Stage

Technology-driven visual arts studio V Squared Labs, headed by Vello Virkhaus, created striking, ever-changing visuals at the festival's Sahara stage.

The Do Lab's central art piece took on an ombré look this year, in colors that seemed to evoke desert flowers. The structures provided shade, a meeting point, and a stage for performances that included the work of Lucent Dossier.

A new art piece on the festival grounds called "Mirage," envisioned by festival art curator Paul Clemente and created and executed by experiential design and media company Pearl Media Productions, took the form and architecture of a mid-century Palms Springs mansion, standing at 40 feet tall, 80 feet wide, and 100 feet long. A total of 12 zones of high-tech HD projections made it appear that changing activities were taking place inside the home's rooms and its pool. The project requires 18 gigs of custom content and more than 70 facets of individual video over the course of the six-day festival.

As part of the fest's major green efforts, it employs a 20-foot-tall dinosaur art piece—known as Recyclosaurus Rex—to crush bottles.

Heineken's sponsorship activation includes cold storage for cases of festivalgoers' beer, which is tracked using a fingerprint scan and kept cold until guests are ready to imbibe. V Squared Labs also created the visuals for the brand's dome on the festival grounds.

For the fourth consecutive year, H&M is an official sponsor of the festival, but it expanded its presence beyond the polo fields for the first time to the 40-acre Merv Griffin Estate, where more than 300 guests came for performances by Santigold, DJ Michelle Pesce, and others on Saturday.

Sleek signage in foliage and hedging served as chic, branded photo backdrops for celebrity arrivals.

The party's overall Moroccan-style decor included poolside and lawn seating groups complete with pillows, rugs, and lanterns. Activities included ping-pong and bocce ball, while in the water, rafts filled the pool, and logo paddle boats filled the pond.

Back for its fourth year was Lacoste, which brought its Lacoste Live Desert Pool Party to a private estate near the festival grounds with production by Made With Elastic. In addition to table tennis and bocce ball, guests could attempt to shoot a hole in one on a branded putting green for a chance to win Lacoste headphones.

The event included an activity/art installation that invited guests to shoot paint-covered tennis balls at a massive polo shirt called “Polo Gigante.” Beta Creative was behind the setup.

Cigarette-style girls, clad in Lacoste gear, passed Kiel's sun protection products.

For right on-trend festival looks, a flower crown station allowed guests to pick up garlands to wear on the spot—in exchange for a posting on social media.

Armani Exchange hosted its fourth annual Neon Carnival at Tradition Aviation, an airplane hanger not far from the festival grounds.

The party included thrill rides, carnival games, Svedka Vodka specialty cocktails, and music sets by DJs like Jus Ske. The night also celebrated the debut of the special-edition Armani Exchange Color Flash watch and sunglasses collection in neon colors.

Night Vision Entertainment and Chevrolet presented Volt Valley at the Mirage featuring Bagatelle Beach, a two-day event at a private ranch to celebrate this year’s festival, where activities included a zip line for guests.

A Patrón-branded hot-air balloon offered chilled shots of XO Café.

An event for Diesel and Bono’s clothing collection, Edun, took to the Tally Horse Ranch. Bono was among those curating the music for the program.

Stoelt Productions built out the event, which had design by M Crown Productions.

Hard Rock Hotels, in association with the BMF Media Group, brought the Hard Rock Music Lounge to the Hotel Zoso, which is set to become a Hard Rock property later this year. Just before the weekend, street artist Mr. Brainwash snuck into the venue to deface property with his music-inspired graffiti artwork—an unusual combination of spontaneous vandalism and sanctioned stunt. Guests woke up to spray-painted masterpieces covering the hotel grounds from the lobby entrance to the upstairs pool deck. His artwork featured repetitive portraits spreading the messages “Music is beautiful” and “Life is beautiful.” A live camel served as a photo op. Owl's Brew, a tea crafted for cocktails, sponsored the event and seemed to be ubiquitous around the weekend's parties.

Harper’s Bazaar brought the ShopBazaar pop-up boutique to the desert, similar to the pop-up created in December at Art Basel Miami Beach. Throughout the festival's first weekend, the event took over the Jonathan Adler-designed Parker Palm Springs hotel. Former Elle event chief Caitlin Weiskopf oversaw the event. "All purchases were made on ShopBazaar.com at the MacBooks or iPads in the pop-up, and guests could walk away with clothes to wear to the show that day," Weiskopf said.

Guest tried their hands at logo beanbag games for ShopBazaar. The main event, a party with music by Mia Moretti, went down on Friday, and additional events included manicures by London lacquers Saturday and Herbal Essences' braid bar Saturday and Sunday. XA produced.

Nas hosted Details at Midnight, the main event off the polo fields on the Friday night schedule, with production by TH Productions.

Guests gathered in a tricked-out teepee.

At the Saguaro, Hello Stranger and dFm teamed up with Dossier for the hotel’s second annual Desert Weekender events. Three days of events hosted brands including Forever 21, Swatch, Microsoft, Corzo, and Revolve Clothing. Daytime pool parties featured DJ sets from the likes of Sky Ferreira, Peanut Butter Wolf, Classixx, Iamsound, and more.

Logos took colorful forms at the Saguaro's distinctive rainbow-hued property.

Kicking things off early on Thursday, Filter magazine returned for its 11th annual Yacht Club pre-festival events, produced by lifestyle marketing and branding agency Filter Creative Group. Aerie sponsored the event, which will also offer a Thursday program ahead of the second weekend. It's among few brands to do so.