LA. Dancer. Writer. Appreciator of all things beautiful and fun.
INSTAGRAM @astateofemily
XOXO
So every year after Coachella I make a playlist of various songs from every artist I saw throughout the weekend. I just finished putting together this years playlist and have been listening to it on repeat ever since. It’s making all of these memories come flooding back to me and I honestly just can’t stop laughing. As a result I figured today is the day to immortalize those memories. I don’t want to break down the days, or write a whole big long novel this year because honestly that wouldn’t be in keeping with the experience I had. I feel like this year, more than any other year, the weekend went by way too fast. I feel like I blinked and it was Monday and I was back in LA and it had been some weird sort of dream I had had. Friday seemed to start out really gloomy and rainy but it actually worked out to our advantage. I dressed warmly, and quickly enough within the time we arrived at the festival the clouds started to clear and it turned into a beautiful desert night. Friday really started for me when we decided to finally leave the beer garden and venture out and see Alesso. Alesso was not in ANY of our agendas or plans but the Sahara tent was just the closest and also the warmest so that’s where we decided to go. As we moved closer to the music and I let my body start to move I had this moment where I thought to myself “this is why I do this”. It just felt so good to be there. To hear the music, to dance outside in the grass, to feel the energy of the crowd. It felt simultaneously new and old, comfortable and strange. As we danced it began to drizzle and of course being the hopeless romantic that I am nothing could have been more perfect than several moments of dancing in the rain at Coachella. The rest of Friday was a blur. Running from stage to stage checking out the retro vibes coming from The Rapture and the soothing almost country crooning of Mazzy Star. Every year at Coachella they release a string of balloons into the sky that arch over the festival grounds and light up like stars at night. People walk around holding the balloons through the course of the festival. It’s one of the only constants at Coachella every year and very much an icon of the festival itself. Last year Davida attempted to ask one of the people holding the balloons if she could hold it and bless her little heart the guy completely blew her off. It was a very traumatizing moment considering the state we were in at the time, and it’s something we have continued to laugh about for the past year. While we were standing at Mazzy Star the balloons began to approach us. We told Davida she had to ask again to make up for last year and this time the girl was more than happy to let her hold them. It was such an endearing moment it almost made me cry. Coachella balloon arch mission was finally successful. We made our way over to the main stage to see the Black Keys and meet up with some friends. As I was dancing around in the grass a girl approached me and told me she loved my Spirithood. I told her how much I loved my Spirithood and she said “well, this guy is the creator!” and she pulled her friend towards me. To a lot of people this may mean nothing but to me it meant so much. He was equally as excited to be meeting people who loved his creation, as we were to be meeting the creator of something we hold so dear to us. I told him that he had no idea how much these hoods had meant to us and he looked at me and said “please tell me, I love to hear these stories” but I honestly couldn’t even begin without feeling tears start to well up in my eyes. It was really an honor to meet someone who has made such an impact on my life. A fellow artist, who has made their dream a reality- to be able to have shared that with him was honestly really special.
Saturday was Saturday. I was really tired and really cold. Heard a lot of great music, namely Awolnation, Bon Iver, and Radiohead- I just wish it hadn’t been so cold but it worked out well because we went straight to sleep when we got home and I woke up a new woman on Sunday which more than made up for any unhappiness about the cold the night before. Sunday was perfect. It was sunny and warm and everyone was ready to party. This was what we came for. We started the day off with Porter Robinson who put so many other bigger names to shame that weekend. As a result we were sucked into the Sahara tent and all of it’s madness. I just couldn’t. stop. dancing. It felt so fucking good. We stayed for Dada Life who delivered the exact amount of mayhem we needed. Damn Sahara tent- it’s so hard to break free once you’ve been sucked in. The Sahara tent has always been one of my favorite aspects of Coachella. I like that it’s like this little mini rave tucked away in the corner. You can leave, go dance in the grass like a hippie, listen to some live music, but you know- no matter what the Sahara tent will always be there and people will always be raging. Over the past three years I have undoubtedly spent the most time in that tent out of all of my hours spent at the Coachella fair grounds. My life changed in that tent. I first met Deadmau5 in that tent. I dropped acid and saw god for the first time in that tent. Being able to look at my friends and say let’s go rave for a little bit is honestly what makes my love for Coachella ultimately run so deep. As we peeled ourselves away from the party we headed off to the mainstage to get situated for Justice. We had an incredible spot. Pretty close with a good view of the stage and room to dance. We met these really nice Australians while we were waiting for them to start who were travelling the world. I met a lot of really cool people this year. As Justice finally started the energy was insane. Everyone was dancing and jumping. The intesity of their electro rock sound resonated through the evening sky. After Justice was over we were all in agreement that that was the best 30 minutes of our lives and it was back off to the Sahara tent- just in time to see Rihanna sing We Found Love live with Calvin Harris. It was honestly perfect. We left Calvin Harris and headed over to the Outdoor Stage for Florence + the Machine. Shortly after arriving she began singing Cosmic Love. Her voice was so beautiful, so raw, so magnetic. It seemed to be a reoccuring theme of the weekend that everytim we arrived at our destination the band would play the songs we had all been waiting to hear so badly. The weekend just flowed beautifully. Now it was time for what we all had been wating for. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Honestly this performance exceeded all of my expectations. The energy of the crowd was unbelievable. Snoop and Dre delivered in full force- banger banger 50 cent banger banger Whiz Khalifa banger banger Eminem- it just didn’t stop. I found myself not even looking at the stage because I was so busy rapping and dancing. I would look around at moments and the crowd itself was truly something to see. It was a party to say the least and all in all a once in a lifetime spectacle to be seen. It was so hard to leave once the music ended. We of course made our way to the tiny dome shaped tent that was still blasting dubstep until they kicked us out of there. So we wandered the camp grounds with the sound of music bumping in the distance as our only guide until we had found a small stage set up where we of course continued to dance until the last moment we could- before the final shuttle left and it was time for us to begin the journey away from Coachella and back to reality.
(stalkers please avert your eyes) lol
Friday
Gary Clark Jr. Gobi 4:30-5:15
Feed Me Sahara 5:10-6:10
Madeon Sahara 6:35-7:35
Pulp Coachella 7:50-8:50
Mazzy Star Outdoor 8:50-9:40
The Black Keys Coachella 9:45-11:00
Explosions in the Sky Outdoor 10:05-10:55
Swedish House Mafia Coachella 11:30
Amon Tobin Mojave 12:00
Datsik Sahara 11:50
Saturday
Borgore Sahara 2:30-3:20
AWOLNATION Coachella 4:00-4:45
Zeds Dead Sahara 4:50-5:50
Manchester Orchestra Mojave 5:55-6:45
Andrew Bird Outdoor 6:05-6:55
Noel Gallagher Coachella 6:30-7:20
Sebastian Ingrosso Sahara 7:35-8:45
The Shins Coachella 8:10-9:00
Feist Outdoor 8:40-9:30
Bon Iver Coachella 9:30-10:20
Miike Snow Outdoor 10:10-11:00
Radiohead Coachella 11:05
Kaskade Sahara 11:15
Sunday
Morgan Page Sahara 12:00-12:50
Franfarlo, Gobi, 12:00pm - 12:35pm
House de Racket, Gobi, 12:55-1:30
Noisia Sahara 1:00-1:50
Zedd Sahara 2:00-2:55
Flux Pavillion Sahara 3:05-4:05
Santigold Coachella 3:25-4:15
Porter Robinson Sahara 4:20-5:15
Beats Antique Mojave 4:35-5:25
Araabmuzik Mojave 5:50-6:40
Gotye, Mojave, 7:10 - 8:00
Nero Sahara 6:50-8:05
Justice Coachella 7:45-8:45
Calvin Harris Sahara 8:25-9:35
Florence and the Machine Outdoor 9:45-10:35
Dr.Dre and Snoop Dogg Coachella 10:35
You Used to Hold Me- Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris (Sunday)
It’s funny, when I started this countdown the day the line up was released I looked through all of the artists and hand picked which ones I was most excited about seeing and for most part starting from number one I tried to list them in the order I was looking forward to seeing them. Obviously over the past couple months my opinions on some people have changed. There are some artists I added which I learned about during this time, some who released new music that made me even more excited to see them, and so on but I knew from the moment the line up was released without a doubt who my number one was going to be- Calvin Harris. Calvin Harris is one of my top 3 favorite electronic music producers ranked alongside both Deadmau5 and Kaskade. There isn’t a single song he has created that I haven’t liked. Something about his music speaks to me in such a powerful way- I can’t even convey how many times I have listened to the song You Used to Hold Me when I was feeling broken and needed music to help me heal. The only difference between Calvin Harris and the other two producers I listed is my love for him is based solely on his music- I have never seen him live. When I think of why I love Deadmau5 and Kaskade a huge part of the reason I love them like I do is the memories I have associated with the numerous times I’ve seen them live. I didn’t even know who Deadmau5 was until I saw him live at Coachella 2010- the experience changed and the way I listened to music forever. I wouldn’t love either of these artists the way I do if it weren’t for seeing them live. That’s why I find so much excitement in seeing Calvin Harris live. I am already a fan. I am already in love. I already dream about marrying him and touring the world with him and having babies together (ok the last part may have nothing to do with his music but still :) Seeing him live is going to be the ultimate EDM experience for me. I know in my heart that I am going to fall even more in love with him, his music, and the genre itself. Only problem- he conflicts with Justice just the tiniest bit. It’s OK I’m willing to sacrifice the beginning of his set (thank you very much insomniac for promising me Calvin Harris just a few months later and saving me the heart breaking fight with my best friend over our two most favorite artists in the world) Words can not express how excited I am for this weekend. Coachella always exceeds all of my expectations and I know this year will be even better than the last!
