[ot-caption title =”The audience raptly watches the performer, Lord Huron, onstage at Coachella. (via Megan Eisenfelder, senior)”]

Music lovers everywhere; it’s time for Coachella!

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is an annual arts event held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It was created by Paul Tollett in 1999 and is currently organized by a company called Goldenvoice, a part of AEG Live. The event features several live performances of different nusic genres by either current or up-and-coming artists.

Senior Ashby Bland attended Coachella, and she commented on how much she enjoyed the event, “Coachella was the best three days of my life, the whole experience was unexplainable; it’s just something you have to experience yourself. It was filled with euphoric happiness (dancing, laughing, screaming, singing), and I think that anyone who has the means to attend should go.”

Big names such as Sia, Zedd, and Ellie Goulding performed at the festival, and several singers shocked the audience with their performances. “There were many surprise appearances,” commented Bland. “A$AP brought out Kanye West and Schoolboy Q, Disclosure brought out Lorde, and Calvin Harris brought out Rihanna.” Bland thought many performances were well-received, and noted the audience always had a great reaction to the singers, “When A$AP brought out Kanye it garnered the most insane reaction that I’ve ever experienced with a crowd, the energy was ridiculous.”

This year, the music leaned more towards EDM/house music rather than a more indie rock/alternative genre. EDM enthusiasts such as Zedd, Flume, and The Chainsmokers performed, drawing some of the biggest crowds of the weekend. Another performance that gained a large crowd was when Zedd brought out Kesha, which brought about many Free Kesha supporters to watch her sing. Even though EDM and R&B  seemed to be the type music that was mostly performed, Chris Stapleton brought a bit of country to Coachella, even though the festival is not known for its country acts. The three Grammy nominations Stapleton received in February must have helped him in landing the gig.

This year’s Coachella created a wonderful atmosphere of music, artwork, and fashion, memories for the people that went, and hopefully next year will be even better.