Coachella's a golden opportunity for artists, but some festival fans wonder: Who's it all for?

When fans bargain their tickets to Coachella, the iconic euphony festival that draws star-studded lineups and influencer crowds looking to flex their societal media cachet successful the California desert, they astir apt don't deliberation astir wherever they're going to pee portion waiting to get in.

Yet that's precisely what immoderate who paid to parkland their cars and campy astatine the venue recovered themselves struggling with precocious past week, with fans reporting agelong waits to get into the festival grounds astatine the Empire Polo Club successful Indio, Calif.

Tiktok idiosyncratic @notliss posted that her radical had been waiting successful their cars for 10 hours, calling it "dehumanizing." 

"People are virtually utilizing the bath down bushes similar animals, and they paid implicit $600 [US] to beryllium here," she said successful a Thursday video.

For fans who made the trek to Coachella, this was conscionable the archetypal hurdle, with attendees reporting that the already pricey nutrient options were adjacent much costly than usual. That, combined with complaints astir tepid assemblage responses from fans watching livestreams and immoderate musicians themselves, has galore wondering: just who is Coachella for: the artists, festivalgoers oregon fans watching from home?  

A signifier for established and rising stars      

Coachella is easy 1 of the biggest euphony festivals successful the world, known for attracting immoderate of the astir celebrated names successful euphony who signifier some eye-popping performances. 

This year's event, which kicked disconnected its archetypal weekend last Friday with headliner Lady Gaga, will proceed this coming play with performances from established acts similar Missy Elliott, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Charli XCX, Green Day and Travis Scott, among countless others.

For bands connected the emergence similar The Beaches and TOPS, 2 Canadian groups that made their Coachella debut this twelvemonth arsenic portion of the main lineup, the festival is inactive an breathtaking opportunity.

Coachella has ever been a "bucket database festival," for Jordan Miller, pb vocalist of Toronto-based rockers The Beaches.

"If you were a truly chill band, you would play Coachella," she told CBC News. "And truthful we grew up with dreams of doing that."

With a caller album, No Hard Feelings, acceptable to merchandise successful August, the set down 2023 hit Blame Brett were thrilled to bring their dependable to U.S. audiences. 

During their acceptable connected Sunday, The Beaches brought retired a astonishment impermanent — Australian creator G Flip, who helped constitute their caller single, Last Girls astatine the Party.

The astonishment impermanent is simply a Coachella staple: Charli XCX performed with Troye Sivan, Lorde and Billie Eilish; Queen Latifah took the signifier with Megan Thee Stallion; and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced Clairo, successful a code wherever helium urged the crowd to basal up to U.S. President Donald Trump's medication and "fight for justice."

Some caviar connected your nuggets?

TOPS, a dream-pop fourpiece from Montreal, had travel adjacent to nabbing a Coachella gig, but it ne'er materialized — until this year. 

"It's been said that it mightiness hap a fewer times and I ne'er believed it would," said guitarist David Carriere. The set said they were astir excited astir playing caller euphony to the Coachella crowds, teasing that they're releasing a caller opus successful the adjacent fewer weeks. 

Although 2 members of the set had attended the festival before arsenic fans, it was wholly caller to Carriere and pb vocalist Jane Penny, who said it's "pretty overmuch outta my terms range, unless I'm booked arsenic an creator to be Coachella, to beryllium honest." 

Tickets to Coachella commencement astatine astir $539 US ($752 Cdn) for wide admittance for 1 of the 2 weekends, and tin scope much than $1,199 US ($1,673 Cdn) for VIP passes.

And that doesn't origin successful nutrient oregon drinks. 

Though gimmicky menu items similar chickenhearted nuggets topped with caviar for $100 US and a pop-up luxury omakase acquisition curated by cook Nobu Matsuhisa — a bargain astatine conscionable $350 US per idiosyncratic — look to reenforce the cognition that Coachella is little a euphony festival and much a normal for the wealthy, adjacent the casual eats connected connection are going up successful price, according to attendees.  

"The nutrient has ever been expensive, but I'm going to my tried and existent favourite nutrient stands that instrumentality to the festival each twelvemonth and abruptly it's not $7, it's $9," said Kristi Cook, an influencer who's attended each Coachella since 2017. 

Cook, who runs Spill Sesh, an online bid reporting connected popular culture, told CBC News that this year, a person bought a "tiny sandwich" that outgo $27 US. 

"It's crazy."

Live oregon livestream?

Another motion of the disconnect betwixt festivalgoers and musicians was the tepid assemblage reaction to some of the biggest names successful music. Cook, who says she enjoyed her clip astatine this year's festival overall, mentioned that she was amazed by the deficiency of dancing during Lady Gaga's set, contempt an energetic, originative show that rapidly garnered praise online. 

That's due to the fact that her show was livestreamed connected Coachella's YouTube channel. It's a work that's been offered since 2011, but it's go a bigger portion of the lawsuit successful the past fewer years. 

Cook says immoderate performers are intelligibly taking the livestream into relationship during their performances, aiming to make viral moments that circulate beyond the festival grounds. 

"I decidedly deliberation that it's much than conscionable the attendees that this is each for," she said. 

Penny notes that the livestream was 1 of the things that made Coachella "a bully opportunity" for TOPS. 

"We person truthful galore friends and fans, like, tuning in," she said.

But the livestreams haven't calmed the complaints astir Coachella's lacklustre audiences — galore who watch online person commented that the crowds aren't as hype arsenic they judge they would beryllium if they were successful attendance. 

Even artists are joining successful connected the shade. Singer Benson Boone brought retired legendary Queen guitarist Brian May during his Coachella performance. He later posted a Tiktok in which helium pretended to beryllium reacting to a soundless audience, writing: "me trying to get the assemblage astatine Coachella to recognize what an implicit fable Brian May is and the taste interaction helium has connected euphony and THE WORLD."

But complaining astir Coachella is benignant of portion of the experience, says Cook, due to the fact that everyone wants to beryllium progressive successful these popular civilization moments. 

"It's benignant of the amusive of it all, 'cause it creates a speech and radical emotion to speech astir stuff."

Some complaints astir the festival are higher stakes. Toronto DJ Bambii, who was invited to execute astatine Coachella's Do LaB signifier past Friday, shared successful an Instagram communicative implicit the play that during her set, the instrumentality provided was "malfunctioning," and that the creator who was connected earlier her had warned her astir it. She said she felt Coachella should, arsenic a "bare minimum," provide moving instrumentality considering she wasn't paid for her appearance.

"It's harmless to presume had we been bigger artists connected the main signifier this contented would person been fixed WAY earlier wrong the amusement day," she wrote. 

CBC News reached retired to Coachella for comment, but did not perceive backmost successful clip for publication. 

Criticisms that the festival is excessively costly and leans a small spot excessively into the cachet of celebrities and influencers "are fair," according to The Beaches' Miller — but she says she's besides seen different festivals effort to capitalize on trends. For her, getting to execute to caller crowds makes it each worthy it. 

"It's inactive an incredibly fashionable euphony festival, and careless of wherefore radical are needfully attending, it tin beryllium a large accidental to get your sanction and your set retired successful beforehand of caller people," she said. 

"A gig's a gig astatine the extremity of the day."