Coachella 2025: What happened and what changed?
Graphic by Katie Easterson
The Coachella Music and Arts Festival is a very anticipated music event that started back in October 1999 in Indio, California at the Empire Polo Club. It first started as a two-day event, where it brought out many different artists from different genres, soon merging into a three-day event in April of 2007 as it grew in popularity. While it began to popularize back in 2004, the popularity of the festival skyrocketed back in 2012 as the era of Tumblr and YouTube began, which caused the festival to add a second weekend due to popular demand and high attendance.
Over the years, Coachella has become a cultural phenomenon that has brought together many people from different places around the world for two weekends. At the festival, you’re able to meet new people, enjoy or discover new music, appreciate the art that is displayed throughout the festival, take pictures and use it as a way to show your style and fashion.
As the years have passed, Coachella evolved into the event it is today. They began adding sponsorships, changing up the music to attract a bigger audience and even inviting social media influencers to promote the festival. While this may have brought more revenue into Coachella, many people who have attended the festival in prior years have voiced their annoyance about the differences of the festival and the obvious presence of influencers throughout the years.
Over the course of a few years, many people on TikTok have separated both weekends into different categories. A user by the name of Jessica Golich stated back in 2023, “Weekend One are for influencers and those who love to party and aren’t really there for the music. Weekend Two are for those who actually love the music and go for the experience.” Even with these changes, it didn’t stop people from continuing to attend.
I first attended Coachella for the first time back in April 2024, two years after their hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I have always been one to have a deep love for live music and live shows, so being able to attend the festival that has been marketed to me all of my teenage years was very exciting. It would be my first time attending a music festival that didn't revolve solely around EDM, so I was ready for the new experience.
Safe to say, I had such an amazing experience that I was very excited to attend the festival once again when the lineup and tickets were announced back in December. While I was happy that the tickets were being sold much earlier, I was hit with the reality that they were being put out in advance due to low ticket sales for the 2024 weekends.
In an article written by Billboard, Dave Brooks said, “Sources close to the festival say the dip in sales, down 14%-17% over last year (2023), is not as bad as many had predicted. The first weekend of the festival has historically sold out of tickets in a few hours, but this year (2024), it took nearly a month for tickets to the first weekend to sell out.” As for 2025 weekends, tickets were oversold due to not only the November ticket sales, but also the advanced sale that happened once weekend two was over, and it was very noticeable at the event.
From the time slots being changed last minute, to the festival getting a new security team, many were not too thrilled and were scared of how the festival would run due to these changes. Last year, everyone was let in pretty smoothly, the attendees and those who were camping on the festival grounds. Parking and ride-share/drop-off had their designated entrance, as well as the festival entrance for GA, VIP and artist passes.
This year, since Coachella had moved from security companies, people were left in traffic outside the festival for hours on end. Many streets were blocked off and attendees near the festival grounds were left stuck for hours in the traffic, causing them to miss many artist sets. Some were going as far as getting out of their rides in the middle of the street and walking blocks to be able to make it to their favorite artist’s set on time.
Security located outside of the festival were leading people to different directions, sending them to different lanes and preventing people from entering into the grounds. Security was an issue for not only the attendees, but for the ones that were camping at Coachella as well.
On Day Zero of Coachella, campers had lined up at the designated entrance as early as 3 a.m., following the protocols from last year as they were let in around 6 a.m. so security could let everyone in at a timely manner. Campers were not let into the festival grounds until around 9 a.m. and even then, many people were stuck in their cars for more than 12 hours. Campers took their frustrations to TikTok, one user by the name of Liss stating, “We’ve been stuck in line for nearly 10 hours … It’s 100 degrees outside, people’s cars are overheating, they’re running out of gas, there are no bathrooms anywhere for us to use.” Liss ends her video by saying how the whole experience has felt very dehumanizing.
Even after being let in at 9 a.m., many campers expressed how security would take over an hour to check their cars, throw their items out and act very unprofessional and aggressive. Many cars were getting hit by other cars, their camping spots were being stolen and fights were breaking out as well. This became a sign to many people who would be attending the next day how the festival would be going for the first weekend.
On the first day of weekend one, drop-off/rideshare was located near the camping grounds and parking was located about three blocks away. As for the designated festival entrances, Coachella ended up combining both the VIP and artist entrance, while the GA entrance remained the same. On the second and third day, the drop-off and parking was changed back to the original location, which caused many people to be caught in traffic for longer periods of time as they were trying to get to the original location on time.
Because of this issue, many acts had to be pushed back from 30 minutes to an hour at the last minute. This caused issues for the artists as they were experiencing microphone issues, performances being cut off, the microphones not being synched up with the livestream and glitches happening to the screens during their sets.
A majority of these issues were resolved during weekend two, which made many festival goers relieved that the second weekend had a better experience, while others were disappointed that Coachella didn’t resolve them quickly for weekend one. Many people expressed on Twitter and TikTok how the first weekend must have been the worst one they’ve experienced in years, some asking how this will affect the festival in the coming years. While it might not have been my favorite weekend, along with many others, being able to experience it once again kept me in high spirits as I was still able to see my favorite artists in the same place.
As someone who has been to many festivals and concerts, staying safe has always been a top priority for me, so making sure that I am prepared has helped me be able to experience festivals and concerts a lot smoothly. For example, I tell everyone who is attending a festival for the first time to expect changes and to always watch your surroundings. When people don’t notice the changes in set times, they tend to run quickly to the next set, which can cause someone to get injured in the process.
Since Coachella didn’t give us much time to adjust in the first weekend, a lot of people ended up getting injured since they were getting shoved by people running in between sets. Thankfully, nowadays festivals have an app where they can tell you what time each artist will be on and on which stage, so I highly recommend having the festival app just in case changes are being made last minute so you don’t end up at the medical tent.
As far as safety goes, always take care of your health. Indio is notorious for having very dusty winds and heat waves around April, so carrying any type of mask or scarf, as well as sunglasses, can help prevent dust from entering your nose or getting in your eyes. For the heat waves, bringing sunscreen and an umbrella can also help prevent getting sunburnt. These items will help when entering the festival since you are walking on a dirt path and the heat will be mixed in with the wind as well. Because you will be walking a lot, getting soles for your shoes or bringing comfortable shoes can help prevent blisters from forming at the end of the night.
Like many concerts and festivals, Coachella tends to raise the prices on their drinks and their food. If you’re someone who doesn’t like spending so much money on food or drinks, I recommend getting a collapsible water bottle or a water backpack and bringing some snacks. While I do understand that this can be common knowledge, especially for someone who has attended these types of events before, people like to learn from other experiences and learn more about the festival life.
Although Coachella has changed throughout the years and moved away from what it originally was, I do believe that it continues to have a cultural impact on each generation. It continues to evolve with its audience and lets people experience many artists in one place, whether it’s to discover new ones or see artists come back to the stage for the first time in years. While many others online have their own thoughts and opinions on the festival, I recommend experiencing the festival firsthand and building your own perspective. Coachella is a festival that should be experienced at least once in your life.