That's Unheard Of!

Coachella ruined my weekend. It also made it wonderful. Clearly, I’m struggling with this.

The lineup for this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., is possibly the best festival lineup of all time. Any summary does it a disservice, but reunion sets by Pulp, Refused and At the Drive-In and nights headlined by Radiohead and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg serve as a pretty good indicator of how successful this year’s booking team was.

The announcement of this incredible lineup was frustrating because, as a college student living in the Midwest, I knew I had about no chance of making it out to the West Coast for the festival. I also knew, for better or worse, that I’d experience everything that happened at Coachella in real time.

Despite not spending my weekend in Indio, I know that Jeff Mangum played nearly all of Neutral Milk Hotel’s seminal “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” LP because
@SPINfestivals tweeted that he did. I know how dominant MC Ride looked fronting Death Grips during their afternoon set because Pitchfork posted a photo of him on Instagram. I know Pulp played a brilliant set because I watched a recording of the live feed on YouTube.

Social media has changed what it means to not be at a festival. On one hand, you’re practically there. With live tweeting, photo blogging and entire sets being uploaded to video streaming services, it’s now possible to simulate the festival experience to an unprecedented degree. We’re probably one big mobile app development away from being able to drop acid with someone across state lines.

On the other hand, you’re not there, and the glut of information pouring in from the festival grounds makes that fact all the harder to process. I spent Friday wishing I could block all tweets including the word “Pulp” from my feed, and the chills I felt watching Frank Ocean open his set with a take on Bob Dylan’s “Long Time Gone” were countless miles away from those felt by the people seeing it in person.

It’s evident that there’s no turning back from this new share-everything festival culture, but it’s interesting to think about who it actually benefits. Attendees remain objects of jealousy but are mostly unaffected. People who want to go but can’t have to deal with the dilemma I’ve outlined. Publications’ hits increase, but they also become targets of rage for people who don’t want to read about what they can’t attend.

The real winners are the festivals themselves.

Seeing how awesome this year’s Coachella has me halfheartedly planning a trip to next year’s Coachella, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. I’m already heading to Orion Music and More Festival in Atlantic City, N.J., in June and Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in July, and in each case, the reason is how much the Internet made me feel like I needed to go.

And for all the festivals I can’t make, I’ll settle for the tweets. As painful as they can be, they’re still better than nothing.