The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which kicks off its two-weekend run at the Empire Polo Club on Friday, April 10, marks the beginning of the ever-growing festival season in California and the United States. Rodrigo Pena, The Press-Enterprise
In July of 1999, riots marred the 30th anniversary reboot of the Woodstock festival in Rome, N.Y. The multi-stage, multi-genre music festival was, by many pundits, pronounced dead.
A few months later, on the other side of the nation, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was born at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
And 16 years after that modest birth, the reports of the commercial demise of major music festivals appear to be greatly exaggerated.
Coachella, and its site-sharing country cousin Stagecoach Country Music Festival, comprise a three-week artistic and commercial juggernaut. And they have, in recent years, ignited an ever-expanding list of multi-day music events in Southern California and beyond.
“Popular demand is driving all of these festivals,” said Jason Lipshutz, associate editor at Billboard.com. “Not all of them have been successful. Some have shut down, but a lot of them are continuing to go.”
Among the established events are indie rock-oriented FYF and Jay Z’s Made in America in Los Angeles and the electronic dance music festivals Nocturnal Wonderland and Beyond Wonderland in San Bernardino.
And there are plenty of new kids on the block this year:
• The motorcycle-themed Lost Highway festival, topped by Toby Keith and Social Distortion, will launch at San Manuel Amphitheater in May.
• Also in May, the amphitheater will also christen the pot-smokers’ playground called Blaze ‘N’ Glory festival with Slightly Stoopid.
• More of a Coachella clone is trendy Kaaboo, which kicks off in Del Mar in September with No Doubt, The Killers and Zac Brown Band.
It’s a trend that’s being seen around the country, too, with new festivals popping up in nearly every state, from Delaware to Alabama.
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