International Opinions

[luckyface]

Being an American who is curious about International perspectives, I was wondering if any non-Americans would share their opinions of their Coachella experience. Your thoughts on the fans, the festival in general and how it compares to other festivals abroad, etc.

[idrive1life]

Biggest and most common complaint I heard (which I agree): FOOD (yeah, it's better than last year but ARRRGGGH ... America, why do you eat like a pig and ah I should shut up but I can't resist most people here love and accept those kind of craps ... :D ... IHOP! LOL from lot of them)

[Jake!]

Im from England and i just got home 3 hours ago.

Coachella fuckin rocked, i can honestly say i had the best week of my life out in California. Everyone i met was really nice and friendly (in and out of the festival) and everyone seemed to have something intresting to say. The layout of the stages/art worked really well and rage fucking rocked! I gota say there was alot of stupid shit, but that was purely down to your shit ass laws out there.

Drinking only in the bar area, fuckin bullshit (back here bars line the side of everystage)

security in the camp site, and camping alication zones, also fuckin crap. Nothing against the campsite cordanaters, you were just doing your job, but saturday night! helecopters flying around shouting return to your tent or you will be arreasted, that was shit! They might as well have been shouting "your not aloud to have fun!" Sunday night did make up for this however.

Biggest load of shit all weekend 'the 4 ho0urs stuck in a line for Will Call. Ticket master, sort it the fuck out. Standing there in that heat was actually close to a form of torture.

Ok, so ive just realised ive complained about the festival more then ive praised it, but dont get me wrong, coachella was amazing! The quality of good music was something else, the atmosphere was awsome (good to be at a festival where everyones not fucked on pills and realises that they dont need drugs to have a good time) and rage against the machine was the best thing i have experienced in my life. (even though i did think i was gona die in the mosh pit and had to barge my way out when crowd surfing dident work. How i got past all those people i will never know. And seeing so many people brought together through ratm and there beliefs, something else.


Peace!

[Senor Cardgage]

I made it a point in the campsite to swear to all the international peeps that we arent all assholes over here, even tho the last 6 years or so might suggest otherwise.

I loved meeting so many people from overseas. Great great great people all around.

[Jake!]

Ok, just read on another page that there was a riot going on on sat, dident know i was chillin in my tent, but yeah that would explain the helecopter. If you guys dont like roudyness in a campsite, dont come to a british festival (especially not reading and leeds) you wont sleep all weekend.

[Jas0nP]

I made the journey with my girlfriend from England and wow, what a great festival you guys have over there. Way nicer setting than any of ours, way more friendly people, and the best line up i've ever seen.

Everyone was extremely friendly to us. The people we met in Will Call helped the line not seem terrible. Our camping neighbours were cool. Pretty much anyone i queued with, waited for a band with, or shared a taxi with all had a great happy vibe. Even right at the front for RATM all the fans were cool, sharing their water, telling stories, and sharing weed.

The only bad part was the food, american style of eating is TOUGH. Real lack of options and pretty much everyday had to have at least one pizza, burger or hot dog and some junk for breakfast. Well, that complaint is only really with the camping site food, n the grounds had the cool chinese corner.

Oh yea, the heat was HARD too. But yea, great festival.

[idrive1life]

I'm glad you had a great time Jason and Jake. That's pretty much the stories(/minor complaints) I heard from my international friends. Were you able to buy tix to Glastonbury? Oh yeah, the fucking heat. I don't miss it.

[jimski]

I'm from the U.K. and have been to a few festivals before (Reading, Glastonbury, Big Day Out), and Coachella was definitely up there with the best, I loved the bands, the setting, and the vibe.

The complaints I have are mainly about the will call line, not being able to go back into the campsite, and the lack of free water available, I must have spent 50-100 bucks just on water. I tried to refill my bottles a few times, but didn't really fancy missing an entire set to wait to get it!

I missed out on the whole campsite riot thing because I was asleep, I seriously doubt it was anything close to the chaos of Reading in 2000 and 2001 though. I was grateful that there were showers at all and the toilets were really good compared to Reading and Glasto.

Awesome, thanks to everyone who was there.

[farside]

I'm from Holland and must say I had a great time. A nice mixture of Arts and multi-stage Music acts and friendly people.

The only festival I've been before was Rock Werchter of 2006 in Belgium so I have not much references but Coachella looked better organised to me.

The minor organisation glitches didn't bother me to much. The little frustrations after waiting in the will call line melted straight away when I reached the fields and I guess I expected worse parking exiting drama.

This was also thanks to my kind American friends who joined (guided) me during the festival !

I hope I can make it next year.

[luckyface]

These are great! Any others?

[gorazd]

I'm from Munich (not a german),

it was my 2nd Coachella ...

the setting and line-up were again fantastic.

The biggest difference to European festivals is that Coachella is pretty much sober. You see a lot of wasted people on festivals over here, lots of them
coming only for that reason.

Coachella visitors have a really good taste in music,I must admit.

Sure I hate the beergarden thing too,
no wristband, the WillCall Line (Thank God for opening that A-G Line!)...

been to many european festivals like Roskilde,Benicassim,Primavera...
I'm really curious what Glasto is going to be like...

[Daft Fro]

Hey Jake, the campsite is usually a lot more chill but drunk rage campers got out of hand :P Next year will be more chill I'm sure...

[MaliciousMike]

Go to coachella if you want to be treated like a baby cow.
Go to reading/leeds in the UK if you want to actually enjoy yourself when you're not watching bands.

[DredheadV2.0]

I made it a point in the campsite to swear to all the international peeps that we arent all assholes over here, even tho the last 6 years or so might suggest otherwise.



Ironically, them furriners were the biggest problem at the campsite. Exacting their revenge on the 'murricans somehow?

[luckyface]

Hey Jake, the campsite is usually a lot more chill but drunk rage campers got out of hand :P Next year will be more chill I'm sure...

That's probably what was said after 2006 with Tool.

[parray]

Overall I thought it was a really good festival, it was my first time at Coachella and my first time in America. All the people I met were very friendly (not all of them being American) but I don't recall meeting one bad person during the whole weekend.
The food was pretty good I had a lot of things I hadn't had before which were really nice, and they were decent enough prices.
I thought some of the art was cool, gave you something to do when there were no bands on you wanted to see.
The only bad things I could see were the standing in the Will Call queue on Friday, really should have had someone hand out water, my friend nearly passed out in the heat!
Thought the police were a bit much, the helicopter on Saturday was ridiculous, and the police patrolling the beer tent before Rage only seemed to make people more nervous.
I would honestly hate to see them at a British festival, they'd probably call in a nuclear strike!!!!
I thought the stages were a bit too close together as you could here about three different bands at times.
Also beer and water cost too much.

I know it does sound as though i'm complaining a lot but I asure you it was a very good festival, and i'll be back!

[JustSteve]

how is $2 too much for water? come on people...you are paying almost that much to get a bottle of water at a gas station. all these people complain about the price, but i wonder how many actually go home and drink tap water the rest of the year? i don't...i pay for the bottled water at the grocery store, as well...and don't complain.

[luckyface]

how is $2 too much for water? come on people...you are paying almost that much to get a bottle of water at a gas station. all these people complain about the price, but i wonder how many actually go home and drink tap water the rest of the year? i don't...i pay for the bottled water at the grocery store, as well...and don't complain.

Yeah, but you can also buy 24 packs of bottles of water at the grocery store for the price of 3 bottles at Coachella.

Just because it is cheap compared to overpriced places doesn't mean it's cheap. With that said, the $2 price was reasonable WHEN compared to other concert venues. Alcohol on the other hand: TOTAL ripoff.

[Donaldj]

Yeah, but you can also buy 24 packs of bottles of water at the grocery store for the price of 3 bottles at Coachella.

Just because it is cheap compared to overpriced places doesn't mean it's cheap. With that said, the $2 price was reasonable WHEN compared to other concert venues. Alcohol on the other hand: TOTAL ripoff.

I didn't drink inside the venue but I did have a drink or two at the camping grounds clubhouse. I think I had a well drink and it was about 7 dollars which is normal for LA but much more expensive than certain cities.

[jamiehagi]

I'll start with complaints.....im from scotland, i cant handle weather half that hot but i shall lay off since there is little you can do lol....

2. Over here water is givin out at the front and passed backwards, this does mean that people at the back might struggle to get any but they can always go out, its those stuck up front who need it most....america should take up this method as firing bottles so far into the air they appear to have been realesed from a roman style catapult is frankly dangerous. I saw a total of 4 people get hit in the mush from a flying bottle and as funny as i found it at the time there is better alternate methods.

3. What was with the crowds, come to Britain, T in the park near edinbugh is well known for its mad crowds that will turn jose golzalez into a metallica gig (exaggeration) and reading has a riot every year religiously. c'mon my american amigos, jump up and down, you never know you might even like it. Alex from the arctic monkeys, travis, faithless and tiesto were all seriously calm compared to what you would find over here.

4. Ive heard it before, get some good food.....breakfast burritos???what in the sweet name of jesus christ were there all about, potato salsa eggs all in a one-er for breakfast...not in my fricken country.

5. Security........relax, enjoy the show, no need to aggitated and make people get pissed off when there just havin a good time.

now, positives.....
1. The most incredibly good looking girls ive ever seen.......if you guys wanna swap yours for our alchoholic, smoking, pale white girls im more than happy to.....if any scottish girls see this, everybody's beautiful on the inside

2. There was no rain, blistering heat but there was plenty of things on site to keep cool, the mist place was a gift from heaven

3. the setlist was incredible....I am obsessed with manu chao and rage, they have been my 2 main bands for years, you can only imagine how i felt when i found out they were playing the same stage on the same night 1 after the other.


4. The game of football on the 1st night, i was a little drunk, if anyone else played, pm me saying who you were.....especially the irish boy from cavin,

5. I saw a band I've always dreamed of seeing but never thought i would

the end

[parray]

I thought the breakfast burritos were good, i'm all for trying another countries cultures etc and I thought the egg burritos were great wasn't too keen on the bloody mary's

I agree with the crowd as well, it only seemed to be the British bands (barring RATM) that attracted a more European crowd where everyone was jumping up and down.
I wouldn't say it's a bad thing just more of a culture thing, in Scotland you jump up and down and sing everyword in the song, sometimes you're lucky to hear the band at all, but this was part of the reason I was there, to see how other people and countries do the 'festival' thing!

[idrive1life]

I completely agree with jamie's complaints no. 2, 3, 4 and 5 (esp. 3 and 4).

[Mellow J]

Yeah, it was ok...

I've done Reading, Download and Bonnaroo for the last 4 years... got to say Bonnaroo is hands down a better festival out of the four.

You can go in and out of the camp site all day, not massive queus, shows go on til 4-5 AM and sets last at least 1:30 each...

I mean come on... Girl talk at like 9pm for only about an hour... bring on Bonnaroo and he'll be on for 2 hours starting at like 12 or 1 am... now thats a party!

I'd say the food selection was the best though at Coachella, the 3 zones kinda made it easier.

And that grass, the lush green flat spungy grass! It was like going to a gig on a premiership football pitch! I loved the lack of dust in the tents and main stages!

Got into some bands i never really listened to aswell, the Kaiser Chiefs, Artic Monkeys and the Coup were better than i thought!

Best set of the weekend for me though was Ghost face Killa... pretty much a wu tang hits show, while the arcade fire took all the fashionista pitchfork types away!

Also...

Flying LCD signs in the sky... trippy!

[wisconsinboozer]

Best set of the weekend for me though was Ghost face Killa... pretty much a wu tang hits show

I thought i was the only one who thought Ghostface was the best, Can't wait to see Wu Tang also this summer

[farside]

Go to reading/leeds in the UK if you want to actually enjoy yourself when you're not watching bands.

See people enjoying themselves when not watching bands at Glastonbury:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~praaymak/regen_3.jpg

[clarky123]

Being an American who is curious about International perspectives, I was wondering if any non-Americans would share their opinions of their Coachella experience. Your thoughts on the fans, the festival in general and how it compares to other festivals abroad, etc.

I arrived from London with friends for the three days for gig plus camping. Met and got some amazing DVD footage of people on the campsite and around the festival - drove through Joshua Tree Park on Saturday morning which was great..

I found the overall “Nanny State” feel of the US a bit much, friend detained at LAX for 5 hours and interrogated by customs for outstaying her visa by couple of days because of a missed flight – This was 10 years ago!! – that pissed me off – eventually let in to the US.
I kept getting sent back to the end of the huge Q at LAX when handing a green form in because I wrote something in the wrong box (I was a bit pissed though)

Now – The festival;

I’ve seen quite a few of the British bands and been to a few festivals here in the UK and the differences I found are:

In the UK you can drink a bit more freely on site and do not get served half pints of expensive weak lager
Security is less prohibitive and high profile in the UK
It’s not as frying hot
UK bands are not used to the heat and I think this can affect performance
It’s easier to go a bit more mental and get shitfaced without the threat of having a gun pointed at your head in the UK
Don’t have kids asking me for my Id everywhere I go – what the fuck is that all about?
Never seen any of this Willcall type, Qing until you drop type bollocks – you either have tickets or you don’t!

However:

You are not going to end up paddling around in mud at Coachella
The women are more pleasing to look at
Better service on site
Better food on site
The campsite is much cleaner
Most things are cheaper in comparison to the UK

[Daithi]

I think Jamie has hit the nail on the head with all he's said above.
Breakfast burritos should be banned as well as breakfast pizzas which are equally as disgusting. There was some nice food about tho, just had to go find it.
The women were absolutely gorgeous but us pasty white assed Irishmen and Scotsmen hadn't a hope of copping off when all the american guys had that bronzed/muscly/buzz lightyear look about them.

Can't believe anyone actually enjoyed Manu Chao, it was the most excruciating thing i've ever heard. It sounded like the same song played for the whole set. Awful.
I found everyone incredibly friendly and up for a laff. Can't wait to go back some time.

[whynotsmile99]

i can't believe you Europeans are shitting on breakfast burritos. I didn't have them at Coachella so maybe they weren't good, but nothing is better to a hangover than a nice greasy breakfast burrito. You got your eggs, potatoes, cheese, salsa and meat. whats bad about that? I live in Southern California and we have breakfast burritos here that will knock your cock off.

Sorry we didn't have any stuffed sheep intestine at Coachella this year. Maybe next year we can have a Haggis stand at the festival to keep you crazy bastards happy.

:)

glad everyone seemed to have a good time though

[elChurro]

GV, please provide some haggis and baked beans for these people next year... Maybe some of that vegemite spread too. We want our visitors to feel at home regardless of what they might consider tasty.

[clarky123]

HaHA. However, being Scottish I can tell you that for Haggis it is customary to have the sheep slaughtered while the recipient watches - and I think that might put off some of the kids on the site!

[Shyeviolett]

HaHA. However, being Scottish I can tell you that for Haggis it is customary to have the sheep slaughtered while the recipient watches - and I think that might put off some of the kids on the site!

Haha, yea, people think RATM caused ruckus- just wait till the PITA people get wind of this one! lol....

[UpAllNite]

I think this was a great question to ask, I was curious about what the international community thinks about us too. It's good to year that we're friendly for a change. Good question lucky.

[Jake!]

how is $2 too much for water? come on people...you are paying almost that much to get a bottle of water at a gas station. all these people complain about the price, but i wonder how many actually go home and drink tap water the rest of the year? i don't...i pay for the bottled water at the grocery store, as well...and don't complain.

No one should ever have to pay for water, i only drink tap water and if im in a resturant i'll ask for tap water cos its free and they have to give it to you, its the law!

Breakfast burritos-fucking shit

Bacon, egg and sausage roll- fuckin genius

[ellipsis]

i'm from england. i've been to leeds, glastonbury, download and countless smaller festivals, and i must say that coachella 2007 is the best festival i have ever been too.

you guys do it ever so slightly different over there. we were so surprised at how everyone seemed to have gone to bed by 2am on the friday night - if it was leeds everyone would still be up around the campfire.

i did and saw things that i never thought i would do, or never thought possible. i nearly passed out from the heat. i drank about 12 bottles of water a day. the food was LUSH. the music was wicked-awesome. the grass was, as someone already said, immaculate.

security seemed a bit anal and i was always looking about when someone passed me a spliff or when i was talking shit on acid.

loved the people i met, and you were all so laid back and cool. seriously guys, it was sweet to be at such a tension free festival, i haven't experienced that since glastonbury 2003. everyone was just giving off the most peaceful, chilled out vibes, and i saw nothing of the fights mentioned in previous threads, though i did see the dickheadery that was the ultimate drum-circle-sausagefest on saturday night. apart from that, the people were so fucking cool.

i am SO going next year.

[luckyface]

A bump to this old thread. I now want to know about the international perspectives of the lineup this year, since it seems quite a few international people will be attending. If you feel inclined, maybe explain what is bringing you to California, what you will be doing while in the US, etc.

[MarkO]

i can't believe you Europeans are shitting on breakfast burritos. I didn't have them at Coachella so maybe they weren't good, but nothing is better to a hangover than a nice greasy breakfast burrito. You got your eggs, potatoes, cheese, salsa and meat. whats bad about that? I live in Southern California and we have breakfast burritos here that will knock your cock off.

Sorry we didn't have any stuffed sheep intestine at Coachella this year. Maybe next year we can have a Haggis stand at the festival to keep you crazy bastards happy.

:)

glad everyone seemed to have a good time though

Irish breakfast > breakfast burrito.

[luckyface]

Hey International Coachella attendees. What were your thoughts on Coachella this year?

[lubita77]

I came all the long long (long!) way from Sao Paulo/Brazil, and this was my first Coachella experience. What got me there wasn't any specific bands/acts, but I was amazed by the idea of catching names like Sharon Jones, Cut/Copy, santogold AND Price, just to name a few, in the same weekend. We have our musical festivals in Brazil, mostly happening 2nd semester and ALL of then sponsored by a multinational (SKOLBeats, MOTOrola, NOKIATrends, TIMfestival, PlanetaTERRA and stuff). It's obvious that these festivals look up for what's hot in Coachella and other festivals around the world so, as a website music journalist around here, I think it was my time to fly away and experience the real thing - also, I'm a young mother who spent the last 5 years very busy with pregnancy, diapers and kindergarden stuff, not to mention being my own boss at work (I own a website, check it out at www.rraurl.com) and keeping a nice house for my child. I could really use some time alone and out of my head. Convinced my BGF to camp and there we go.

Have to say that, related to brazilian festivals, Coachella is amazing well-organized, specially because it's in the middle of the desert. Sure there's problems - the traffic jams, the marines security staff, sound issues and stuff. But, generally, the festival is a phenomena.

positive points:
- the crowd. everybody I met at the fest, the camp or anywere was nice and easygoing. people we're handy, very patience with my bad english and willing to share a drink, talk or smoke anytime.
- the sun. YAY! have you ever been to a very rainny fest? (not you english people) :P of course you have to pay respect to the desert sun, and I wore scarfs, hats and sunblock al the time, so I haven't got any skin burns. but the sun shinning like that is the ideal weather for a music festival anywhere in the world. specially if are there so many hot californian guys with their shirts off :)
- the music. got to see bands I know are never coming to Brazil - santogold, Sharon Jones, Sia, Prince, Verve, Mark Ronson, Portshead.
- the beer gardens and closed food courts. of course it's kinda boring, but it helps keep the festival clean and makes easier to know people at the beer lines ;D

negative points:
- the food. wow, you north-american people are crazy. no wonder there are so many fat people in the us. we had a hard time finding fresh or low-fat stuff to eat - and not only at the festival, but at the airport, restaurants and everywhere we go. sure I had some great pizza, corn-dogs (love then, not available in Brazil), cookies (incredibly super-sized, it was a battle to eat the whole thing) and ice-cold lemonades, but, generally, it's all super-size, super-fat and super-sweet stuff. got to remember the breakfast too - never understood that morning bacon thing.
- the crowd. I don't know how to explain it but, at the gigs, looks like you guys have an attitude of "been there, done that" that I'm not familiar with. I mean, down south here the crowd just goes insane, even dangerous wild. maybe it;s just that brazilian people are too intense about music and dancing, I don't know, but besides the Gogol Bordello and Justice acts, where people seen to really loose their minds, I tough you guys were just too cool.
- the sound-systems. either too loud or too low. difficult find anything between that.
- the ed banger thing :P they're everywhere and the ed banger kids are like a plague here in Brazil.

[]s!
gaía

links w/ pictures (in portuguese)
http://rraurl.com/resenhas/5208/ (day 01)
http://rraurl.com/resenhas/5209/ (day 02)
http://rraurl.com/resenhas/5214/ (day 03)

[cloudwind]

I flew to Coachella from New York State but I am originally from Taiwan, a small island located in East Asia. For alternative music fans in East Asia, the only way to see these incredible artists like the Verve or Roger Waters is to go to Japan's big festivals such as Summer Sonic or Fuji Rock. There are some, but not a lot of big and famous artists going to Taiwan. But I enjoyed our warm middle-size festivals (eg. Formoz Festival, Spring Scream Festival, etc.) and I saw several great shows like Moby, BRMC, Mogwai etc. when I was in Taiwan.

Since we don't have too many resources and references compared to people from western countries, Coachella is undoubtedly the best festival I've been. I had a wonderful time and definitely wanted to plan my next-year trip. Here are a few different points I would like to mention.

1. Music - Fantastic! I saw so many dream bands which I never think I can see them live! The lineup is great! The set-time is well organized. The sound of main stage is good to me.

2. Crowd - People are friendly. But festival attendees in my country seem to be more into the shows and we react to the artists more enthusiastically. It is probably because that people appreciate bands coming to Taiwan very much. There are usually more encores in my country.

3. Food - There is an international food court which I can buy some fried rice/noodles when I don't want to eat pizza/hot dogs anymore. I also try some turkey leg there. Food in Coachella is good enough to me.

4. Sun - I can't blame the weather because Coachella is in desert. But I really hope there are more air-conditioning tents that people can relax and recoup their energy. I read the veteran's survival kits and prepared well for the hot weather but I still got sunburn and missed some great bands because of the heat.

5. Site - This polo field is great. All stages are positioned well and not too far from each other. Many arts between stages are interesting.

6. Camp Site Shower - This is the only thing I would like to complain. Although it is clean and people say it is improved from last year, it is still not very convenient. The open time is too short so people cannot take a shower after 12:00pm. The number of shower room is still not sufficient so if I wake up 8:30-9:00 I have to wait for 1-1.5 hours to take a shower (girl). I even met some LA girls trying to cut in line in front of me. That's a bad experience.

Overall, Coachella is an amazing experience. The lineup is great. The site is convenient enough. Camping is also fun and it brings strong sense of community. I would highly recommend this festival to my fellows in Taiwan and I wish Coachella gets even better next year!

[farside]

This was my second time at the coachella festival.

I enjoyed it even better then last year. I think the line-up/programmation was great without almost none conflicts for me (but then again, I spend most of the weekend at the sahara tent). I like the people, again the line-up and the location. I didn't care much about the heat (the suns sets at 7pm and I had the idea it was less hot than last year).

I think the entrance was improved. I bypassed the will call with my ticketfast things so I was in at 2pm friday afternoon to hit the merchadise store. The arts were great again this year and I liked the do lab set-up.

Great festival!! I can recommend it to everybody back home.

[aphrael]

Lubita77: ironically, the food I had for breakfast every day was Brazilian. :)

I'm glad you had a good time. :)