Fans were all smiles as they walked through security when the gates of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival opened promptly at noon on Friday, April 15, at the Empire Polo Club in Indio for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020.

“It’s my first festival since the pandemic and I needed a brain break,” Rachel Mounce of San Diego said with a laugh as she stood in the rental locker line to drop off her stuff before heading onto the sprawling festival grounds. “I wanted an excuse to go anywhere that I didn’t have Wi-Fi. I just want to be with my friends and soak it all in.”

In previous years, there’s been a mad dash for fans to get in first to post up in front of stages for their favorite artists. Things were a bit more mellow this year, with less crowding at the gates and guests taking their time as they meandered onto the festival grounds and began taking selfies in front of staple landmarks like the giant Ferris wheel and the rainbow “Spectra” tower.

Those who purchased the on-site camping passes were among the first into the festival.

“We’ve already made so many new friends since we’re in car camping,” Lucas Poock of Long Beach said. “We came in early because what were we going to do in there all day? We figured we’d come in here and check out the place. We’re so excited.”

Poock and his friend Dillon Provost, who flew in from Michigan, are Coachella first-timers.

“It just feels so good to be here,” Provost added, sharing that he was most excited for German singer-songwriter Kim Petras and catching Doja Cat’s set.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 forced festival promoters at Goldenvoice to postpone the three-day, two-weekend event, which typically draws over 125,000 fans per weekend, from April 2020 to October 2020. But a rise in positive COVID-19 cases and the slow roll out of vaccines pushed it back again to April 2021.

“We bought our tickets for 2020 and we just held on to them,” Mounce said, noting that she and her friends all attended the last festival in 2019. “We knew we’d want to come back.”

Related links

Coachella 2022: Live updates from weekend 1 of the music festival
Coachella 2022: Fans talk about return to festival in post-COVID-19 environment
Complete Coachella 2022 coverage

Coachella was postponed for a final time and the line-up was in limbo, but Goldenvoice came back strong, announcing Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) as headliners for both weekends, April 15-17 and 22-24.

However, after a series of incidents, including being banned from Instagram for violating policies on bullying, hate speech and harassment and a petition from fans with nearly 50,000 signatures asking Goldenvoice to remove him off the bill, Ye dropped out of the festival less than two weeks before he was set take the stage for his Sunday night headlining spot. He was replaced by electronic act Swedish House Mafia, who will be joined by R&B star The Weeknd.

“I’m okay with Kanye not playing because he really does seem like he needs some help,” Jania Baun of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, said. “But I do wish the replacement was like Red Hot Chili Peppers, which I think was a rumor. Being from Ottawa, I’ve seen The Weeknd a bunch of times since he’s Canadian.”

“I’m actually happier with this lineup, though,” she continued. “I love Billie Eilish. We came in 2019 and saw her, but with her setup, we were all super packed in and she was late because of some technical issues, but I can’t wait to see what she does this year. And Harry Styles, too.”

Baun said she and her friends experienced several delays in getting to Coachella since a snowstorm in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, grounded their plane. She was grateful that at least some of their crew made it to the festival in time.

“I wasn’t going to miss this,” she said. “Coachella just has a vibe. I’m 44 years old and I’ve been to a lot of festivals, but this one is just different. It’s in Southern California, the weather is amazing and with the lineups, there’s always so much potential to see so many different artists.”

In February, Goldenvoice made the decision to drop its previously announced COVID-19 vaccination, testing and masking requirements “in accordance with local guidelines,” according to its official website, to attend both Coachella and its sister event the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. At that time, the California Department of Public Health was recommending rather than requiring those measures if more than 10,000 people attend an outdoor event.

Early on opening day, not too many patrons were spotted wearing face coverings.

For P.J. Olsen and her husband, 2022 marks their fifth Coachella experience and the first with their 4-year-old. The family didn’t have any major concerns about catching COVID-19 because they’d already had the virus and had been fully vaccinated since recovering.

“We are hoping that’s going to tide us over,” Olsen said.

Olsen said they too held on to their original tickets from 2020 and the last-minute changes in the lineup didn’t bother them since “with kids, I hardly ever make it to the headliners anyway, so usually the undercard gets a lot more of my attention,” she added. They’re also looking forward to seeing indie rock band Arcade Fire, who will perform in the smaller Gobi Tent and were a surprise addition to the lineup when set times were announced on Thursday.

The festival continues Saturday with Billie Eilish topping the bill, and Sunday with Swedish House Mafia with the Weeknd and will have an encore April 22-24.

Staff writer James Williams contributed to this report.

Related Articles