Day 3. Last day of Coachella. I woke up and had a big nice cup of YOLO. HA! Just fucking kidding. “YOLO” doesn’t exist in my world. It only exists in the worlds of people who can’t really make decisions for themselves, good or bad. They need something as stupid as the catchphrase (or motto) “YOLO” to help influence whatever decision they are on the fritz of making. Maybe I’m just exaggerating, but this is what pops in my head every time I hear that. Instead of the YOLO Fairy coming to me in the middle of the night and whispering in my ear “you only live once”, and planting that stupid Drake song in my head, I woke up feeling more energized and stronger than ever. Happier than ever, to say the least. Why? Because I was finally able to cross Radiohead off my “Bands To See Before I Die” list.
That’s last night’s news…or rather news that was relevant during the time this story takes place. I woke up around 11AM specifically so I could see the first band that was opening the Outdoor Stage, which was Sleeper Agent. I believe I was the first person up, and before leaving I gladly launched some more grapes to Craig’s face, then I headed in and explored the grounds for a while. I needed a walk. Actually, I needed just one hour alone to myself. I love my friends to death, but getting out in the polo fields and roaming around for just an hour on my own was something I needed. In a way, it was my version of getting some peace and quiet. It was like taking a break from your girlfriend/boyfriend. You feel like you’re in this relationship with the group you went with, and time to yourself is something you simply need just to regain your thoughts and feelings.
Sleeper Agent was right on time, and right to the point. It was early, it was kind of hot, and they were ready to go. They didn’t waste any time hitting the stage at 12PM. I love this band. I’d say they’re considered indie rock, but with a kick-to-the-face performance that you can’t help but dance to. Everybody in that band is just fun to watch. I had the pleasure of meeting them at a festival in Florida that we played with them at (this was back in December when I was working for Drive A) and they are friendly, rad individuals. Keep an eye on these guys.
After Sleeper Agent, I headed back over to the Zia Record Store tent and wanted to grab a spot for the Justice meet and greet. I swooped up their newest record “Audio, Video, Disco”, got my wristband, and headed back to camp. On my way there, I realized that I wanted to give this wristband to somebody else, because I had already met the singer of M83, and was satisfied enough with that. So who else better than my brother to give it to? Nobody. I walked up to my brother and said “Hey, at 5:30, you’re meeting Justice”, and I handed him the CD and wristband. His face lit up like fucking fireworks on the 4th of July. He loves Justice, and I was more than happy to surprise him. He asked if I was too, and I told him I wasn’t, but I’d hang out with him in line an hour early. So we scheduled the first half of the day around that.
This was the hottest day of the entire weekend, so we spent most of our time stage hopping, hydrating, dancing around like animals, people watching, and what not until the Justice meet and greet. We were at Porter Robinson in the Sahara tent for most of his set (which was pretty damn good btw) and then my brother and I headed to the record store to get in line. We get there, and the line is already pretty long, but nothing we couldn’t sit through. As we were in line, a young girl comes up to a friend of hers who was behind us in line, and she obviously was pretty wasted. The friend of the wasted girl says she’ll be right back, so here’s the wasted girl standing behind us. She starts talking to Brandon, and she’s actually pretty funny in her drunk state. She was also flirting with him, poking him, lightly slapping his arm. I don’t think my brother was annoyed, but hysterical at the fact this girl was bugging him non-stop. She then turns to me and asks why I’m waiting in line with him. I explain my situation, and then her friend returns. At this point, the line starts to move up and it’s almost 5:30. The closer we get, the more irritating this little wasted girl was becoming. She wouldn’t shut up, and wouldn’t leave us be.
As we approached the tent, some guy walks up to me and asks “Do you have a wristband for Justice?” I told him no, and he asked why I’m waiting in line. That kind of pissed me off, so I said back to him “Why? Because I’m hanging with my brother while he waits in line. Why do you care?” He then walks away and talks to a worker monitoring the line, points at me, the worker nods his head, and the guy walks back. At first I’m thinking “This guy is a fuck. Is he trying to kick me out of the line or something just for waiting with my brother?” He walks back up to me and says “I’m going to give you my wristband and Justice vinyl. I just asked that worker right there if it’s ok, and he said yes. I can’t wait in line anymore, so have them sign this vinyl to ‘Adrian’ and then come meet me in the beer garden by the Sahara tent and I’ll have a prize for you.” I was a little confused, but told him I’d do it. He then walked away.
Now, people behind and in front of us in line started telling me “That guy’s an asshole for making you do that; you should’ve said no; don’t let him take advantage of you like that; what a douche; blah blah”. I stood there and thought quickly about it, and said back to all these people “You all don’t realize that he just gave me a free pass to meet Justice?”. Then they all shut up. I think one person was like “…but still, he’s a jerk”…yeah, and you’re a douchebag for still trying to justify your thoughts. SCORE! This guy just gave me the OK to take his wristband and meet Justice for free. Right place at the right time if you ask me. We get in there, shake their hands, have them sign the vinyl, my brother’s CD, and they also signed my Coachella pocket map. They weren’t allowing pictures with them, but I did snag a photo of the French duo sitting at their table. They were soft-spoken and gave off this mysterious vibe to them.
We then left and headed straight for the beer garden where Adrian was. Brandon waited outside because he didn’t get a 21+ wristband, but I did earlier, so I went inside, looking for Adrian. I’m walking around looking for this guy, and don’t see him anywhere. The beer garden wasn’t that big to the point I couldn’t spot him, but there were so many people in there that everybody was starting to blend in. He was nowhere to be seen. I start getting nervous because here I am with this guy’s signed vinyl, and he’s not in sight where he said to meet him. I started thinking I would just turn it in to lost and found, and go about the rest of my day because, hey, this is his problem now. Not mine. I did my part, and he didn’t do his. I then walk closer to the bar area, seeing maybe if he’s a bartender..and what do you know. There’s Adrian, standing behind the bar. I see him, he sees me. I approach his register and tell him I have his vinyl, signed and in mint condition. He thanks me and then pulls out two 24oz freshly poured Heineken’s and says “Here you go, man. Thank you, have a great time”. This dude is fucking awesome. I shake his hand and take my prize(s). I called Brandon to tell him what happened, but his phone was dead, and was waiting at the meeting spot outside the garden. Jonathan then calls me, and I tell him to come in the beer garden because I had a beer for him. He comes in, I tell him the story, and we down our beers.
All in all, I’m glad I did that for Adrian, and I’m grateful he approached me out of everyone else in the line. It was fucking fate. I knew there was a good reason to wait with my brother in line. Afterwards, we ran over to the main stage and watched The Hives close out their set, then we met everyone back at the Sahara stage for NERO. Before this though, my friend Giselle had asked me for a favor. She had to leave early during the day to head back to her school for a seminar of some sort, I can’t remember exactly why, but it resulted in her having to leave and come back, and there was a chance she wasn’t going to make it back in time for Justice (who were going on at 7:45). So, she asked I take a picture of the final sunset of the festival. I gladly told her I would, and this was the result:
A filter-less, mesmerizing photo I never imagined that would turn out so beautiful. I just stopped, took it, and sent it to Giselle. She loved it, and it even made her tear up a bit. This is by far my favorite photo of the entire weekend.
7:45 hits and we’re at the main stage for Justice. 7:55 hits. Justice is late. 8:00 hits, and they are on. I must say, it was a great set but it let me down because of how short it was. Them being late, plus a technical difficulty at the end, made their set only about 40 minutes long. We all made the most of it at least. Lots of glow sticks dancing around in the air, mostly from people who bring boxes full of those and wait until a certain moment to throw them all in the air at the same time (which is a called a Glow-ruption). After their set, I met up with Giselle and her and I went over to Florence and the Machine. I was never a fan of Flo, but god damn their set was so good. I loved every minute of it. I instantly became a fan. We met up with Caroline, Craig, and William at a nearby speaker during Flo. Brandon and Jonathan were watching At The Drive-In at the main stage. After Flo, Giselle and I went over to AVICII and met up with Kat. Sadly, I missed Modeselektor, but it’s alright because Flo’s set compensated for it. AVICII was ridiculous. He stood atop this giant mannequin head with visuals projected onto it. Kind of cool, kind of lame. I jokingly danced around with some bro-douche who clearly was rolling his face off, but he was having fun, so good for him. After he played “Levels”, the fucking place cleared out. We then made our way to the main stage for Snoop and Dre.
Now, I don’t ever dance to hip hop, nor do I really listen to it, but mother of God did we all get ghetto. I mean, it was the last act of the weekend. I wanted to release any energy I had left, and ironically it was for Snoop and Dre’s set. Brandon was apparently stuck somewhere closer to the stage under layers and clouds of smoke from the ganja that 90% of Coachella had saved for this set in particular I’m assuming, but he said he was having fun on his own so I knew he would be fine. EVERYBODY already knows what went down during this performance, so I won’t even talk about Zombie Tupac. I will say this: it was weird, confusing, and kind of killed the whole vibe. People didn’t know what was going on. Either way, it was what it was. After their set, the masses of Coachellaians made their ways towards the exits, or back to the campgrounds. Weekend 1 of Coachella was officially over.
Jonathan and I went over to the RE:GENERATION theater and watched the genre-collaborating documentary of DJ’s and musicians. Kat and Brandon met up with us, and we headed over to the silent disco dance area (which wasn’t very exciting). We then headed back to camp and discussed our day, sharing thoughts and feelings about certain performances, but mostly about Zombie Tupac. Or Hologram Tupac. Whatever. Giselle hung out with us for a while after we returned to camp. Kandace and Dom (from Giselle’s group) also swung by for a bit.
It didn’t really hit me yet that Coachella was over. We still had one more night in the campgrounds. I was done partying. I was done running around. Coachella was done. I just wanted to rest and re-collect my thoughts. The only thing on my mind was getting through the night and getting back to reality. Sorry if this one was a bit long, but thanks for taking the time to read. End Day 3.
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