I am planning on being there for what will be my 9th or 10th Coachella Festival. I forget. I hope you guys have a place to stay lined up. Camping is sold out and good luck with hotels. It get crazier every year.

FWIW, my sig picture was taken at the site of The Coachella in a part that is closed off during the actual event.

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Rock on Kev! Looking forward to any Coachella pics this year

Haven't been since '08...one of the best sets by far. As soon as i heard rumors that Prince may headline with surprise guests, we booked one-ways

Very nice! Yes my friends rent a house a there that is quite large with a pool so we are taken care of for a place to stay. Do you have any tips (other than the obvious sunscreen, not doing anything stupid in plain sight, etc. haha) as a veteran attendee? I'm looking forward to my first festival!

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2001 X5 4.4i
2002 Honda S2000

Soooo jealous of you guys that are going. Coachella is definitely on my bucket list. Have fun. I will surely be making the pilgrimage in the near future!

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2011 50i BS/Black Nevada
(gone) 2007 4.8i AW/Tobacco

It's almost here folks! I drove by the site today and saw the tents up already. Just like every year, it will probably wind up being the hottest weekend for this time of year so be prepared for the heat. (It does cool off pretty well at night though.) You will need lots of water. Last year they did have some water refilling stations and they also do a program for people to turn in empties for a fresh bottle. Sunscreen is a must too. Food is stupidly expensive but you don't have much of a choice. There are places nearby but all require driving so that takes time and you don't want to deal with parking and reparking. You could get coolers and use your car as a base for food and drink breaks. There is abeer garden too.

I can try to give you some tips on getting access to the site from where you are staying. Shoot me a PM. There are some main streets that are used but there are some ways to sneak around and avoid the main crush coming from the freeway.

Watch your stuff. I haven't heard about much theft but with so many people there, stuff does go missing. We've seen suspicious people wandering in the camping areas looking to steal stuff. Mostly, people lose stuff like car keys so you might want to leave a spare at the house. There are cellphone charging stations if you need to juice up your cellphone.

As far as the law goes, don't be stupid and you won't have problems. If you are not a drug user/seller then you really won't have issues. The local police are not there to arrest people for no reason. The majority of arrests are for drug sales and people being too drunk/f-uped to deal so they have to go away. In my 9 prior Coachellas, the policy I see is pretty much that even smoking pot is ignored as long as it's not too blatant. I can tell you for a fact that if someone sells or furnished drugs, they are going to jail. It is no secret that there will be lots of undercover law enforcement. I'm not giving away a secret as it is oft discussed on forums. They talk all kinds of smack on the forums but it's pretty simple: have a good time, don't be an a-hole, go home in one piece.

Let me know if you have any other questions. This one will be my 10th. It's like a tradition for me.

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So vegasX5, I want your report on The Coachella. I'm really interested in the opinion of a first-time goer.

My experience was good as usual. I did not take any photos and would not drag my big camera gear around and to shoot with just a P&S would not do it justice. I did see a few guys I wanted to rob of their gear though. There were quite a few photo ops of all varieties. Let's just say with that many people in one place, there is a rainbow of people to gawk at. Women with pasties, men with skirts, body paint, a giant banana, a fuzzy dog costume, all kinds of "interesting" things.

I was there all three days and just got home to beat traffic. The crowds were much larger than years past. They had about 85,000 per days plus staff, vendors, crew, etc. As always, it was nuts. It always blows me away how many people travel from all over the world for this thing. There were some who drove from Texas, Canada, and some who flew from Australia and Denmark. Then there are all the people who camp out there in tents and cars. They sold out the camping sites well before the weekend.

I was disappointed with the headliners going into it. I am no Jay Z fan but some people I was with were and I say "were" because after hearing how lousy he is live, they gave up on him. He sucked, not that I expected anything different. Muse was good but I was in the distance at another location. I listened to a bit of the Gorillaz but left early because I was dead tired and wanted to beat traffic.

Another Coachella in the books for me. I don't know if I'll make it to my 11th next year but I hope so. It's always fun for me.

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My sis was in san diego on business and took a jog down to coachella. This was her second trip and I must say, It is making me jealous. I am surprised jay z was no good live. I admit I am something of a hip hop junkie but I have been to several of his shows and they were excellent. He usually performs with a talented and well equipped band and does his vocals spot on and clear. Find it hard to believe that jay z fans wouldn't enjoy his show live. Then again I can certainly understand going to coachella looking to rock out and not being interested in hip hop performers.

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2011 50i BS/Black Nevada
(gone) 2007 4.8i AW/Tobacco