It had been some time since I'd been to a major music festival so when I embarked on my virgin experience of Coachella over the weekend I didn't have a lot of expectations other than hot weather, not showering, mass quantities of peeps, and drinking heavily. The hot weather, not showering, and mass quantities of peeps turned out to be accurate. Drinking heavily was a challenge, though, due to the heat and so I only managed a bit of that. One surprise or I guess not even surprise since I hadn't given it much thought were the types of people I encountered there.
There was an inordinate amount of people who would fit in the hipster category. As I may have mentioned elsewhere in this blog (or if not I often think about doing so in my mind) this is a designation of peeps that fascinates me to no end. When I mentioned to someone the mass quantities of hipsters at this music fest she said, "Well, think about the type of music there." Since I don't know much about the music tastes of hipsters I just pretended to understand. And made a mental note to include that in the unofficial hipster ethnography I'm currently researching.
The hipsters were especially fascinating because the common sense in me packed light sundresses, flip flogs, hats to keep the sun off my face, jeans and sweatshirts. My thinking behind this attire was that it was going to be hot during the day and cool down at night (check), I didn't want to burn in the barely shaded venue (check), and even if I'd been able to shower every day I would've been dirty in five minutes due to being in the desert (check). Somehow I missed the memo that I should've come prepared for a fashion show. I've never seen so many people in one place dressed to impress. I've also never seen so many Halloween costumes in April (or maybe even in October). I wish someone had told me to pack for a costume contest cuz I could've rocked it. I also saw (in 80 plus degree weather) fur boots, fur coats, one too many pairs of uggs, one too many pairs of butt cheeks peaking out of thongs, and my absolute favorite a gold sequined leotard with "Hova" on the butt. At least Jay-Z performed there.
Aside from the hipsters (or probably more accurately in conjunction with the hipsters) were the druggies. I'd also never been somewhere I encountered so much illicit drug use. People were strung out on everything from coke to LSD to Kool-Aid packets. And I could've tried anything I wanted if I'd really wanted to. I was offered party favors by two dudes but am still not sure what party favors are. By no means am I saying I was a saint (Muse was blur thanks to one too many drinks of almost straight rum) but I don't know how they did it for three straight days (or maybe longer). Come Monday morning I wanted to die (and I really only drank the one day) so I can't imagine how the mass quantities of hard core drug users were feeling.
Perhaps the most surprising group there were the teeny boppers. I hadn't expected to feel like the old folks home with our group of twelve mid twenty to early thirty year olds (Might explain why I couldn't hang with the druggies). I know all ages were welcome at the concert venuse but where we were camping it was 18 and up. Yet, I guarantee at least every other spot had at least one under 18 year old there. There's no way my parents would have ever let me go to something like that while I still lived under their roof ('Course my parents probably would've gone to the event in their younger years-had it existed-and known exactly what went on there.). Unfortunately we didn't captitalize on the opportunity to create a small business of selling our booze to our neighbors.
While the bands that performed there were all absolutely amazing I'd say the people watching comes in at a close second in a list of reasons to go to Coachella. And if I ever go back again I'm for sure bringing a notebook to record more specifics since it'd make great writing material. Wonder
