Comic and musician Reggie Watts has some ideas on Coachella, which simply concluded its first weekend on Sunday.
“I’ve been to Coachella a handful of instances now, and whereas the dimensions is spectacular, the soul feels more and more absent,” Watts wrote on an Instagram submit titled “Coachella Ideas.” “The expertise is complicated and impersonal — checkpoint after checkpoint, wristband logic puzzles, safety in all places. Most individuals on the grounds transfer like strolling bank cards, pinging from one branded expertise to the following,” he wrote.
He continued: “There’s no actual sense of affection coming from the competition towards the individuals. No care. No reverence. Simply vibes curated for influencer tradition. You’ll catch glimpses of one thing actual — an artist pouring their coronary heart out on stage, a sudden second of connection — however these moments are fleeting. They’re simply misplaced within the chaos, buried beneath the logistics, the model activations, the overpriced all the things.”
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Watts then turned to the quantity of trash left behind on the competition, and why exiting Coachella could be significantly dismal. “After which there’s the waste — plastic, rubbish, trash within the desert wind. Leaving is particularly grim. You’re navigating mud storms, individuals hustling to purchase your wristband, and a normal sense that it was all a transaction, not a shared expertise. In case you’ve obtained bronchial asthma or care about your respiratory, deliver a masks. Severely.”
Lastly, he concluded by championing unbiased festivals as an alternative: “There are higher methods to do that. There are unbiased festivals run by individuals who give a shit — in regards to the music, the artists, the followers, the land. They deal with performers with care and construct environments the place actual group can take root. That’s the place the magic is. That’s what’s wort supporting.” See Watt’s submit under.
Watts additionally captioned his submit “My viewpoint. What are your favourite unbiased festivals or festivals that no less than really feel like they arrive from love?” Watts raises some essential questions on massive, multi-genre festivals and their sense of group (or lack thereof), in addition to their environmental affect. Final yr, Consequence staffers mentioned the altering competition panorama in a roundtable chat, and in 2023, we spoke with competition organizers massive and small about what it will take to hypothetical construct a carbon impartial competition.
Consequence was additionally on the grounds at Coachella this weekend, and whereas we will attest that the extent of trash was significantly grim this yr, there was loads of constructive spirit to go round. Learn our recap of what you didn’t see on the livestream at Coachella 2025.
In the meantime, Watts lately supplied a brand new standup particular and autobiography in 2024, and stopped by Kyle Meredith with… to debate his new initiatives.