First order of business, not a single word of mention of the music (some of it amazingly great) so as to further promote the corporate beast behind Coachella.
Coachella bills itself as a music and arts festival and according to the buzz, ” it prospers thanks to a non-corporate vibe.” The promoters at Goldenvoice are described as having a punk ethos. Stop right there. The real people behind it are corporate giants AEG. Remember them? They can package and sell a singer – can you say Thriller? – even after he dies. Don’t be fooled, it’s AEG laughing all the way to the bank.
Oh don’t be so hard on them, you say? Well, who but a corporate giant could have cooked up a scheme where consumers – i.e. chumps -have to buy 3 days of tickets at the price of $269 (add large service fee thank you) even if you only want to go one day. To top it off, the corporation then gives consumers a wristband that can’t be removed or transferred, so if you go one day, you can’t even give away the remaining days. Who in the AEG boardroom came up with the idea to soak consumers in such a perfect way? You got to admit they have got their act down.
If you chumps didn’t feel taken by the tickets, try getting a drink of water at the hot desert site. The promoters again have the consumers dead to right, having a festival in the middle of the desert and then keeping all liquids from the festival grounds. Once inside, festival goers realize they can wait in long lines for the few free water sites to fill up water bottles that sell for $12. Otherwise they sell you the water for $2 a bottle. It’s a stroke of genius.
Now on to another vibe promoted by the festival – it’s green, with recycling bins and solar power, all to lower the carbon footprint of the festival. Hmmm did we forget something? How about the footprint, i.e. tire tracks, of the thousands and thousands of cars stretching for miles spewing exhaust fumes into the desert air, complemented by the clouds of dust, stirred up by all those cars trying to park in the middle of nowhere. This year the corporation started a half hearted over-priced bus service to the site but that didn’t stop the miles of cars idling in the dust choking the parking attendants covering their faces with bandanas trying to save their lungs.
The pollution was not just in the air, it was all over the ground. Festival goers faced long lines for porta potties with often overflowing toilets. Corporate bean counters at AEG, even though they sold out he festival weeks before, just didn’t bother to put in enough toilets or enough servicing to keep them clean.
Now consumers who attended Coachella, ask yourself: do you feel like suckers at the hand of a corporation laughing the “anti- corporate vibe” all the way to the bank?
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Yes we were there and the promoters made us just like you said.It’s about time the hipsters were exposed.