So I’m a local here in the Coachella Valley and have some observations of the crowds over the years. Now this is a completely outside the festival perspective, I’ve never actually been to either (we just watch the livestream), but my wife and I are local business owners and we have an Airbnb that gets rented out every year during the festivals. We also have some friends that work for Goldenvoice and local restaurants and bars that seem to corroborate our experiences.
I just notice that it seems like media loves to talk bad specifically about the Coachella crowds, harping on influencer/entitled culture. But I barely hear anything about Stagecoach in this regard. Well let me just say…
STAGECOACH CROWDS ARE THE REAL NIGHTMARE.
Alcohol abuse is a serious problem with Stagecoach. Our friends that work for the festival say there are wayyyy more instances of fighting and alcohol poisoning. And it spills out beyond the festival grounds. We see it at bars, restaurants, breweries, and at our Airbnb. Our friends tell us about all the fights, people they have to kick out. We’ve had our place trashed, we’ve had complaints, we’ve had to tell someone to take their fucking Confederate Flag down off our balcony.
Honestly we have had nothing but great guests stay at our place during Coachella weekends. They are always super kind, respectful, and are just so excited for the experience and music. Also excited about the art as well! Total PLUR.
Meanwhile I can’t tell you how many times I’m driving home this weekend and there’s another group of influencers in the middle of the fucking street with their tripod out and cowboy hats on taking pictures not giving a shit about the cars having to drive around them. The air of entitlement weekend 3 is insane.
Anyway, that’s my rant. The Coachella crowd is mostly awesome and don’t let anyone try to tell you different. Stagecoach crowd can go kick rocks.
u/jbird3000 — 6 months ago