Months from now, after the sense of fizzy overwhelm has lifted and the better-than-expected dust has settled, there will be two moments that recall for me the fire hose of Coachella, beyond the performances and surprises long since blasted across social media and dissected in Reddit threads. The first was a woman in a swimsuit and crocheted cover-up rousing a line of strangers on Friday afternoon with “who’s ready to see Bad Bunny?!” And the second was a snippet heard while dodging people either posing or on their phones in between the giant ferris wheel and trippy, holographic art installations – “how do you take such good pictures?”
Such was the non-music vibe of the music festival: questionably workable and confidently worn outfits, waiting in line, hype for the headliners, the warmth of desert sun and buzzed strangers. This was my first time at Coachella, but I’ve been on the internet long enough to know certain truths about the festival: it can be chaotic but is slickly run and ever expanding; the headliners could be once-in-a-lifetime or patchy but rarely forgettable. The weekend is as much about the photos and the fashion as the music. Crochet will abound, and Vanessa Hudgens will be there.
