Friday kicked off the first weekend of the popular Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival. Held in the Coachella Valley of Indio, California, the festival lasts two weekends and has hosted many a music icon over the years. Sometimes more influential than the musical acts, however, are the festival’s attendees.
Unlike similar festivals in the country, Coachella is a magnet for celebrities. Devotees such as Vanessa Hudgens, several Victoria’s Secret Angels and more recently, the Jenner sisters take the opportunity to pile on the fringe and lace in true ’60s/’70s fashion. In fact, the aesthetic element of Coachella has become one of its defining factors, sometimes overshadowing the actual music.
A quick Google news search for “Coachella 2015” today will turn up countless articles with titles such as “Kendall Jenner Gives Tyler the Creator The Finger During Performance” and “Inside Justin Bieber’s Weekend at Coachella.” Given that neither Jenner nor Bieber were actually performing at Coachella, just attending, you get a sense of what the media prioritizes about this festival.
The fact that the media is so heavily involved is, perhaps, the reason for Coachella’s loss of authenticity in recent years. For every famous person that dons a wide-brimmed hat this weekend, there are a guaranteed 10 news outlets filming the debut. The looming media presence at Coachella encourages festivalgoers to stop looking up at their favorite performers onstage, and to instead look around them at the celebrities in their midst. With a myriad of articles ranking the best outfits of each day, it’s hard not to get swept up in the photo frenzy.
I hate to be that person lamenting “it’s not about the music anymore, man!” especially since I’m guilty of coveting every one of Hudgens’ Coachella looks from the last four years. But at a festival that draws some of the most popular musicians of our time, it feels like it’s becoming too much about everything else.
Festival culture has its place, of course. Dressing up in your coolest shades and printed pants is part of the fun, and it contributes to that wonderful otherworldly feeling of attending a music festival. But part of that magical feeling is the sense that you’re all in this together, roaming around and listening to your favorite musicians for days. And the sensationalism that increased celebrity and media presence have brought to Coachella takes away from that sense of equality.
Most non-famous Coachella attendees do not have the money to buy tickets, a designer wardrobe and access to the VIP section at every show. And they shouldn’t have to. With the increased importance of your “festival look” and emulating your favorite celebrities, however, there is an added pressure to measure up. Suddenly, the candid Polaroid of your fringed boots on the festival grounds becomes more important than, you know, your actual time there.
The pseudo-hippie feel of Coachella attire is certainly a nod to 1969’s iconic Woodstock Music and Art Fair. This shared clothing style, however, is where the comparisons between the two festivals end. Where Coachella is becoming increasingly pop-culture-centric, Woodstock is widely considered a symbol of counterculture. Those who attended Woodstock held anti-war protests and chanted during songs, eager for social change and good music. Whether their efforts actually achieved anything of significance is questionable, but irrelevant.
Despite the exhilarating feeling of escaping to Coachella Valley for a weekend (or two), there is nothing countercultural about it. Some go to see famous people, some go because they are famous and some go because they like wearing fringe. But not everyone goes because they’re fans of the lineup, and there are certainly no protests involved. The tendency to dress like the hippies but act like their opposites is the true irony of today’s festivals.
I’m not advocating that we all abandon our fun outfits and never attend a festival again. Why would we? They’re fun for a number of reasons, including the music, but not limited to it. But as Coachella becomes so highly commercialized, the festival model loses the sentiments that created it in the first place. The original festivals — though admittedly money-driven — relied on camaraderie and a shared love of music among attendees. It can be easy to lose sight of that when you’re preoccupied with things like your Instagram feed and Kylie Jenner’s choice of hair color.
Whether you have tickets to the second weekend of Coachella, which starts this Friday, or another festival this summer, make sure you’re going for the right reasons. A cool outfit and great photo-ops are important, but they’re not the most important. Find your favorite bands in the lineup, camp out with your friends and wear shoes that you don’t care about, because they will get destroyed.
