Coachella is an annual music festival that has been taking place in Indio, California for the past 14 years. After thinking about going to the festival for the past few years, I finally decided to make the investment, and buy tickets for 2015. The line up for this year was star studded, covering all genres of music. The rock fans got AC/DC and Jack White, the EDM fans got Kygo and Alesso. The beauty of music festivals is the vast amount of artists you can see all in one place. The festival houses roughly 100,000 guests over the 3-day period, and I was one of them.

The first day I got there we took the shuttle over to the festival grounds around 4 pm. The shuttle buses were very efficient, and I would definitely recommend buying one. Once we arrived at the festival grounds we had to walk through various security checkpoints, and finally made it in after about 15 minutes walking. The security was strict, which made me feel more comfortable about the next couple of days I would be spending on the Polo Fields.

The grounds were well kept, and very clean, which is a big feat for a festival of Coachella’s size. With the desert sun shining all day, staying hydrated is crucial.  The venue did a bad job of having water refill stations on the grounds. Although they did not have adequate free water available to the festival-goers, they did sell their water for the original price, $2 per bottle. Another big problem was the bathroom situation. I understand it is a big festival, but many of the port-o-potties were left with no toilet paper, and there were often long lines. The festival also claims to take credit cards, but only a fraction of the vendors actually took credit cards.

All of the music was great, with most of the musicians arriving on time. The crowd was hardly manageable, and many older adults looked scared navigating their way through. It wasn’t uncommon to be so close to everyone else in the crowd that you couldn’t even move. This isn’t a major complaint because with a festival this size, obviously the front of the crowd is going to be pushy. Some of the highlights of the weekend were The Weeknd, Alesso, and Marina and the Diamonds. The Weeknd lived up to the Coachella headliner status by bringing out Kanye West halfway through his set. Alesso closed the night out at the Sahara tent, and gave people a great alternative to AC/DC, which was the other artist playing at the time. On Sunday, Marina and the Diamonds performed a perfect set, including her big hit, Primadonna. One artist who didn’t live up to headliners past was Drake. He came on late and left early, and overall didn’t bring any energy to the crowd. Being a huge Drake fan myself, I was extremely disappointed with his set. He ended the festival on a low note.

Overall, Coachella was a great experience, but I’m not sure if it was worth the $375 price tag. Before I buy tickets for next year, I will have to check the line up to see if it’s really worth it.