The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival kicked off its first weekend on April 10, bringing nearly 100,000 people to the California desert to party and enjoy the vast array of music, art and fashion.
While music is the main focus, Coachella is known for its celebrity appeal and commercial atmosphere, leading to a melting pot of anti-conformity and commercialization. Basically, there are the hardcore music and art fans who try desperately to take in as much as they can, the girls who are only concerned about the flowers in their hair and the guys who are only concerned about spilling beer on their designer clothes.
All of these people paid at least $375 to get in. Oh, and there are drugs, too. A whole lot of drugs.
If you are an avid social media user, you have probably associated the weekend with one of Coachella’s two massive events: Madonna making out with Drake and Tyler, The Creator, giving a hearty “F**k you!” to Kendall Jenner, who casually returned with a middle-finger salute. Out of all the diversity the biggest music festival on earth has to offer, these two happenings were the most talked about on social media.
Did I mention there were actual musical performances?
Day one belonged to the Aussies. Rock titans AC/DC headlined and brought old school rock riffs to the mostly younger crowd. Fellow Australian and Coachella veterans, Tame Impala, co-headlined and brought a lot of rock and psychedelia to deal with for the first day.
Alabama Shakes, Steely Dan, Action Bronson and Interpol also gave festival-goers much to enjoy. The festival may have taken a risk bringing in older acts, like Steely Dan and AC/DC, but if a person cannot enjoy a live song like “Back in Black,” they should not even be at Coachella.
Day 2 saw the last great rock star, Jack White, headline. With a set list spanning his entire career and multiple-band history, the “Lazaretto” singer was an electric finisher to the day. The Weeknd, alt-J, Hozier and Father John Misty also performed, giving a more eclectic mix to the music throughout the day.
Tyler, The Creator, was the most talked about act of the day, mostly because of his on-stage antics and crowd interaction, particularly with the VIP section. He called them out, stating that they paid too much money to be there and could not even have a good time. He then focused on the main crowd, who he thought were awesome. His insight was perhaps what we all want to say about the music festival, but feel we cannot because we do not want to disrespect a Kardashian royalty (the two are good friends, it was a joke).
Day 3 closed wildly with Drake, who perhaps had a hit-or-miss set list as the headliner. However, he more than made up for it by locking lips with pop queen Madonna, which led to plenty of great Internet memes. Co-headliners Florence and the Machine gave a standout performance, perhaps the best of the weekend. It was so intense that Florence Welch actually broke her foot jumping off the stage. David Guetta, St. Vincent and Marina and the Diamonds also helped to bring the first weekend of Coachella to a close.
While Coachella is dubbed as a music and art festival, it encompasses so much more. The social media buzz surrounding it is massive, fashion and style abound, and one could attend the festival without even seeing a musical performance and still have a great time.
While it may be bloated and overhyped, Coachella has become the premier annual entertainment festival, and this was just the first weekend.

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