Coachella Swells—On and Off Festival Grounds

At the end of the night of April 29, after a long weekend made more memorable by unseasonably relentless desert heat, the sun set on this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, presented by Los Angeles-based Goldenvoice. This was the first year the music fest ballooned to three days, and the annual takeover of Empire Polo Field offered more arty installations and eco-conscious innovations than ever before, giving 60,000 ticket holders each day an experience far more broad than just a packed lineup of bands on five stages from lunchtime to past midnight.

A new recycling initiative encouraged concertgoers to redeem 10 empty water bottles for a full one—a smart way to tidy the grounds, recycle, and keep the crowd healthy and hydrated while the mercury soared to 103. (Roving hordes of mostly young fans scoured the field collecting bottles in their sunburned arms or plastic bags.) At the Tour De Coachella bike station, attendees could hop on stationary bikes and pedal their way to a quick charge for their cell phones. And the Do Lab’s artful installation, filled with towering fabric-covered rattan pods, provided shade and a dependable meeting spot in the center of the huge open venue.

Meanwhile, away from the venue’s official stages, campground, and six sprawling parking lots, the schedule of piggyback events—hosted by marketers from electronics brands to magazine titles big and little—reached a dizzying density. Motorola, DKNY Jeans, Hugo Boss, Condé Nast, and others blanketed the region all the way to Palm Springs—more than 20 miles from Empire Polo Field—with pool parties, live music, barbecue, and mountains of swag.

So rich were the related event offerings, in fact, that their presence compelled the festival’s organizers at Goldenvoice to enforce policies banning musicians on the official slate from performing at unaffiliated events, according to a Condé Nast marketing exec hosting such a party. (Goldenvoice—with many of its people still out in the desert preparing for its next multiday production feat, the Stagecoach country music festival on May 5 and 6—was unavailable for comment about the situation.)

“Most festivals have a radius clause in their contracts with artists that prohibits public performances by these artists within a certain radius and time frame surrounding the festival,” said Billboard’s executive director of content and programming for touring and live entertainment, Ray Waddell. “I can understand the frustration on the part of producers when some other entity who is not contributing to the main event, or taking the risk entailed in producing such an event, attempts to ride on the coattails of the main attraction to boost their own profile.”

Some of the performers on the original DJ lineup for Jane magazine’s party in Palm Desert—including artists who performed at the festival—had to be pulled before the event to appease Goldenvoice. DJs Franki Chan, Squeak E. Clean, and others spun in their stead, and Chateau Marmont executive chef Carolynn Spense prepared goodies for the guests at the six-hour-long event on Saturday. “We invited Jane tastemakers and artists and celebrities,” said Jane creative services director for special projects Linda Doyle. “We were expecting about 100 to show up at any given moment, with a good flow in and out as people went to the concerts.”

Fellow Condé Nast pub GQ offered three full days of programming at the Viceroy Palm Springs, including a Jeep-sponsored kickoff on Friday and a midnight screening of Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj on Sunday night. (Filter magazine hosted a kickoff event even earlier than GQ’s—on Thursday night—for the early arrivers.)

Also joining the magazine party fray was Anthem, back again this year, undaunted, in a new location closer to the polo field, after last year’s stint at a former Frank Sinatra property. “We literally were not invited back to the Sinatra house due to having too good of a time last year,” said Anthem copublisher Andreas Herr, who worked on the event with the magazine’s Cheyne Nadeau. Now in its third year, Anthem’s Coachella party brought back some of its usual tricks—including inflatable toys in the pool and Memphis Catering and Two Brothers BBQ manning a barbecue—but upgraded to a bigger, more luxurious home closer to the official venue—and an inflatable bounce house and Ping-Pong table on the lawn. (For the second year running Anthem’s party had an authentic, parents-are-out-of-town quality, with guests unafraid to cannonball into the pool and chase each other with squirt guns.)

Hugo Boss established its presence for the first time—announcing its party in advance with invitations that doubled as sleeves for a CD sampler to get invitees in the mood. “This is our first time at Coachella, and we featured our Boss Orange collection, which is younger and more urban,” said Hugo Boss’ New York-based vice president of marketing and PR, Katja Douedari, who turned the 14-room boutique hotel Mod Resort in Palm Desert into the “Boss Orange Cabanas.” “It was sort of a base camp for the festival,” she said. Boss offered shuttle services to the polo fields in cars from sponsor Audi.

DKNY Jeans avoided the need for shuttles by taking over a giant home a mile from the polo field—about as close as some of the official parking lots—for its pool party, and providing guests walking directions to the concert venue. Moj Mahdara and her team at MMA Group produced the party, as well as a gift and media lounge for talent for Motorola in the form of an Airstream trailer park.

Even with the slew of unofficial events surrounding the festival, many say there’s plenty of room in the Coachella Valley for everyone. “Given that Coachella sold out months in advance, I don’t think Goldenvoice has much to worry about in terms of lost ticket sales or interest,” said Billboard’s Waddell. “Why would someone leave an event they’ve paid significantly to attend, and one that’s one of the best live experiences in the world?”

—Alesandra Dubin