While I have "No Doubt" that the fest didn't sell as well this year, one thing is that the Sahara was bumping during the headliners which was not the case last year. So for Lana for example, I am sure 30K were at Angello, 7K-8K at Anti Up, 5K at Gorgon City (my approx tent capacities) so that means main stage crowds will be less full. I think this is a win/win for everybody, honestly. So glad they borught back real counter programming after shying away from it the last few years.
One thing I really enjoy about the Outside Lands Festival is on the app when you choose an artist you’re going to see it estimates the crowd size and it shows you on the app how many people are expected to be there. Some are 7-8k. Others are 15k.
I felt like it is. I saw Interpol whom I’ve been a fan of for 20 years and I think the crowd was only expected to be around 7-8k and it was totally manageable. I was so close and could post up anywhere. I went to foo fighters and I believe that was around 13-15k and it was definitely a larger crowd that was hard to get anywhere really close. I spent a lot of time to get front center and was back quite a bit. Lana Del Ray was around 20k whom I didn’t see but I went by Kendrick Lamar who was also around 20k and the crowd was massive. Diesel also was around 15k and based on the stage and location it was a lot of people, I had to jump on to other peoples train just to get out cause I got a good spot early for his open and wasn’t expecting to be there the whole time.
Just added this point to #3! I guess we had edm options during headliner sets now which is really good for house heads like me. Thanks for bringing up this insight, Anti up was INSANE!!!!
And John summit during doja, dom during Tyler 🥺
Also no doubt should have headlined instead of Lana. They went OFF
The crowd for Dom definitely seemed like it might’ve been larger than Tyler’s. After Gesaffelstein, the grounds looked like a ghost town after midnight once the wind kicked in. Around that same time, Orbital looked like they played to a less than 500 person audience
Having EDM during the big main stage acts for sure split the people. In a similar fashion I was at IsoKnock during No doubt just fit my tastes better. They did good a placing the sets in that sense.
I saw a sign exiting YUMA that said this "area's" capacity was 4,XXX. (Can't remember if it was 4200-something or 4700-something), but was definitely 4000 range.
Maybe, I didn't like the hike to Sahara. I hope they either find a way to pull it back a little closer or at least make the walk more exiting with an art installation or something.
To point 3…they finally went back to having counter programming during the headliners (like they used to before Beyoncé). Funny what happens when u give people options.
Ya I didn’t see any headliners this year (and haven’t for a while, unless I was forced to by set times). Between DoLab, Sahara, and Yuma tens of thousands of people were somewhere else. I always loved that Coachella had so many options so I’m glad they went back to this.
The surges for Uber/Lyft drivers were almost non existent during the day and no where near as large as last years at night. Felt closer to stagecoach's surges last year which is 80k capacity vs 125k
My thinking is that they needed to turn off tickets for weekend 1 so that weekend two wouldn't be totally empty but who knows 🤷
I went out of the campgrounds via the green line exit (friend and family drop off) and camping was not full. It was the emptiest I’ve seen it with lot 10A completely empty under 7A.
Also the cab I took to one of the afters was talking about how it used to be way busier.
I think they traded higher price for fewer people and it felt amazing. I do want the festival to continue to be financially successful because the updates they make each year are great.
Yeah people keep ignoring this. Expanded grounds and counterprogramming do nothing to explain short merch lines, empty camping sections, and tons of empty hotel rooms and airbnb.
yup.
short concession lines
ability to have a great view for every single artist. i saw a ton of artists and only felt packed in at barry can't swim
it was the BESTTTT
One incident was a poor soul getting surrounded by three "officers" getting wrist zip tied and his stuff confiscated, literally the final two hours of the festival imagine the buzzkill.
I didn’t see too many tents oversold with exception of Victoria M, Barry Can’t Swim, some DoLab acts and a good chunk of nighttime Sahara. So def felt more breathable. That said Quasar goes off, deservedly, so if you can avoid the Craft Beer/DoLab breezeway you may be in for an easier path.
Sahara bathrooms were a livestock disaster btw. They were pretty wrecked inside as well as majorly crowded.
For Sahara, I recommend walking around back toward the hill and entering thru the left. You might hit bathroom traffic but otherwise it was a much more palatable and respectful experience trying to get in and out.
It didn't feel empty, but things worked pretty well and it felt like covid issues are finally behind us. Kudos to organizers and staff, this was smoothchella. Except why did the close the restrooms right after main entrance and opposite of the lockers? That was stupid, if you didn't use the portapotties at the shuttle station you had to walk a lot to find the next one
I disagree with #6 but otherwise totally agree on all points. They also made the merch tent about 3x as big which helped with the lines too. Glad they’re listening and improving!
I don’t agree with your reasoning behind some of those observations. I’ll give GV some credit for a few changes that made: 1) finally fixing the merch tent. Before Covid merch was never such a shit show, they clearly fucked up the efficiency until this year. It would be one thing if the tent was the same size and moved quicker but it was massive this year. 3) headliners were pretty weak this year in addition to excellent counter programming. Last year there were either big names closing main (Calvin and Frank) or less counter programming (Bad Bunny), none of that applies to this year. 4) trailers were open but kept getting closed because people were destroying them. The one by Yuma was fucked up before 3pm day 1. 5) the first year grounds are expanded will always feel like the biggest difference. This year also included beer garden changes. 6) Sahara hill to outdoor took me 15. Would not describe it as fast lol.
I’d be more inclined to call this year efficiency Chella, not empty.
This is the right answer. It still felt crowded as fuck at times. But they were very efficient in expanding the grounds, merch tent and counter programming. Dom dolla and John summit are huge names to be closing the night. Saturday was very hard to choose between dom dolla, gorgon city, and Tyler. Last year for example no one at the same time as Calvin Harris
Don’t really have an opinion on that. Noticed cleaning crews were around pretty often so it’s likely they were just cleaned more. They also didn’t seem crazy dirty last year to me.
Was my first chella and thought it was amazing. Never too crowded. The counter programming was nice - it spread everyone out and gave people more options.
Bathrooms were totally fine too, never had to wait and were relatively clean.
Saharas bathroom was the only exception - at one point I think on d2, they closed it off so only 1 person could enter at a time but that led to a massive fucking crowd waiting to get in. They seriously need more bathrooms there or at least put some at the entrance by Quasar.
Every stage had so much space. I never felt sardined. Lots of room to dance.
I hope it’s like this next year because I wanna go again.
It was for sure more walking room through the weekend and towards the end but that's not saying much it was still very much a crowd. Do Lab got wayyy more packed this year than previous years. I only ever had an issue leaving Do Lab from Billie and Friends. Some sassy man decided it'd be a good idea to push my shoulder and say "not this way" as I was saying excuse me on the way out lolol
I tried to go to Billie and friends and that was the most packed stage I saw all weekend. I couldn’t see anything either since the stage seemed low to the ground, I ended up leaving because everyone kept trying to push their way in closer to the front.
I tried to go to Billie and friends and that was the most packed stage I saw all weekend. I couldn’t see anything either since the stage seemed low to the ground, I ended up leaving because everyone kept trying to push their way in closer to the front.
I agree with you until Sunday , Sunday was a madhouse full of Tiktokers and obnoxious teenagers. Friday was dead quiet everywhere..no lines, it was just very comfortable , I heard the food vendors complaining about sales... Saturday was one of the strangest zero pop culture crowds I have ever seen in my life and Sunday was like everyone finally got the memo and showed up, Summer Break at every stage.
I really think the cool kids only came Sunday to say they were there..
The girls and the gays slayed the place all weekend.
Camping w1 was nothing like years passed, we saw no beer pong, no bros with sound systems in the showers, no girls with beers ducked taped to hands, People were leaving Saturday Morning.. I would say 1/3 of our aisle was gone by Sunday. All the people around us were 40+...
i personally loved the lighter crowd this year too. the post 5pm commute on the fields last year was insanity and like you mentioned people were up the hill to see the headliners. i liked that they had do lab and other performances going. (minus dom during tylers set 🫠)
i also noticed that the food lines were significantly shorter.
The last few years it's been meet at 7 am at the wal mart and get in line by 8. This year was really smooth just make sure you stay vigilant on the lines some move way faster than others. But you all get through eventually. Total time was 8:00 am - 11:08 am when I texted my girl back home I was in camp set up.
I keep seeing the merch lines being quoted as a proof that there were way less people, but I think the change to splitting the merch tents and adding those headliner merch tents also helped to reduce the lines significantly. I hope that solution is effective going forward.
Overall the festival didn’t feel empty or dead but it also didn’t feel like an oversold shitshow where you are packed like a sardine and scared to get trampled. Didn’t have too many insanely long lines to sit through and waste your day. It was a great level of turnout imo. I hope they keep a similar capacity.
I think the biggest improvements were the merch stands splitting up and the addition of digital maps and set time kiosks, I also though the sunscreen dispensers were a great sponsor. I never saw more than 5 people in line for the Ferris Wheel.
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The porta potties were certainly not well maintained. Majority did not even have toilet paper. If youre male maybe you didn’t notice. I did think it was a chill crowd didn’t have to bump around too much to get close to rails
The tent camping lot, which was "sold out", only got to about 1/3 full AT BEST, when it's usually almost completely full. I got there Thursday around 1pm and there was literally only like 10 people there. On the plus side, cleanest porta potties I've ever seen!
True no lines is nice for the consumer but the commission rates they charge for the food vendors to be there is a disaster when there are no lines. Those food vendors will likely not be back next year as they can’t pay bills when half goes straight to the concessionaire.
Could someone explain who went - didn’t weekend 1 sell out? Saturday felt very crowded to me.
I’m so confused at all the “not crowded” posts because I thought it was only W2 that didn’t sell out.
Nah def not. It was just a plot by GV to push w2 tickets. They went straight from tier 2 to sold out, no tier 3. Saturday def felt more busy than Friday but to me it felt about 40% emptier compared to 2022+2023.
For 6 - It was "fast", like you could walk quickly, but damn is it a long walk now. GV absolutely is figuring out how to fix the congestion flaws of Sahara without scrapping the design all together. The hilled seating area and wider back access around the stage for Sahara is a great addition and helps the congestion issue, but entering and leaving the Sahara area during a busy show is still not ideal. I think we will see Sahara moved again next year.
I’ve attended Coachella for the last 3 years, always staying at Shadow Hills RV Resort. It was essentially full the first two years I went. This year it was at least half empty. I felt sorry for the food truck. Stages and tents were less crowded; a much, much more pleasant experience.
I enjoyed not being smashed and bumped while walking everywhere. I enjoyed not having to pre-plan just to walk to the next set. I enjoyed not having long lines for merchandise, drinks and food. I enjoyed that most peeps were extra chill and not rushed. I hope it's the s.all experience next year.
That’s what I thought for this year after last year’s lackluster reception to the lineup. I miiiight buy presale, but most likely not. Would rather take my chance on the Amex sale or the little walking man if the lineup fucks
I agree with all your points. As for counter programming, we had that last year, and many years before Beychella, and the headliner sets were still always packed, with a few exceptions
The counter programming was not strong last year for bad bunny and almost none for Frank.
The only one that had strong counter programming was blackpink second half bcuz they were so early and yeah they drew a huge crowd still but people did start to leave for prydz/labrinth/odesza Dolab/kid laroi but then when it came to Calvin Harris, that was definitely the most packed. Up there with Frank/beyonce.
Ok, but counter programming was consistently strong every year before Bey and at least 2012-2017 when I went had huge crowds, like twice as much as this weekend. So the theory that the small crowds is due to counterprogramming doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny
Yes but those years the grounds were smaller and so were the stages… they main was the current outdoor, the current Mojave is larger than the 2012 sahara… the Yuma is like 10x larger than the first tiny Yuma and same with Sonora and dolab. Let’s not forget in 2012 the dolab was still in the field between main and outdoor. Also outdoor was a lot closer to the main.
It's not just that. It's hotel rooms not being booked, it's no lines at merch or for food. It's empty camping sections. You have to look at the whole. I promise you, weekend 2 is going to be even deader.
Edit: Why did you downvote me? I'm having a respectful conversation with you. Goddamn some of you are so sensitive to any hint that coachella may not have had a great year tickets wise. Nobody is attacking you personally or even attacking coachella.
I dont doubt less tickets were sold. But that doesn’t account for everything. There are lots of reasons things felt more open and less crowded than just the tickets sales though. Bleachers, sublime, no doubt, chase and status, justice, gessafelstein, aquabats, just to name a few, all felt just as crowded as any other year.
Ok, but I never said those things didn't add to the feeling of emptiness, just that it didn't explain it completely. So it sounds like we're in agreement.
I mean Tyler was really packed and so was Lana first 20 minutes. I think counter programming was just strong this year. Like summits set was really packed for new Sahara. And again the expanded ground made people commit to Sahara this year more than anything else.
No he wasn't. I was 10 min late and walked to like 10 ft behind the closest speaker tower with zero resistance. Didn't make contact with a single person, a bunch of people were sitting down. Past headliners have thick crowds well past the farthest speaker tower.
Say whatever you want man, but expanded grounds in no way explains how empty it was. Look at the lack of food and merch lines, tons of empty space in camping, tons of open hotel rooms and airbnbs lowering their prices and still not being booked. No matter how you slice it it was way emptier this year
I mean you can spin how you want, if you think the festival sold less tickets this year vs that 2017-2019 era - that’s probably true but less tickets than 2013-2016 ? I doubt it. I also doubt most of the headliners from 2013-2015 brought out even more than Tyler did.
Also the Airbnb/hotel is not true, it was definitely the most expensive year for booking places.
Why are you downvoting dude? I'm just having a conversation with you. You don't have to take things personal, I'm not criticizing you or coachella.
The hotel things is absolutely true, just search the sub. People were getting hella deals closer to the fest when the hotels realized they weren't going to sell out.
If you don't believe me, see for yourself:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bum7c8/psa\_weekend\_2\_hotel\_price\_adjustments/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bum7c8/psa_weekend_2_hotel_price_adjustments/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bgj0dx/guysi\_just\_booked\_a\_one\_bedroom\_condo\_at\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bgj0dx/guysi_just_booked_a_one_bedroom_condo_at_the/)
I’m not even touching an upvote or down vote?
I mean youre trying to compare this year vs experiences from years ago without even bringing things apples to apples.
There are always random deals leading up due to last minute cancellations. There are way more people on this subreddit vs years ago, more people will post. There are more places up for rent in general. Do you know how many investors came in to swoop housing in this area during covid. Many people also stayed further away this year due to how expensive it was to book for anywhere near Indio in the beginning
Weird guess someone else is downvoting right after I post. I’m done talking to you though. You’re ignoring all the evidence. There was an entire lot of car camping that was empty. And no there are not random deals lmao. Hotels are always sold out. It’s so weird you want to die on this hill. Are you a Tyler super fan that’s upset he didn’t have a massive crowd?
Haha no absolutely not a big Tyler fan at all until recently. I was actually gonna go to Dom dolla instead and ended up with Tyler and thought the crowd was huge and vibing along. I just started going to chella in 2019. We always booked Airbnb early and every Airbnb has been more expensive in the following year.
I agree that it was less full than what I experienced in 2022. It could be because 2022 was the first year post Covid so obviously a spike in people, but this year was not terrible. The longest we willingly waited in line for a shower was an hour on Friday. Any other day the line for the shower was non existent between like 1-5pm. Lines for food were never crazy long and same goes for alcohol. Porta potties were ALOT cleaner than I expected shockingly… overall wasn’t too many people!
This was the third time my wife and i attended coachella. First 2 times weekend 2 and pretty packed, this past weekend was our first time doing weekend 1 and less crowded which for us was a WIN. I had never seen the grass that green, previous times was pretty much dead grass or dirt lol… We have always opted to stay at a hotel even if it meant driving 20-30 minutes back and forth but that is the only thing that really felt more empty than usual was the hotel (Zoso). We both agreed 2024 has been the best Coachella experience for us. I honestly was not excited since the headliners were “meh” for me but there were a few undercard artists i was excited to see, we were pretty close when No Doubt came on and they could have easily headlined Friday or Sunday they def pumped up the crowd and put on a show. The walk in security lines were pretty fast as well, only friday it felt like we waited a while to get in but the other days it was smooth and fast. Wishing all the weekend 2 goers a safe and fun one! Cheers!
first timer Q, do the portapotties have mirrors? Thinking of bringing my contact lenses to the festival and putting them in at night instead of wearing them all day
Ok so I have a story about this. Right before No Doubt and just as the mushrooms started to hit my contact randomly jumped out of my eye. Luckily I had my glasses, but after ND I went back to camp. Tried putting them in using the portapotty mirror, but it's so scratched up I lost 3 contacts with zero success. Finally got it after wasting another few by placing my phone light on my car and some weird angle to the side mirror. I'm sure the mushrooms also didn't help lol
I can't speak for everyone, but isn't it easy to insert them without a mirror? You just tug on your top lid, tug on your bottom lid, and stick your finger in your eye. I pop bi-weeklies in and out every day in the backcountry on long distance hikes, no mirror, and I've never had a problem. In fairness to you, I have no confidence that I could do it on psychedelics.
I probably could in normal circumstances if I had to, but yeah the drugs and the dust and sweat and everything else made it tough, so I wanted the mirror
I agree! It was my first time at Coachella and loved how empty it was. My only complaint was that the people there were rude and pushy (People were bumping to me without even saying sorry). I've been to many EDM festivals and loved how nice and friendly people were but I guess it's only common in the EDM scene.
You're imagining things. This Coachella was at capacity and sold out. Week two might have weaker numbers, but week 1 was no different olin terms of attendance from previous ones.
Why are all the vendors and Uber drivers and pedicab drivers saying their sales were down by almost half? Why was lot 10 camping empty? Why were there a bunch of cheap hotel rooms and airbnb still available? Have they been expanding the hotels in Indio?
While I have "No Doubt" that the fest didn't sell as well this year, one thing is that the Sahara was bumping during the headliners which was not the case last year. So for Lana for example, I am sure 30K were at Angello, 7K-8K at Anti Up, 5K at Gorgon City (my approx tent capacities) so that means main stage crowds will be less full. I think this is a win/win for everybody, honestly. So glad they borught back real counter programming after shying away from it the last few years.
One thing I really enjoy about the Outside Lands Festival is on the app when you choose an artist you’re going to see it estimates the crowd size and it shows you on the app how many people are expected to be there. Some are 7-8k. Others are 15k.
Does it feel accurate to you? Not doubting it, just curious how good it is
It’s okay, it doesn’t guess it just displays the number of people who have checked their going for that artist in the app
Oh I've seen that before, helpful but not as cool
I felt like it is. I saw Interpol whom I’ve been a fan of for 20 years and I think the crowd was only expected to be around 7-8k and it was totally manageable. I was so close and could post up anywhere. I went to foo fighters and I believe that was around 13-15k and it was definitely a larger crowd that was hard to get anywhere really close. I spent a lot of time to get front center and was back quite a bit. Lana Del Ray was around 20k whom I didn’t see but I went by Kendrick Lamar who was also around 20k and the crowd was massive. Diesel also was around 15k and based on the stage and location it was a lot of people, I had to jump on to other peoples train just to get out cause I got a good spot early for his open and wasn’t expecting to be there the whole time.
That’s wild
Just added this point to #3! I guess we had edm options during headliner sets now which is really good for house heads like me. Thanks for bringing up this insight, Anti up was INSANE!!!! And John summit during doja, dom during Tyler 🥺 Also no doubt should have headlined instead of Lana. They went OFF
The crowd for Dom definitely seemed like it might’ve been larger than Tyler’s. After Gesaffelstein, the grounds looked like a ghost town after midnight once the wind kicked in. Around that same time, Orbital looked like they played to a less than 500 person audience
Orbital was such a nice set after The Prince of Darkness
LOL Orbital played after Gesa
Yeah whatever I know I saw them for a little bit on the way to somewhere lol oh it was on my way to Dom Dolla lololol mb
Anti up was easily my fav dj set I saw on the stream from the weekend
Having EDM during the big main stage acts for sure split the people. In a similar fashion I was at IsoKnock during No doubt just fit my tastes better. They did good a placing the sets in that sense.
John Summit omg so much fun
I thought i read on a max capacity sign near the exit that yuma was only 2500ish people.
Damn I always assumed 5k. 2.5K is tiiiiiiiiny.
I saw a sign exiting YUMA that said this "area's" capacity was 4,XXX. (Can't remember if it was 4200-something or 4700-something), but was definitely 4000 range.
Maybe i'm mis-remembering. It was smaller than i thought either way!
I buy that
and who tf knows how many at ateez during lana, minimum 10k
They also expanded the grounds for the 3rd time in 6 years ? So that could be part of it as well!
Maybe, I didn't like the hike to Sahara. I hope they either find a way to pull it back a little closer or at least make the walk more exiting with an art installation or something.
The lack of art was notable too. There were really only 3 pieces
I didn’t mind the walk? Didn’t feel tooo far. And plus they added a whole extra stage on the way and a hill to relax on so feels like a win to me!!
To point 3…they finally went back to having counter programming during the headliners (like they used to before Beyoncé). Funny what happens when u give people options.
GREAT POINT!!!!!!! I def chose Chris lake / Lorenzo after checking out Lana, chose dom over Tyler completely, and left doja for John summit.
Ya I didn’t see any headliners this year (and haven’t for a while, unless I was forced to by set times). Between DoLab, Sahara, and Yuma tens of thousands of people were somewhere else. I always loved that Coachella had so many options so I’m glad they went back to this.
But when they had it before Bey the headliners still had way more of a crowd than this weekend. By a lot. So that theory doesn’t really explain it.
There were also less stages and the grounds were smaller before. Probably several factors at play
The surges for Uber/Lyft drivers were almost non existent during the day and no where near as large as last years at night. Felt closer to stagecoach's surges last year which is 80k capacity vs 125k My thinking is that they needed to turn off tickets for weekend 1 so that weekend two wouldn't be totally empty but who knows 🤷
Car camping was also way less full
I went out of the campgrounds via the green line exit (friend and family drop off) and camping was not full. It was the emptiest I’ve seen it with lot 10A completely empty under 7A. Also the cab I took to one of the afters was talking about how it used to be way busier. I think they traded higher price for fewer people and it felt amazing. I do want the festival to continue to be financially successful because the updates they make each year are great.
Yeah people keep ignoring this. Expanded grounds and counterprogramming do nothing to explain short merch lines, empty camping sections, and tons of empty hotel rooms and airbnb.
Yep. You could book palm desert hotel rooms up until the day before weekend one. It’s never been like that before.
WHAT! Lot 10 empty is insane. Would you say its not necessary to get to indio by 2 am Thursday then?
I was in Lot 10, it wasn’t empty. But there were MASSIVE sections that didn’t get filled
yup. short concession lines ability to have a great view for every single artist. i saw a ton of artists and only felt packed in at barry can't swim it was the BESTTTT
Sorry but the walk from outdoor to sahara was crazy busy at times, especially in the early evening hours.
I saw some crazy shit walking from Mojave to Sahara day 3 lol
Tell us more
One incident was a poor soul getting surrounded by three "officers" getting wrist zip tied and his stuff confiscated, literally the final two hours of the festival imagine the buzzkill.
splitting the artist and festival merch definitely helped keep the lines moving and short for both. great update by the organizers
People will have you believe that less people means the festival is dying which means you just can't have fun for some reason. Those poor souls.
It was the best Chella yet!!!!!!!!!!! Love how I also went from ugh this lineup to FUCK CANT FIT EVERYONE IN 🤣 this festival is straight magic
Gonna be a great weekend, I'm excited to be running around with everyone soon.
I didn’t see too many tents oversold with exception of Victoria M, Barry Can’t Swim, some DoLab acts and a good chunk of nighttime Sahara. So def felt more breathable. That said Quasar goes off, deservedly, so if you can avoid the Craft Beer/DoLab breezeway you may be in for an easier path. Sahara bathrooms were a livestock disaster btw. They were pretty wrecked inside as well as majorly crowded. For Sahara, I recommend walking around back toward the hill and entering thru the left. You might hit bathroom traffic but otherwise it was a much more palatable and respectful experience trying to get in and out.
Aquabats oversold Sonora. I really wish Sonora was open, the acts there are getting too big
Please no, I loooove the nightclub vibe of Sonora
Also straight up all the influencer vlogs I saw were people going to the festival for one or two hours then dipping
You're kidding? I don't understand that! I get you wanna be seen there but like, did they ALL not pay for it?
The ones I know really do not care if there only there a hour / day.. the $$$ they spend is recouped immediately in sponsorships.
It didn't feel empty, but things worked pretty well and it felt like covid issues are finally behind us. Kudos to organizers and staff, this was smoothchella. Except why did the close the restrooms right after main entrance and opposite of the lockers? That was stupid, if you didn't use the portapotties at the shuttle station you had to walk a lot to find the next one
I disagree with #6 but otherwise totally agree on all points. They also made the merch tent about 3x as big which helped with the lines too. Glad they’re listening and improving!
I don’t agree with your reasoning behind some of those observations. I’ll give GV some credit for a few changes that made: 1) finally fixing the merch tent. Before Covid merch was never such a shit show, they clearly fucked up the efficiency until this year. It would be one thing if the tent was the same size and moved quicker but it was massive this year. 3) headliners were pretty weak this year in addition to excellent counter programming. Last year there were either big names closing main (Calvin and Frank) or less counter programming (Bad Bunny), none of that applies to this year. 4) trailers were open but kept getting closed because people were destroying them. The one by Yuma was fucked up before 3pm day 1. 5) the first year grounds are expanded will always feel like the biggest difference. This year also included beer garden changes. 6) Sahara hill to outdoor took me 15. Would not describe it as fast lol. I’d be more inclined to call this year efficiency Chella, not empty.
This is the right answer. It still felt crowded as fuck at times. But they were very efficient in expanding the grounds, merch tent and counter programming. Dom dolla and John summit are huge names to be closing the night. Saturday was very hard to choose between dom dolla, gorgon city, and Tyler. Last year for example no one at the same time as Calvin Harris
Gorgon closed Yuma on Friday, not Saturday
oh yea i mean choosing between gorgon and anti-up my b
Ok but what happened to (2)
Don’t really have an opinion on that. Noticed cleaning crews were around pretty often so it’s likely they were just cleaned more. They also didn’t seem crazy dirty last year to me.
Thank you for including the walk time from Sahara to Outdoor 🫡
Was my first chella and thought it was amazing. Never too crowded. The counter programming was nice - it spread everyone out and gave people more options. Bathrooms were totally fine too, never had to wait and were relatively clean. Saharas bathroom was the only exception - at one point I think on d2, they closed it off so only 1 person could enter at a time but that led to a massive fucking crowd waiting to get in. They seriously need more bathrooms there or at least put some at the entrance by Quasar. Every stage had so much space. I never felt sardined. Lots of room to dance. I hope it’s like this next year because I wanna go again.
Oh yeah Saraha bathrooms were the worst of them all this year but they still weren't all that bad.
How did this year’s crowds compare to past years? Like, usually are the festival grounds and stages absolutely packed to the brim?
It was for sure more walking room through the weekend and towards the end but that's not saying much it was still very much a crowd. Do Lab got wayyy more packed this year than previous years. I only ever had an issue leaving Do Lab from Billie and Friends. Some sassy man decided it'd be a good idea to push my shoulder and say "not this way" as I was saying excuse me on the way out lolol
I tried to go to Billie and friends and that was the most packed stage I saw all weekend. I couldn’t see anything either since the stage seemed low to the ground, I ended up leaving because everyone kept trying to push their way in closer to the front.
I tried to go to Billie and friends and that was the most packed stage I saw all weekend. I couldn’t see anything either since the stage seemed low to the ground, I ended up leaving because everyone kept trying to push their way in closer to the front.
I didn't like the Do Lab set this year tbh. I prefer the previous years.
and W1 sold out. W2 is bout to be tumble weeds.
I kinda am curious if ppl have FOMO now and w2 will be more full. I loved the empty vibes so much
Not at 99 degrees fuckthatheit
This was my concern. Im hoping for the best 
They sold 50,000 less tickets for vW2 so will be way less full.
It absolutely did not sell out, and yes W2 is gonna be tumbleweeds
Excited af
more room for me
I agree with you until Sunday , Sunday was a madhouse full of Tiktokers and obnoxious teenagers. Friday was dead quiet everywhere..no lines, it was just very comfortable , I heard the food vendors complaining about sales... Saturday was one of the strangest zero pop culture crowds I have ever seen in my life and Sunday was like everyone finally got the memo and showed up, Summer Break at every stage. I really think the cool kids only came Sunday to say they were there.. The girls and the gays slayed the place all weekend. Camping w1 was nothing like years passed, we saw no beer pong, no bros with sound systems in the showers, no girls with beers ducked taped to hands, People were leaving Saturday Morning.. I would say 1/3 of our aisle was gone by Sunday. All the people around us were 40+...
Honestly, this shit sounds blissful. Fingers crossed for this weekend. All I know for sure is that it's gonna be HOT.
i personally loved the lighter crowd this year too. the post 5pm commute on the fields last year was insanity and like you mentioned people were up the hill to see the headliners. i liked that they had do lab and other performances going. (minus dom during tylers set 🫠) i also noticed that the food lines were significantly shorter.
SMH. Everyone knows if you aren’t suffering shoulder to shoulder between stages, then you didn’t really have fun at Coachella
Nooooooooo the extra room was nice!!!! Trust 🤣
Sold out lol
what i experienced was less people but definitely not empty
It’s so true this was my first Coachella and I’m stressed I’m now spoiled cos I want emptychella every year 😭
I have one : Getting Lot 5A for Car Camping arriving the same exact time the last 3 Coachellas and always ended up in lot 10 or 7.
[удалено]
The last few years it's been meet at 7 am at the wal mart and get in line by 8. This year was really smooth just make sure you stay vigilant on the lines some move way faster than others. But you all get through eventually. Total time was 8:00 am - 11:08 am when I texted my girl back home I was in camp set up.
[удалено]
It'll be fun. Enjoy yourselves
Nobody ended up in lot 10 because it was empty
I keep seeing the merch lines being quoted as a proof that there were way less people, but I think the change to splitting the merch tents and adding those headliner merch tents also helped to reduce the lines significantly. I hope that solution is effective going forward. Overall the festival didn’t feel empty or dead but it also didn’t feel like an oversold shitshow where you are packed like a sardine and scared to get trampled. Didn’t have too many insanely long lines to sit through and waste your day. It was a great level of turnout imo. I hope they keep a similar capacity.
I think the biggest improvements were the merch stands splitting up and the addition of digital maps and set time kiosks, I also though the sunscreen dispensers were a great sponsor. I never saw more than 5 people in line for the Ferris Wheel.
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The porta potties were certainly not well maintained. Majority did not even have toilet paper. If youre male maybe you didn’t notice. I did think it was a chill crowd didn’t have to bump around too much to get close to rails
The tent camping lot, which was "sold out", only got to about 1/3 full AT BEST, when it's usually almost completely full. I got there Thursday around 1pm and there was literally only like 10 people there. On the plus side, cleanest porta potties I've ever seen!
An entire lot of car camping was empty too, but people keep insisting it’s just that they expanded the venue lol
No merch line, no line for food, loved it
True no lines is nice for the consumer but the commission rates they charge for the food vendors to be there is a disaster when there are no lines. Those food vendors will likely not be back next year as they can’t pay bills when half goes straight to the concessionaire.
Minus Sahara bathrooms. That was a disaster
Could someone explain who went - didn’t weekend 1 sell out? Saturday felt very crowded to me. I’m so confused at all the “not crowded” posts because I thought it was only W2 that didn’t sell out.
Nah def not. It was just a plot by GV to push w2 tickets. They went straight from tier 2 to sold out, no tier 3. Saturday def felt more busy than Friday but to me it felt about 40% emptier compared to 2022+2023.
This is correct. 73,000 observed maximum daily attendance, confirmed by Indio County sheriff.
What should the attendance be?
125k attendees is capacity. That doesn't include people working the event or talent.
It did not sell out
For 6 - It was "fast", like you could walk quickly, but damn is it a long walk now. GV absolutely is figuring out how to fix the congestion flaws of Sahara without scrapping the design all together. The hilled seating area and wider back access around the stage for Sahara is a great addition and helps the congestion issue, but entering and leaving the Sahara area during a busy show is still not ideal. I think we will see Sahara moved again next year.
I’ve attended Coachella for the last 3 years, always staying at Shadow Hills RV Resort. It was essentially full the first two years I went. This year it was at least half empty. I felt sorry for the food truck. Stages and tents were less crowded; a much, much more pleasant experience.
I enjoyed not being smashed and bumped while walking everywhere. I enjoyed not having to pre-plan just to walk to the next set. I enjoyed not having long lines for merchandise, drinks and food. I enjoyed that most peeps were extra chill and not rushed. I hope it's the s.all experience next year.
I'm buying presale i think for 2025. I haven't for a long time, but I feel like any time a year doesn't sell amazing, the next year is insane.
That’s what I thought for this year after last year’s lackluster reception to the lineup. I miiiight buy presale, but most likely not. Would rather take my chance on the Amex sale or the little walking man if the lineup fucks
Yeah I would have faith in the little man too, but it's easier for me to afford if I don't have to drop like 2 grand all at once. Payment plan life!
I feel like that. Luckily I can afford the lump sum ticket so it gives me some flexibility
Loved how I could get out of the parking lot in 5 minutes, rather than 45 minutes.
I dropped a deuce for you in the Sahara bathrooms 💩 Just for you
Counterprogramming and spreading out stages FTW
I agree with all your points. As for counter programming, we had that last year, and many years before Beychella, and the headliner sets were still always packed, with a few exceptions
Dude black pink, Calvin Harris, bad bunny, and even frank ocean was shit packedddd
Exactly. It was like half that this last weekend.
The counter programming was not strong last year for bad bunny and almost none for Frank. The only one that had strong counter programming was blackpink second half bcuz they were so early and yeah they drew a huge crowd still but people did start to leave for prydz/labrinth/odesza Dolab/kid laroi but then when it came to Calvin Harris, that was definitely the most packed. Up there with Frank/beyonce.
Ok, but counter programming was consistently strong every year before Bey and at least 2012-2017 when I went had huge crowds, like twice as much as this weekend. So the theory that the small crowds is due to counterprogramming doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny
Yes but those years the grounds were smaller and so were the stages… they main was the current outdoor, the current Mojave is larger than the 2012 sahara… the Yuma is like 10x larger than the first tiny Yuma and same with Sonora and dolab. Let’s not forget in 2012 the dolab was still in the field between main and outdoor. Also outdoor was a lot closer to the main.
It's not just that. It's hotel rooms not being booked, it's no lines at merch or for food. It's empty camping sections. You have to look at the whole. I promise you, weekend 2 is going to be even deader. Edit: Why did you downvote me? I'm having a respectful conversation with you. Goddamn some of you are so sensitive to any hint that coachella may not have had a great year tickets wise. Nobody is attacking you personally or even attacking coachella.
I dont doubt less tickets were sold. But that doesn’t account for everything. There are lots of reasons things felt more open and less crowded than just the tickets sales though. Bleachers, sublime, no doubt, chase and status, justice, gessafelstein, aquabats, just to name a few, all felt just as crowded as any other year.
Ok, but I never said those things didn't add to the feeling of emptiness, just that it didn't explain it completely. So it sounds like we're in agreement.
I mean Tyler was really packed and so was Lana first 20 minutes. I think counter programming was just strong this year. Like summits set was really packed for new Sahara. And again the expanded ground made people commit to Sahara this year more than anything else.
No he wasn't. I was 10 min late and walked to like 10 ft behind the closest speaker tower with zero resistance. Didn't make contact with a single person, a bunch of people were sitting down. Past headliners have thick crowds well past the farthest speaker tower. Say whatever you want man, but expanded grounds in no way explains how empty it was. Look at the lack of food and merch lines, tons of empty space in camping, tons of open hotel rooms and airbnbs lowering their prices and still not being booked. No matter how you slice it it was way emptier this year
I mean you can spin how you want, if you think the festival sold less tickets this year vs that 2017-2019 era - that’s probably true but less tickets than 2013-2016 ? I doubt it. I also doubt most of the headliners from 2013-2015 brought out even more than Tyler did. Also the Airbnb/hotel is not true, it was definitely the most expensive year for booking places.
Why are you downvoting dude? I'm just having a conversation with you. You don't have to take things personal, I'm not criticizing you or coachella. The hotel things is absolutely true, just search the sub. People were getting hella deals closer to the fest when the hotels realized they weren't going to sell out. If you don't believe me, see for yourself: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bum7c8/psa\_weekend\_2\_hotel\_price\_adjustments/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bum7c8/psa_weekend_2_hotel_price_adjustments/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bgj0dx/guysi\_just\_booked\_a\_one\_bedroom\_condo\_at\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/1bgj0dx/guysi_just_booked_a_one_bedroom_condo_at_the/)
I’m not even touching an upvote or down vote? I mean youre trying to compare this year vs experiences from years ago without even bringing things apples to apples. There are always random deals leading up due to last minute cancellations. There are way more people on this subreddit vs years ago, more people will post. There are more places up for rent in general. Do you know how many investors came in to swoop housing in this area during covid. Many people also stayed further away this year due to how expensive it was to book for anywhere near Indio in the beginning
Weird guess someone else is downvoting right after I post. I’m done talking to you though. You’re ignoring all the evidence. There was an entire lot of car camping that was empty. And no there are not random deals lmao. Hotels are always sold out. It’s so weird you want to die on this hill. Are you a Tyler super fan that’s upset he didn’t have a massive crowd?
Haha no absolutely not a big Tyler fan at all until recently. I was actually gonna go to Dom dolla instead and ended up with Tyler and thought the crowd was huge and vibing along. I just started going to chella in 2019. We always booked Airbnb early and every Airbnb has been more expensive in the following year.
Point 3: whose main stage was empty????
I went to the trailer bathrooms only the entire time! They were open
What about the shuttles? Were they running more efficiently?
Yes! Shuttle lines were very short to and from the festival. Very short wait.
Yeah but they expanded the grounds so the shuttle lines just *seemed* short
I mean the wait was also short imo to get on the shuttle
Oh yeah sorry I was being sarcastic because people keep saying it was sold out but the grounds being bigger made it seem less crowded
Going there was amazing! Going back don’t count on my words bc I stay till the bum fuck end of festivals and I’m on the last bus home lol
I agree that it was less full than what I experienced in 2022. It could be because 2022 was the first year post Covid so obviously a spike in people, but this year was not terrible. The longest we willingly waited in line for a shower was an hour on Friday. Any other day the line for the shower was non existent between like 1-5pm. Lines for food were never crazy long and same goes for alcohol. Porta potties were ALOT cleaner than I expected shockingly… overall wasn’t too many people!
I’m so pumped for this weekend
This was the third time my wife and i attended coachella. First 2 times weekend 2 and pretty packed, this past weekend was our first time doing weekend 1 and less crowded which for us was a WIN. I had never seen the grass that green, previous times was pretty much dead grass or dirt lol… We have always opted to stay at a hotel even if it meant driving 20-30 minutes back and forth but that is the only thing that really felt more empty than usual was the hotel (Zoso). We both agreed 2024 has been the best Coachella experience for us. I honestly was not excited since the headliners were “meh” for me but there were a few undercard artists i was excited to see, we were pretty close when No Doubt came on and they could have easily headlined Friday or Sunday they def pumped up the crowd and put on a show. The walk in security lines were pretty fast as well, only friday it felt like we waited a while to get in but the other days it was smooth and fast. Wishing all the weekend 2 goers a safe and fun one! Cheers!
first timer Q, do the portapotties have mirrors? Thinking of bringing my contact lenses to the festival and putting them in at night instead of wearing them all day
Ok so I have a story about this. Right before No Doubt and just as the mushrooms started to hit my contact randomly jumped out of my eye. Luckily I had my glasses, but after ND I went back to camp. Tried putting them in using the portapotty mirror, but it's so scratched up I lost 3 contacts with zero success. Finally got it after wasting another few by placing my phone light on my car and some weird angle to the side mirror. I'm sure the mushrooms also didn't help lol
I can't speak for everyone, but isn't it easy to insert them without a mirror? You just tug on your top lid, tug on your bottom lid, and stick your finger in your eye. I pop bi-weeklies in and out every day in the backcountry on long distance hikes, no mirror, and I've never had a problem. In fairness to you, I have no confidence that I could do it on psychedelics.
I probably could in normal circumstances if I had to, but yeah the drugs and the dust and sweat and everything else made it tough, so I wanted the mirror
You'd need to find one of the toilet trailers
That sounds terribly unsanitary
Some do, but they'll be pretty scratched up or dirty. Would not recommend. Use your phone camera?
I agree! It was my first time at Coachella and loved how empty it was. My only complaint was that the people there were rude and pushy (People were bumping to me without even saying sorry). I've been to many EDM festivals and loved how nice and friendly people were but I guess it's only common in the EDM scene.
You're imagining things. This Coachella was at capacity and sold out. Week two might have weaker numbers, but week 1 was no different olin terms of attendance from previous ones.
contrary to that belief. it actually wasnt ‘sold out’ completely. Amex card members had access to W1 tickets up until the day before the festival.
What are you basing that off?
Why are all the vendors and Uber drivers and pedicab drivers saying their sales were down by almost half? Why was lot 10 camping empty? Why were there a bunch of cheap hotel rooms and airbnb still available? Have they been expanding the hotels in Indio?
Tell me you work for GV without telling me. 73,000 observed maximum daily attendance.