that was hands down theworst display of EDM ever.....

[betao]

You make a great point AbundantChoice (although you did contradict yourself a tad). While I am part of the older crowd, I'd be happy with a Leftfield/Orbital/Underworld/etc offering anywhere rather than nowhere. The Sahara will be packed during the day pretty much regardless of who you put there. I'll always throw out Carl Cox as a safe Sahara bet but if Andy C or Markus Schulz was in the Sahara at 4 or 5pm, would it be empty? I doubt it. People will still go there. Tricky already made a good point about letting the Sahara go to the young crowd who prefer lights and "performance" over skill and programming and I'd be more than OK with that if GV threw us old folk a bone somewhere.

I wish this were true, but I recall times last year during the afternoon when the Sahara was somewhat empty. Here's a picture I took during Sander Kleinenberg:



If I recall correctly, Sven Vath had a similar audience.

[cured]

While I expect the cheese to return in full force next year, I would be surprised if we got as few quality acts again next year. As recently as 2011 did we get acts like Sasha, Boys Noize, Sven Vath, Shpongle and The Twelves in the Sahara along with The Presets, Leftfield and Trentemoller in the Mojave. I don't think Paul or whoever books this fest is blind to this board's opinions. I think them booking High Contrast last year is the best example. Considering this fest is a guaranteed sell out next year, I think they will bring some quality acts.

With that being said, I did have fun at Noisia, Breakbot, SebastiAn and Jacques Lu Cont this year but Modeselektor blew everyone of those acts out of the water

^^ agree. Some of the acts I'm sure they would have loved to have booked just weren't going to be around, unfortunately. Next year I bet they give us a treat. But whatever the case, now I know the best sh*t isn't in the Sahara, anymore.

[cured]

I wouldn't have been excited about Kleinenberg, either, really. But I get your point.

[Trick Loves The Kids]

Sven Vath was indeed empty

[guedita]

So what if some of the EDM sets that they book are empty? There's no rule that the Sahara tent HAS to be packed. GV books bands that play to small crowds every fucking year.

[Trick Loves The Kids]

Just that Borgore probably costs a fraction of what Sven costs and is going to fill the tent up. I don't agree with the way things are, but that is the way things are.

[cured]

The first weekend was helped along by the cool weather but yeah, I've seen it packed at 3 many times. It was pretty empty for Danny Tenaglia, too, and the dude just went into semi-retirement.

Can anyone relate to this?

[Wheres the beef?]

^^ agree. Some of the acts I'm sure they would have loved to have booked just weren't going to be around, unfortunately. Next year I bet they give us a treat. But whatever the case, now I know the best sh*t isn't in the Sahara, anymore.

That's not quite the case. All the decision makers at Goldenvoice signed off on this lineup. They think they did a great job. And they did. By all accounts, it was a very successful Sahara tent (if you're into that kind of stuff). There's no reason they'll ever change it going forward. They have a certain demographic that has certain expectations. The reason Goldenvoice didn't book a lot of those acts wasn't because "they weren't going to be around". It was because Goldenvoice "doesn't have their phone numbers".

Like Trick said, "this is the way things are".

[Hayleymoo]

i liked kaskade's visuals

[Jasongenom]

How about Sub Focus? This looks insane

[Ross1492]

That's not quite the case. All the decision makers at Goldenvoice signed off on this lineup. They think they did a great job. And they did. By all accounts, it was a very successful Sahara tent (if you're into that kind of stuff). There's no reason they'll ever change it going forward. They have a certain demographic that has certain expectations. The reason Goldenvoice didn't book a lot of those acts wasn't because "they weren't going to be around". It was because Goldenvoice "doesn't have their phone numbers".

Like Trick said, "this is the way things are".

I don't understand the implication here. The festival is successful, from a business perspective, if tickets sell out. Seems a stretch to pin a sell-out on the putative drawing power of one particular set of acts.

They may have opted to play it safe on account of moving to the 2 weekend format (I think they were wrongheaded in doing so) but I don't see how a sell-out gives them grounds to declare the Sahara a success in and of itself.

[CrimesceneCookie]

Someone mentioned Beats Antique as an example of quality EDM this weekend, but in the short time I was there I didn't hear anything close to resembling electronic music.

[SepaGroove]

Really glad I decided to buy a Weekend 2 pass. All of this input is really helping me plan my weekend.

[AwClark]

I had a blast during the 2nd 1/2 of Kaskade. I haven't seen a set of his in a long time so it was nice catching him again. Everyone of my friends has been telling me that David Guetta was absolutely horrendous garbage though and I'm not surprised at all. Actually I'm quite surprised ANY of my friends decided to check him out at all. They all told me that the lighting sucked and that he tried doing a 15 min live remix of Levels again just like his equally horrendous set at UMF. Just fail fail fail.

I really do hope they fix their mistakes from this year in terms of the Sahara lineup. Needs way more variety in genre. Guess they figured since EDM blew up that they should just book a bunch from the "DJmag 100" and call it a day. If they'd just branch out and book at least 1 act from say House, Psy, Trance, Dubstep, DnB, Techno, Electro, Deep House etc etc, it would make me a very happy camper at least.

Some may not agree with me on these choices, and I'm not too knowledgable on any Dub/DnB acts so I won't even go there mentioning any, but if they booked say Adam Beyer, Dubfire, John Digweed (or even better... Sasha & John Digweed), John 00 Fleming, Carl Cox, Markus Schulz, Christopher Lawrence, or Moby etc etc... I'd be incredibly pleased. That's all just my opinion/taste though.

[CrimesceneCookie]

Every time I visited the Sahara Daycare Center it was packed.
I don't think it's going to go back to the way things were.

[thepoetblue]

Seriously... Girltalk, SBTRKT, SubFocus, Beats Antique were all awesome - none of them in the Sahara. Zedd and Nero were solid in the Sahara and as much as I hate to say it, Swedish House Mafia was solid on the main stage.

Bring the great EDM back to the Sahara, please, GV.

Did anyone notice that there was a ton less eye-candy around the tents this year? Is this a subtle change to make Coachella less druggy or is it just because I wasn't on drugs? No Cubotron, no nothing other than one lame object with like three LED lights. I think people's trips were relegated to the other tents. Hell, I saw more light shows at SHM on the main and at Miike Snow than in the Sahara...

[thepoetblue]

Psy-Trance! Astral Projection, motherfuckers! Goa Gil!

[iammrcandyman]

There is a necessity to fill the Sahara. If it isn't full it means Coachella isn't booking the right artists. Sure, the people on these forums may have tastes for older artists since many of them are older than the average Coachella-goer, but this doesn't mean that people my age (22) need to get boned out of seeing worthwhile artists. There are plenty of choices out there that would appeal to older crowds, music snobs (like me), and the AfroGuettAviccIngrosso crowd. Oh and by the way, GV, Guetta is at least 63 years old.

Just to name A FEW acts that appeal to younger crowds that would have filled the Sahara: Netsky, Camo & Krooked, Bassnectar, Moby, Infected Mushroom, Umek, Arty, Gabriel & Dresden, Gareth Emery, Markus Schulz, Sander Van Doorn, Chase & Status, Pretty Lights, Fatboy Slim, Skream.

Just the fact that there was not a SINGLE trance artist booked says wonders about the people charged with booking the Sahara lineup this year. The problem isn't the artists, or the tastes of attendees, it's that they just stopped trying.

[thepoetblue]

Once upon a time I remember people complaining that trance was ruining the Sahara. Now what do you call this stuff? Bro-house?

I am listening to Joey Beltram right now. That's all.

[iammrcandyman]

I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of trance either, but I would take Gareth Emery or Markus Schulz over Guetta in a heartbeat. If I had things my way the Sahara would probably get a crowd no larger than the dome did last year.

[cured]

By all accounts, it was a very successful Sahara tent (if you're into that kind of stuff).

Yeah but I'm not into that kind of stuff. This music is like Popozao to me. I'm not going to be happy if it's Aoki to Skrillex in the Sahara with Deamau5 on the main to close one night.

[thepoetblue]

I saw Markus Schulz last year in Toronto and he was way better than a lot of the shiz in the Sahara this year. Ask me two years ago and I'd never have said this but Markus Schulz was way better when I saw him last year than Kaskade this year. Thank god my friend texted me to get out of the Sahara and go see Sub Focus. Even if the MC at Sub Focus needed to STFU.

[aphrael]

Sven Vath was indeed empty

but pretty damned goo, for those of us who saw it.

[Digitalstereo]

The Sahara tent turns into a scene from the video game "Resident Evil" at about 9 pm - onward. Zombies everywhere.

Time to lock and load. Lets exterminate these zombies.

[sk8njam]

Someone mentioned Beats Antique as an example of quality EDM this weekend, but in the short time I was there I didn't hear anything close to resembling electronic music.

ya theyre not electronic but man theyreeeee grooooooooovvvvvvvvyyyyyy....so glad i wandered to that tent for their set

[Mugwog]

This whole "the sahara sux for '12" is this years "skrillex omg why"

[Trick Loves The Kids]

This movement is honestly bigger than Coachella. Remember when you used to turn on the radio to a pop station and it was a rap song at 90 bpm? Sorry bro, turn that same station on today and it's 6pm and they're at 130 bpm with ravey trance synths at the forefront. That's just where we are right now. The ebb and flow of America's relationship with "gay" dance music is like the tides; sometimes they're out and you can walk to the corner store and hear a 3-hour deep-ass Carl Cox set, and sometimes they're in and you can't step foot outside of your house without hearing a distorted wobble and a terribly trancy female vocal. C'est la vie, as they say... None of us are immune to the energy that flows without us, and we all submit to it. Perhaps someday the tables will turn and the Sahara will be 12 hours of deep, groovy dance music... for now, however, accept the cheese into your heart. Let it consume your person and your spirit and from there: make some fucking noise.

[CrimesceneCookie]

It's bigger than Coachella but that doesn't mean Coachella has to cater to the lowest common denominator.
I don't think anyone here is expecting a marathon of quality EDM in the Sahara, but it would be nice to keep a Sven Vath type in there somewhere.
I just can't pretend to like something that isn't working for me.
I'm not the target demographic for it anyways so this is all probably moot.

[david.sound]

There were still some good EDM acts, just not in the Sahara.

SBTRKT, Modeselektor, DJ Shadow, Christian Martin, Worthy, and Droog are all honorable mentions. The Sahara lacked diversity in my opinion. They should have taken out a couple of the commercial House DJs and put in a Trance/Prog DJ (Sander Van Doorn, Armin, Markus), a Minimal/Techno DJ (Richie Hawtin, Anyone from KOMPAKT, Gui Boratto), and an old school DJ like Sasha or Diggers or Danny Howells or something for the older crowd that still enjoy their generation of EDM. Fuck I should be in charge of booking EDM acts for GV.

[jiggly]

it wouldn't be so bad if the new wave of pop-edm wasn't so hyper-commodified. "they" just pillage the genre, dissect the spoils into its constituent parts and rearrange it into an easily digestible product. But like all easily digestible products... i dunno gets packed with more shit.

Moral of the story: read Pornland by Gail Dines.