Coachella hosts over 250,000 people and over 150 artists for three days twice a year in the month of April. I had the opportunity to go to this festival with my best friend, Junior Fiona Alverson. Since the Woodstock festival era, other festivals have had a bad name among the older generations for being filled with illegal substances, harassment, and mob mentality. However, 21st-century festivals, such as Coachella, have put those connotations to rest by adding proactive, intelligent, and accountable event hosts. I can speak from this experience that Coachella was safe, well organized, and fun. They had multiple areas and booths with people who are certified medics who gave out sunscreen, water, and any other information you needed to be safe. The festival is held during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, too. As a connoisseur of concerts, I found Coachella easy to navigate with how many signs and information kiosks they had, safe with how many guards there were, and fun due to being there with my friend and experiencing our favorite artists together.

Out of the 150 artists at Coachella during 2023, the best experiences and best artists, in my opinion, were Dominic Fike, Suicide Boys, Metro Boomin, Labrinth, Kali Uchias, and Baker. Most of these artists are amazing on their own, but some bring guests out. Kali brought Tyler the Creator out; Metro brought the weekend; 21; John Legend; and the future. Labrinth brought out Billie Eilish. Even the artists who didn’t bring out guests were great at controlling and entertaining a rowdy crowd and delivering beautiful lyrics and performances.

The most memorable moments were catching the drumstick of Travis Barkers, the drummer for Blink 182, and fighting with a 30-year-old man for 15 minutes over it; being front row and stealing Bakar’s microphone; and being front row to Metro Boomin’ when he brought out 21 Savage, Future, The Weekend, and John Legend. My only advice is to wear comfy shoes, find a state park campsite instead of venue camping; it’s cheaper, and lastly, bring your own water bottle or be upfront because, as a little unknown fact the security guards will give you free water bottles.