Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2009

Every spring and summer bands of all likes travel around the country performing their latest hits and fan favorites. While it can be difficult to make it to all of your favorite bands' concerts, Coachella has made it easy for you to enjoy numerous bands in one crazy weekend.

Goldenvoice is presenting Indio's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. If you have not yet purchased your tickets to this wild weekend extravaganza, there still is time. The Music Festival will begin on Friday, April 17th and goes through Sunday, April 19th. The line up of bands seems virtually endless with easily over 100 bands performing.

You will get to enjoy a wide variety of music with bands and musicians of all genres. Some of the musicians performing at this year's event include Atmosphere, Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure. This is just the tip of the iceberg for what you can expect to hear at Coachella.


"Bittersweet Symphony" performed on the mainstage by The Verve at Coachella 2008. This was their first North American performance in 10 years.




If you do intend on attending this event parking will open at 9 a.m. while the gates open at 11:00 am. You are going to want to arrive early to allow for possible traffic and security searches at the entrance. I have seen the traffic and it can line up for a couple of blocks here, so do get here early. Because of the large crowd that will be attending, try to carpool if at all possible. The concerts each night will end at midnight. There will be plenty of parking adjacent to the festival grounds and all parking is free.

There will be set times for when each band will be performing a few days prior to the festival. This way you can plot out your day for when you want to be next to the stage so that you can enjoy all of your favorite bands. However, you are certainly going to want to plan on watching all bands that are performing.

Rogers Water "Time" from Coachella Music Festival 2008



At the festival there will be a wide array of food offered for guests to purchase. There will be everything from burgers to hot dogs to even vegetarian food to accommodate everyone who is attending. While there will be drinking fountains available throughout the site, you can also purchase bottled water for just $2.

Because the Coachella Valley Music Festival site is so large and there are so many bands performing, it can be difficult plotting out where you want to be and when. Luckily, there will be a festival map available ahead of time so that you can see which bands will be at which stages or tent areas.

In addition to finding your favorite bands, you will be able to see locations of food courts and bathroom areas. You can either pick up a map prior to the event or you will receive a festival guide upon entrance.

While the list of items you cannot bring is quite long, there are several items that are allowed inside. The Coachella music festival wants you to capture all of the special memories you experience while there. Because of this, film cameras, digital cameras and disposable cameras are all allowed. You can have a medium size backpack to carry around any belongings you may have such as sun block, lighters, cell phones or sunglasses. You are not allows to bring musical instruments of any type, blankets or camelpacks, tents, flags, or chairs. In addition, you cannot bring video cameras, audio recording devices or pets.

While you are not allowed to bring a blanket, you can bring a small beach towel. This makes it so you can park it anywhere in the festival where there is room to sit comfortably.

If you are not from the area, there are a number of sleeping arrangements you can consider. There is onsite camping for you to take advantage of, but make sure you look in advance into how you can get tickets. The price for onsite camping tickets is going to be $55 for each person.

In addition to onsite camping, there is also offsite camping, onsite lodging and hotels that you can book. Just keep in mind that with such a large crowd of people attending the festival you are going to need to plan ahead. The longer you wait to make reservations or book a hotel the less likely you will be of getting the arrangements you wanted. You can also check out VRBO.com for condos and home for rent in the area.

There will be a store and souvenir booth at the festival so that you can purchase all of your favorite band's t-shirts and other souvenir items. This is a once in a lifetime experience and you want to make sure you have something to take away from it.

If you have not yet purchased your tickets to Coachella Music Festival there is still time. For a single day pass you can purchase a ticket for $99. However, if you are wanting to experience the entire weekend a three day pass is going to run at $269. I have also seen tickets on our Palm Springs Craigslist from time to time. It all depends on when your favorite bands are playing and what bands in particular you must see. Just know that it is going to be one concert you do not want to miss.