Coachella lacks respect for patrons!

[fatbastard]

Each year, it grows...Did anyone even notice the fact that what was 2 lanes before, is now 4? Give these people who are working out there a break! While we're dancing n' jammin' to the music, they're dealing with 50,000 people! I live less than a mile from the venue and had to go all the way around, but ya know...It's to be expected with that size crowd.

They do this every year for cars that park furthest parking exit away from Monroe. Your really making a u-turn to get back onto Monroe.

[fatbastard]

This message was initially intended for the Coachella Event Coordinators (Administrators), but they don't make themselves available, so I'm writing to all who are willing to spend hard-earned money and TIME to see their favorite artists; What I saw today (Fri.) was absolutely brutal: Will Call folks had to wait in line for NO LESS THAN 2.5 HOURS!!! I saw people who paid full price being forced to miss out on half a day's worth of entertainment because they were standing in line getting burned up by both the desert sun and the unprofessional, unaccomodating, disrespectful staff (and this comment extends all the way to the Indio P.D.) All efforts to expedite the entry and exit processes of the Festival appeared to be non-existent. My carpool and I spent OVER 2 HOURS simply exiting the parking lot. Not to mention the time it took to get from the parking lot to Monroe St. There were 2 traffic patrol people directing fans out of the lot at midnight, neither of whom seemed to be concerned with their job performance.
And also, it's 7$ per beer once you get in.
I feel that fans who go to these measures to see their favorite artists perform are being disrespected from the beginning of the Festival until the end.
My experience was so uninviting that I will NEVER attend the Coachella Music & Arts Festival again, no matter how much I am devoted to my favorite artists.
For any of you who bothered to read all of this I invite you to respond, even if you are offended by what I have just said.

What time did you get there?

[lowfront]

My 2 complaints

1. Getting raped by securty guard checks when getting in.

2. No showers sunday night, a big WTF

[eimie]

My 2 complaints

1. Getting raped by securty guard checks when getting in.

2. No showers sunday night, a big WTF

Agreed on the showers. I was incredibly gross that night; the grossest of all 3. How the hell did people brush their teeth?

[GTI_GRL]

Agreed on the showers. I was incredibly gross that night; the grossest of all 3. How the hell did people brush their teeth?

Bottled water at the camp site, and spit in empty bottle.

[internethandle]

this was my fourth year at coachella, although i was only able to go friday. it was a good experience, overall.

some things i noticed that were better this year:

1) they opened both gates! yay! and my friend noticed that they had multiple "EXIT" signs on the little map/set-times handout this year, which indicates to me they might have even had more than the normal one fence for all 55,000+ people. even if they didn't, opening both gates was a great improvement, and shows, more than anything this year, that goldenvoice is listening to its customer base.

2) gatorade being sold. cool.

3) a variety of other small things

bad things:

1) personally, lot 4 (our lot) exited very, very quickly. my friend and i got out in a half-hour, a record time relative to the 2+ hours it's taken for the past three years. however, it looks like the other lots had a more typical experience. i observed this year something that i think is pertinent to the parking lot situation: when i drove in this year, assuming it would take me a very long time to get out of our lot, me and more than a few other (probably fellow coachella veterans) started parking toward the fence, near the entrance (which we knew would later serve as the exit). the parking lot lackeys got on my case and when i questioned their reasoning with "you know it will take me forever to get out of the lot" (they park the first cars as far away from the exit as possible), he just responded "i know, but that's the duty of the situation!" or some bullshit. he was obviously tired from standing in that high heat. well, goldenvoice, why don't you make the parking lot people AND us happier and employ less people during the 100+ degree heat to limp-wristedly guide us to our parking spaces, and hire the same people to help us OUT of the parking lot instead? sounds like a good idea to me.

[TheWatcher]

It took 1.5 hours to get out of the parking lot on Sunday night, breathing in dust and fumes (almost killed me after being there since 11am). The funny thing is, if you leave about 1 hour before the end of the show, you can turn RIGHT out of the parking lot. This way you have to go around the block to get back to the 111 or the freeway, but I think it might take less time for everyone to get out if BOTH ways were open still at 12pm! Maybe some traffic could be routed out to Washington before going to the freeway?

By the way, Ozzfest is held at Devore, CA, has a 65,000 capacity (no campers), and the parking is bad, but not as bad as Coachella, and they only have one way to exit the area. I guess having no traffic signals (cross traffic) helps.

Is there any possibility of setting up a shuttle service, with parking in outlying lots, kind of like what Hollywood Bowl does? I would be willing to pay extra for such a service, especially if it avoided the mob scene leaving the lots. I would pay also for a shuttle back to the hotel, similar to the airport shuttles. It seems this might be a popular service, and would cut down on the number of cars.

If I attend next year (likely) I plan on taking a 2-hour nap in my car after leaving the venue, if I am there till the end. It isn't worth it to try to leave at the same time as everyone else.

And, camping is not an option for everyone.

In response to the upset patron:
We are sympathetic to your message and are aware of the "kinks" in the system. Every year efforts are made to improve the entry and exit of the festival and next year will be no exception, with the Will-Call procedure being at the top of the list. As far as the mass exodus leaving goes, when you have 60,000 people attempting to leave at the same time in an area that only has 2 ways out, it definitely makes for a hairy situation. We offer fantastic camping sites as an option and encourage as many people as possible to go that route, thus eliminating traffic and making it easier to vacate the actual event site as a whole. Any large event USA has traffic issues in vacating a venue site with patrons this large in number and please know that we do read these threads and we will work on improving problem areas. I may not be a "chief" on site, but please know that everyone working here is here because they love the event and the music. The Coachella production crew puts 150% of their heart and soul into the show and we care deeply about making sure that you, the attendees, have a great time. We put great effort into seeing each year improve. Your cries do not fall on deaf ears!

[clarky123]

There were 2 empy booths to right of the very busy Will Call lines not serving anyone on the Friday. I saw a solitary man in there playing with his di$k!