Make Believe Bonus: Coachella 2024 Thoughts
I Could Write An Essay On LE SSERAFIM....
I spent the last week back in California, covering the 2024 edition of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival for The Japan Times, with an obvious focus on…the Japanese artists performing. You can read my report from the gathering here. The not-navigating-beyond-the-paywall version: this year’s event was notable for not just the number of Japanese acts performing, but for also the newfound confidence they all seemed to have for tackling the global stage. I was very fortunate to interview a fair amount of the acts there (Hatsune Miku wasn’t available), and all of them, from YOASOBI to Awich, expressed some excitement at showing what Japanese music could do on the global stage. I think they delivered, and honestly I left the event feeling very excited about what I’d seen…and what could come next.
But that’s just a handful of what I saw! While 10 Japanese artists eventually took the stage in Indio that weekend, I still had lots of downtime…including a Saturday devoid of Japanese music to cover. Despite growing up in Southern California (in a desert much more desrt-y than where Coachella takes place), I had never been to this festival, so for me it was a real ~ experience ~ across the board. Here are a barrage of thoughts from Coachella 2024, from a reporter also experiencing it all for the first time.
Coachella the on-site experience: pretty impressive! A friend remarked they basically build a city for two concurrent weekends and it’s true — not to mention the sound at every stage is top-notch. There’s a lot from Coachella I think Japanese festivals to learn from (biggest one, especially after over 100 people got heatstroke at Summer Sonic last year…ample amounts of free water refilling stations for people with plastic bottles).
On the other hand, Coachella the off-site experience: pretty miserable! Specifically, getting to the venue is a massive headache, and it took me three hours to find a parking spot (partially owing to my own blunders, but also because of…a security guard lying to me, which cost me an hour). I’ll never complain about access to a Japanese event, again.