Thursday 13th April – Coachella Eve

For those of you who don’t know, like I didn’t, Coachella is a music festival held in the desert of California near Palm Springs at a place called, you guessed it, Coachella! It’s a three-day event repeated over two weekends and something Kaila has been going to for twelve years, this being her thirteenth attendance. Kaila managed to score us camping tickets ($200 for the four day weekend) and me a festival ticket ($450 a piece).

In order to get a good campsite, we had to be at the gates by 8am, which meant a 4am wake up call. Ouch. It was painful, especially after only a few hours sleep, but we made it happen. I said a sleepy goodbye to Dan and as I made my exit out the side door of Air Force One, Cleo slid into bed right next to Dan where I’d been. A seamless transfer from Dan’s point of view.

Kaila was up when I knocked on the window of the Astro, but she was tempted to stay in bed as I drove. Unforutnately we’re opposites. I’m a morning person while she’s a night owl. She was prepared to drive thorugh the night last night, but there’s no way I could have faced that. Even with only three hours sleep, I was chirpy and ready to drive. Kaila ended up crawling into the front passenger seat to keep me company and we were off. There were more cars on the highway than you’d expect for 5am on a Thurday morning, all of them probably on their way to the same place as us.

After an hour or so, we were off the major interstate and heading east through the mountains to get to Coachella. Not long after we left the highway, we were driving through farmland and the sun was rising right in front of us. Not a bad sight, especially when the Tule (pronounced “tool-ee”) fog rolled in. This was a new term for me, Kaila explained that it is a thick layer of fog created by moisture from plants and trapped in the atmosphere. It was thick stuff, with only a few meters of visibility at some points. Concentration levels hit the roof! I was happy to be out of it when we started climbing through the mountains. We followed a steep, winding road through the hills covered in rocky outcrops. I hadn’t been expecting a scenic drive on our way to the festival!

We were right on schedule as we rolled into Palm Springs, a community in the middle of nowhere with tall, perfectly trimmed palm trees and manicured grass on every corner. A popular retirement spot I expect and also a place for winter houses for the rich and famous. We stopped in at Walmart to pick up ice for our ice chest and have a much needed bathroom break. I hadn’t expected to drive the 2.5 hours straight from OB to Coachella but that’s exactly what we’d done. While Kaila was doing the shopping, I started stashing our contraband into the crevices of the Astro.

Per the rules of the festival, no knives (including kitchen knives), drugs, sharp objects or glass were allowed in. As we were driving, we made a list of everything in the car that was illegal and I planned to hide it all. I got my drill out and stashed all my glass jars behind the trim of one door and all my sharp tools (saw, hacksaw, hatchet) and some rum in the other door. The knives and scissors went underneath the trim over the door and a few things of Kaila’s went above the roof lining. Ready for the line up, we drove straight to the entrance.

We got to the back of the line, right at 8am when we’d planned. To Kaila’s disappointment, she thought the line a little long and thought we probably should have got there sooner. I didn’t mind, I was along for the experience! The line moved so slowly that I had plenty of time to get into the kitchen and make some cereal for breakfast, then again after another move up the line to brush my teeth. Eventually it was crawling at a steady pace and the roaming police informed us that we should remain in our vehicles, which we did.

By 9am, we were at the back of the security screening line which spread across a dozen lanes across a polo field. Nice grass! The party had definitely already started, people were walking all over drinking and mucking around. The excitement in the air was high! I did a bit of admin work on my laptop as we stopped and started in our line, hoping that we wouldn’t be searched too thoroughly when it came our turn. After an hour in the line, it was the moment of truth, would any of our shit be confiscated, never to be seen again? The piles of confiscated contraband was low at the head of our line so that was a good sign. In the end, we had absolutely nothing to worry about. I opened all the van doors, the guy lifted up my blanket a little and that was the summary of his search. He didn’t even glance in the back of the car. After a body pat-down by the woman security guard, we were on our way. What a joke that we’d had to line up for that!

Our next stop a few meters away was check in to the festival where we would discover if the ticket Kaila bought off a friend of a friend of a friend was legit. Sure enough, all lights went green and we were driving into the festival. After three hours of lining up, everything went pretty quickly after that. We were directed to the campground and followed the directions of the men and women in their vests, waving their red sticks wherever they fancied. After a bit of confusion while parking, the Astro was at what would be camp for the next four days.

Everyone around us was already well into setting up their camp and I immediately understood why Kaila had insisted on a canopy. Every single camp had one. The Walmart canopy was right on point, it only took us a few minutes to get it up and then we helped our neighbours with theirs, it was the first time for many. We naturally made instant friends with the neighbours on our right side and teamed up with them to arrange our canopies together and make a bit of a double camp. Even our left-side neighbours were happy for us to tie off to each others canopies to minimise the amount of sun getting into the camp. After only about an hour, we had built ourselves an almost impenetrable blue compound. Blue van, blue canopy and four blue tarps, our heads were covered and also our sides. If we dug a hole and built a pond, it would be an oasis! The mountain bike on the van is a great feature, short of a flag, it made our camp easy to find.

Nothing left to do now but chill out! We hung around at camp, moving some things around, getting things out and I started getting the sleepys, the lack of sleep catching up with me. To combat it, I fixed to go for a walk around the campground to get my bearings. Kaila joined me and provided commentary and instruction thanks to her previous years’ experience. The portaloos were already low on toilet paper after only a few hours, something that will only get worse over the weekend I’m sure. Kaila was surprised that there wasn’t much going on inside the campground. Usually by this time there are yoga classes going on and all sorts. Initially, walking amongst the crowd, I felt very reserved, not wanting to fraternise with these young beautiful people wearing next to nothing and talking in their high pitched American accents, but I forced myself to keep an open mind.

We wandered through the activities tent, picking up a raffle ticket for that evening, checked out the food stalls with festival prices and Kaila pointed out the different hotspots. All very festival-like, I’m got the impression that the party atmosphere will be constant throughout the whole weekend. Back to camp, we hung around while I put my bottle shower on display. I expected massive queues at showers and figured I might as well use my own system. Kaila settled in for a nap while I got my laptop and wandered back to the hub for the Connected Lounge where they offered free Wifi and spots to sit and get online. It had been almost a week since the Chinese Grand Prix and I still hadn’t watched it! I set myself up with a view of the hub infront of me and got to watching. This is what people do at a music festival right? I did some writing as I watched qualifying and then some more during the first safety car. By lap 15 or so, I was falling asleep, so I allowed myself a short nap with my head on my folded arms. Twenty minutes later, I was ready to watch some more and managed to get to Lap 31 before giving it away and retreating back to camp. It was about 5:30pm so I’d whiled away the whole afternoon.

Back at camp, Kaila was coming out of her snooze while our neighbours Megan (pronounced “Meg-Anne”) and Andrew were just getting ready for a nap. Megan and Andrew were Silicon Valley residents, though not part of the Silicon Valley industry. They were regular festival and concert attendees, so they and Kaila had plenty to talk about. I tried to pick up as much as possible while I listened. As we hung out at camp, there was music coming from every angle, causing a bit of a messy mashup.

Having to deal with my inability to sit still, I decided I would draw a checkers board on my table for our entertainment while we all sat around chatting and drinking. Once I’d finished my perfect grid, I gave Kaila the task of colouring in. She blamed me entirely for the defect she created when she coloured in the wrong square, claiming distraction thanks to our conversation. After she coloured over the error in blue, I thought it gave the board good character, but seeking perfection, she started colouring all the non-red squares blue to hide her fuck up. We played one game of checkers, Googling the rules when we didn’t think it was quite working properly. When it was obvious that I was winning, it was time to leave camp and get to the hill behind camp for sunset. We’d got the idea from Andrew who’d been to Coachella before but had never made it up the hill.

We reached the hill just as the sun set behind the mountains we’d driven over that morning. Astoundingly, despite the crazy heat of the polo field we were camped on, we were looking at snow-capped peaks. What blew me away was the line for the showers. Both guys and girls were about 100-people deep with their towels and toiletries, waiting their turn for a shower. Bugger that, I’m happy with my bottle shower. The sunset was gorgeous and drew a big cheer from the crowd. There were crews with guitar speakers on their shoulder boppin’ to a ragin’ beat and others like us just chillin’ on the hill watching the remnants of the sun’s glow disappear behind the mountains. After the heat of the day, we were already in jumpers thanks to the desert temperature change, a nice relief.

We went back to camp for a bit of dinner and more relaxing. After hitting my head on the canopy at least half a dozen times, we put up some of Kaila’s glow sticks in the hopes of stopping an further injury and also put a few together to highlight the front rim of my mountain bike so we could easier find camp. We head out into the hub again at 9pm to see if we could win ourselves some VIP tickets. The crowd was thronging and the silent disco wasn’t being so silent, completely raving. I was feeling tired, so walking a little like a zombie, trying to take it all in. We didn’t have any luck with the raffle, but we enjoyed the banter from the crowd, everyone keen to be a winner.

Kaila and I were both feeling tired, but we had enough energy to visit the “Antarctic” dome. It was an installation new to Coachella this year and apparently a visual experience not to be missed. Being campers, we got first dibs on the show. Our timing was a bit off, we got to the doors just after a show had started, so we remained outside in a line that kept growing. The crowd was getting antsy as we reached half an hour of waiting, me included, but I contained my impatience, not like most around me. Eventually the cleaners exited the building and we were allowed to flow in. The push from the back of the line was almost violent as everyone rushed to get in as fast as possible, despite the information from security that the show was presented on the roof of the dome, so every seat was the best in the house.

Kaila and I lost each other in the confusion, but she managed to call me and I joined up with her. We sat on our beanbags with 498 other people and looked up to the dome for the presentation to start. It didn’t take long before the crowd shouted with joy at the images of the desert projected above us, along with music. The show only went for nine minutes, but it was a visual and audio assault on the senses. I couldn’t help thinking that it was aimed towards those high on drugs and I can only imagine the experience those people were having because to me, it was psychadellic. Being in a dome, they played on movement, with lots of travel through light tunnels. At one point I felt like my body was being lifted off the beanbag. Brilliant show.

That was us done for the night, we walked back to N 808th Street, found the mountain bike on the roof and made camp for the night. Kaila was in my tent, which was in the corner of the camp and I snuggled into my van, enjoying being a starfish.