland is on the top of my bucket list. The overall ambience is what sets Tomorrowland apart from other festivals. It may be the only festival I consider to be better than Coachella, and that's saying a lot! 

Coachella's Over, What's Next?

It's obvious that Coachella is the best music festival out there, but it's impossible to wait a year to here more amazing music! There are many other festivals throughout the United States, and even abroad, that feature similar artists to those at Coachella. 

Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza is an annual three-day music festival that takes place in August in Chicago, Illinois. This year the festical is taking place August 3rd through the 5th and features many of the same artists as Coachella. This includes The Black Keys, The Shins, Avicii, Santigold, Justice, Florence and the Machine, Miike Snow and many others. Lollapalooza 2012 Line-Up 

Tickets for three day passes are sold out already, but one day tickets are still on sale for $95 each. If you wanna go you better make moves fast! It's safe to say Lolla is the Coachella of the midwest. And as much as I dislike the midwest, I'm a little sad I won't be able to go.

Outside Lands

Outside Lands is much more my style than Lollapalooza, and the proximity makes much more convenient also. It is an annual music festival held in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, every August. It is much newer festival, with the first being held in 2008. Much like Coachella, the festival is designed to utilize several strategies of being eco-friendly, as well as to educate the public about eco-friendly movements. There are solar power stages, a refillable water program, a waste diversion program, a recycling program, and bike valet parking program. There have also been workshops to educate about organic food and farming.

This year Outside Lands is taking place August 10th through 12th. It also features many of the same artists as Coachella, including Justice, Explosions in the Sky, Santigold and Rebelution. Outside Lands 2012 Line-Up Luckily regular 3-day passes are still on sale for $225! Only an 8 hour road trip away, I might have to go myself!

Band Spotlight: Florence and the Machine

Florence and the Machine is an English pop indie band consisting of lead singer Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists that provide backup music. According to Welch, "The name Florence and the Machines started off as a private joke that got out of hand. I made music with my friend, who we called Isabella Machine to which I was Florence Robot. When I was about an hour away from my first gig, I still didn't have a name, so I thought 'Okay, I'll be Florence Robot/Isa Machine', before realising that name was so long it'd drive me mad." So the name was shortened and Florence and the Machine was formed in 2007.

The current band members include musicians Robert Ackroyd (guitar and backing vocals), Chris Hayden (drums, percussion and backing vocals), Isabella Summers (keyboards and backing vocals), Mark Saunders (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Tom Monger (harp). They released their debut album Lungs in the United Kingdom in July of 2009. A month after the Album's release it had sold over 100,000 copies and shot up to #1 in the UK and #2 in Ireland. The single "Dogs Days are Over" gained instant recognition.

                                    

Welch said she wanted her next album to be a better version of Lungs with a "more dark, more heavy, bigger drum sounds, bigger bass, but with more of a whole sound." She succeeded with the album Ceremonials, which was released in October of 2011. It reached the number one position on the UK Albums Chart in its first week of release and number six on the US Billboard 200. 

Florence performed Sunday night at the Outdoor Theater stage at Coachella. She was definitely among my top five favorite performances of the weekend! Her voice is absolutely unreal, I got chills. The massive crowd sang along as Florence and the Machine performed all their most popular songs. Just two years prior I saw Florence perform during the day on the smallest Coachella stage, and seeing her transformation to the outdoor theater was amazing. Florence and the Machine has gained so much well-deserved popularity, and will forever remain one of my favorite bands.

                                     

Sunday Funday

So by Sunday I hadn't showered in 3 days, my hair had transformed into dreadlocks, and I was attempting to function off 4 hours of sleep. But I didn't have a choice, I had to persevere. I mean Sunday had the best line-up by far!

Since it was the last day we had a massive BBQ and grilled literally anything and everything we could find in our ice chests. It was actually unreal how much food we cooked, and even more unbelievable that we actually finished it all...


We started the day off with some Santigold. Laying on the grass before the main stage, soaking up the sun and listening to amazing music. It really doesn't get better than that. Naturally we headed over to the Sahara tent next. The #1 rule of Coachella: No one in particular you wanna see, fill the time dancing in the Sahara!


Justice was one of the artists I was most excited about seeing all weekend, and they definitely didn't disappoint!

Once again our giant group came together for Justice, and it was amazing. After Justice we headed back to the Sahara for Calvin Harris, who had Rihanna come out as a guest star!! Such a great surprise, she was amazing. After Calvin was Avicii, who I have been waiting to see forever, and he absolutely killed it. He is probably one of the most talented DJ's I have ever seen. The Sahara was more packed than ever and the crowd was going wild.

Sunday night's headliners were Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. Who knew Wiz Khalifa, Fifty Cent, Eminen, and Tupac (wait what...) would all show up. With three guests stars and a Tupac hologram, its easy to say it was the performance of the weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end the best weekend!

                                      

I've been attending Coachella for four years and 2012 was definitely the best one yet. Until next year, goodbye Coachella. 

Sunny Saturday!

Not trying to sound like a diva or anything, but camping just really isn't my style. There's nothing appealing about sleeping on the floor, using porta-potties, or showering with water bottles. But in the name of Coachella I did it, and I did it well.

I was awoken by the blazing sun circa 7 a.m. I ventured out on the mile long walk to the porta-potties.... No exaggeration, literally one mile. I was forced some boys we were camping with to light up the BBQ, and after making a vegetarian hotdog we headed into the festival. Saturday started off on a perfect note with Childish Gambino. He's a young up-and-coming rapper who is incredibly talented. 

                                    

After Gambino we headed over to the sahara tent where we danced to some techno like it was nobody's business. I was rolling with a legit crew. My sister, my best friend, and over 20 kids from my town that come together every year for Coachella. Regardless of where everyone lives or goes to school, Coachella rolls around and it's as if we never left Redlands. With such a large group of people it's hard to stay together all weekend. But there are those few very special bands we all come together for, and on Saturday it was Radiohead. 

Not necessarily a great photo of any of us.... but that was the crew. And during Radiohead we danced, we laughed, and we cried. I have dreamed of seeing Radiohead play live since I was 12 years old, and when it finally happened I couldn't have been happier. I was with all my favorite people, at the happiest place on earth, listening to one of my favorite bands live. 

                                   

It was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Friday: Let the Fun Begin !

It was quite a rocky trip home.... Typical, considering I have the absolute WORST luck with flights. After a six hour flight filled with turbulence and nausea I finally arrived in San Francisco! Where my flight was delayed due to intense thunder and lightning storms.... COOL. So I finally landed in LAX at midnight and waited for my luggage for an hour. Of course it never showed up. But honestly at that point I couldn't care less, Coachella was tomorrow!!!


I excitedly woke up Friday morning after only three hours of sleep (like why cant I do that for class?). So my best friend Kristen and I began our journey, with redbulls in hand obviously! We set up camp and immediately headed into the festival. And since I have the mentality of  a five year old of course I rode the ferris wheel immediately. The view was incredible.

Friday was a mellow day for me, not to many artists I wanted to see. So I wandered a lot, ate a lot of good food, and tanned of course. Grouplove was one of my favorites of the day! They have been one of my favorites for awhile, and they were absolutely amazing live!

                                   

I ended the night on a solid note listening to Friday's headliner the Black Keys. They were out of this world. I have been wanting to see them for years so when I saw this year's Coachella line-up I was beyond excited they were headlining. After the Black Keys Idanced my ass to some Swedish House Mafia! 

                                  

I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day 1 of Coachella. I was with all my best friends in the most amazing place on earth. I was in heaven.