Connor Small
Writer
Ah, Coachella: it’s almost here. Perhaps the most popular music festival in the United States over the past decade, the three-day Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival saw its largest attendance in history with over 225,000 concert-goers coming out to see their favorite artists perform in 2010.
Coachella takes place in Indio, Calif. and historically features an extremely diverse array of artists. This year’s lineup features headliners such as The Black Keys, Radiohead and Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg. Coachella features over 150 artists, including the Arctic Monkeys, Explosions in the Sky, M83 and Afrojack on Friday, Bon Iver, the Shins, David Guetta, Childish Gambino and Mt. Eden on Saturday and Justice, Florence and the Machine, Avicii and Flux Pavillion on Sunday. Clearly, Coachella has artists that appeal to almost everybody, and historically most people come away with a new palette of music to enjoy. But how does this year’s lineup compare to years past?
Most people remember Arcade Fire’s historic headlining performance at Coachella in 2011 (if you haven’t seen it, the entire concert is up on YouTube in 1080p). Last year’s Coachella was simply spectacular, featuring Kings of Leon, Mumford & Sons and Kanye. The multitude of artists covered every possible genre of music from rock to rap to techno, but last year marked the first time an indie band headlined the festival. Past headliners included The Cure, Paul McCartney, Jack Johnson and Roger Waters. I think that this year’s group of performers, however, is the most diverse and exciting lineup Coachella has ever had.
2012’s bill excites me because it has both a core group of big-name artists as well as a vast range of lesser-known artists whom I’ve been listening to over the last few days. Almost every artist is unique and electrifying with each bringing their own distinctive energy to their music. As a fan of indie music, the range of diverse, relatively unknown artists excites me. Since Coachella often acts as a launch pad for many of these types of artists, look for many of these musicians to gain notoriety in the coming weeks.