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

[betao]

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.

Here we are. This is the statement.

The Sahara has always had cheese, and its been getting worse and worse since Daft.... but there were always other acts to keep "us" satisfied. There was a balance.

This year, there really wasn't a balance.

[travelfan]

The other issue is that as house has gotten so popular in the mainstream like Trick mentioned, the majority of the bigger DJs have started to converge in terms of sound. If this had been three years ago, Calvin Harris would have done a live set with a band, Kaskade would have spun all that tranquil relaxing stuff he did in 2010, Guetta would still be cheesy but it all would have been Chris Willis instead of Usher, etc. All the sets would have sounded different. Nothing terribly groundbreaking, but it would have felt a little more like a mix. The issue is that they all play the same fucking songs. We had some girls with our group who love Levels/Save the World Tonight/Feel so Close to You type stuff, and even they were bored with the Sahara by the end of Saturday and stopped going.

The one other interesting thing is that if the Sahara continues in this direction, it will probably need to get bigger. While I wasn't there, I heard Guetta was beyond a clusterfuck. AVICII apparently was too, which baffles me that that many people missed the spectacle that was Dre and Snoop. I was at Kaskade and it was uncomfortably full despite being against Radiohead. Somebody even said that Borgore at what, 2:00/3:00 in the day was packed to the gills.

On the flipside, Jacques lu Cont, who many here counted as one of the better Sahara bookings, was pretty empty. Maybe half full in terms of space, but nowhere even close to dense until the first fourth of the tent. I know some have mentioned that there is no reason why the Sahara has to be completely full, but GV has to take notice that they can book some pretty cheap dubstep and fill up the entire 12,000 person tent at 2:00 in the afternoon. I don't think it's getting better, although the Mojave now has some pretty quality acts.

[philabuster]

I thoroughly enjoyed Flying Lotus, Araabmuzik and Modeselektor, so I can't complain. On the other hand this was my first year in the 8 I've attended where I never entered the Sahara. My best laugh of the weekend came at about 10:30 on Friday night when we where chilling for a few minutes just beyond the Zia tent. A couple girls in disco dresses and heels were just coming through the entrance and asked for directions to the Coachella stage. We were blown away that they would come to Coachella just for Swedish House Mafia.

[Explore84]

The Sahara is just not the same tent it was. Like Trick said GV has found their target demographic and have made a business decision to cater to that demographic. There's no arguing that the big arena house acts smothering the Sahara this year move tickets.


The Mojave is our beloved Sahara of old, and lemme tell you, it fucking rocks. It's been by far my favorite tent the last two years.

[Sensuality]

Has anyone here seen Molly?

[2Girls1Cup]

not a big fan of this shit, BUT...zeds dead was pretty crackin. other than that i stayed away from sahara...tho Modeselektor, Araab Muzik, Flying Lotus, SBTRKT, Porter Robinson, Calvin Harris...were amazing! Had the time of my life! maybe its cuz i had no expectations of shitty-ness and just danced hard instead of complaining. i guess for you vets and diehards it mightve been tough

[2Girls1Cup]

take drugs it makes it better

[Dogvolta]

I mean, yeah, the dance lineup was terrible. I walked into Alesso and within the first four tracks I heard Gotye into LEVE7S into "One More Time" which was like a cheese overload. Apparently this was a common thing over the weekend but I didn't spend enough time in there to figure that out.

On the other hand though, GV knows what they're doing. It's not like they're accidentally booking all of these cheesy bro-house acts; this is deliberate and I don't think it's going to change. I honestly have accepted the fact that I am too old for the Sahara tent and that if I want to see quality electronic acts in a big setting like that I have to go elsewhere. That's kind of fine with me, I had a great time this year and I barely spent any time in the Sahara. I saw Jacques Lu Cont and the tent was absolutely empty after Borgore, only to fill up after Jacques' set right before Zed's Dead or whatever. The few times I wandered over there during a bro-house act I couldn't even get in, during Alesso and Afrojack the tent was overflowing with people.

On the way to Coachella we stopped at a few gas stations and fast food joints. Without a single exception, every conversation I overheard about Coachella was about the EDM lineup and how awesome it was. The few times I went in there I saw an incredible amount of braces and an incredible lack of facial hair. GV is pretty obviously trying to make the Sahara tent into something specific and while it's not exactly a thrilling move I can kind of understand it, I'd imagine that they sell a serious amount of tickets to people who just want to rage to Afrojack and could care less about any of the acts on the other stages.

The Sahara is the land of the teenage rager now. Accept this and move on.

I honestly could not have said it better myself. Specially the highlighted part.

[betao]

If drugs are required to get any enjoyment out of it then it should stay the fuck away.

[CheeseMau5]

Reading this thread I think 1/5 of the crowd at Sub Focus is on these boards. The main thing is that you people have European tastes, and Coachella is an American festival. I've been to some of the big European dance festivals and I'd still much rather be at Coachella even though their lineups (including Americans!) are much better. Coachella is a special event in so many ways and it's unfortunate they can't find a way to accomodate those of us who aren't into the cheesy bro-house. The problems in doing this are well described above, but you've got to think there's a way for Coachella to consider itself a place to educate and not just pander... American tastes in dance music need to mature.

[michaelmontanez]

I had a dream shortly before weekend one that there were two Saharas, one was cheesy and one was not... a 2013 premonition maybe?
that being said Modeselektor, Flying Lotus, and sebastiAn all kicked ass.

[trakball]

The non-cheesy Sahara = The Do Lab

[weezy f baby]

The non-cheesy Sahara = The Do Lab

Too bad the do lab is all burners. What about all the people who aren't into burningman hippy bass but also aren't into cheese house? We're just screwed?

Yes. Yes we are.

As a veteran of Coachella, it's sad to say this... but I don't think I'm going anymore. I had just a "whatever" time. I was kinda just whelmed by the whole situation. not overwhelmed... not underwhelmed... just whelmed.

Fuck it. Time to start going to DEMF instead.

[trakball]

Too bad the do lab is all burners. What about all the people who aren't into burningman hippy bass but also aren't into cheese house? We're just screwed?

So machinedrum is "burningman hippy bass"? Russ Liquid? Salva? What kind of beats were you looking to hear? (For what it's worth, I thought drum & bass was woefully under-represented this year)

It sounds like you just had a shitty time, which sucks.

[Distorted_Jungle]

Too bad the do lab is all burners. What about all the people who aren't into burningman hippy bass but also aren't into cheese house? We're just screwed?

Yes. Yes we are.

As a veteran of Coachella, it's sad to say this... but I don't think I'm going anymore. I had just a "whatever" time. I was kinda just whelmed by the whole situation. not overwhelmed... not underwhelmed... just whelmed.

Fuck it. Time to start going to DEMF instead.

I didn't decide on DEMF this year but that's how I felt even after last year. Coachella's EDM booking and my taste in music are getting further and further apart as time goes on, and this year I decided it wasn't for me and have felt like I made the best decision possible for me. The amount of time, money and effort it takes to go to Coachella is not worth it to walk away and say the best EDM I saw was in the fuckin Do Lab? No thanks.

[Distorted_Jungle]

So machinedrum is "burningman hippy bass"? Russ Liquid? Salva? What kind of beats were you looking to hear? (For what it's worth, I thought drum & bass was woefully under-represented this year)

It sounds like you just had a shitty time, which sucks.

Where's the Plastikman and/or Hawtin himself? Where's the Aphex Twin? Where's the Leftfield? I believe things like this are what he's talking about.

[weezy f baby]

So machinedrum is "burningman hippy bass"? Russ Liquid? Salva? What kind of beats were you looking to hear? (For what it's worth, I thought drum & bass was woefully under-represented this year)

It sounds like you just had a shitty time, which sucks.

Excellent use of the a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid fallacy. Machinedrum is clearly an exception. Salva was great but his set time prevented me from seeing him because I didn't even wake up until 4pm that day.

But I wouldn't say my time was shitty. I would just say that I remember going to Coachella and discovering new talent. I didn't discover anything. I feel like it's just becoming an excuse for people to do drugs in public where before people used to care a bit more about the music.

[weezy f baby]

Where's the Plastikman and/or Hawtin himself? Where's the Aphex Twin? Where's the Leftfield? I believe things like this are what he's talking about.

Thanks for understanding. That's all i meant. If anyone needs a deeper explanation to what I mean, just look at my signature line. It's not unreasonable to book someone like Jamie xx. He has name recognition. They couldn't even get someone like James Blake... hell, Andy C is touring RIGHT NOW with a giant new live show.

Even High Contrast in the Mojave would have been amazing! So many people would have loved to see him.

[trakball]

Excellent use of the a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid fallacy.

I can't even fuck with this. Again, sorry you had a lame time.

Where's the Plastikman and/or Hawtin himself? Where's the Aphex Twin? Where's the Leftfield? I believe things like this are what he's talking about.

Fair enough. And hey, just so we're clear, I'm certainly not a fan of what was going on in the Sahara tent this year. But I found lots of dope stuff to enjoy in The Do Lab and the Gobi & Mojave tents.

[trakball]

Oh and btw, I would have LOVED to have heard Andy Stott's incredible bass at Coachella. So it's not like we're on opposing ends of the spectrum.

[Mugwog]

I remember going to Coachella and discovering new talent. I didn't discover anything. I feel like it's just becoming an excuse for people to do drugs in public where before people used to care a bit more about the music.

This completely.

I was bummed to leave early this year, and almost bought a ticket for the 2nd weekend, but when I looked at the set times/lineup again. It's not worth it. At all. I'm thankful I didn't do all my L that weekend and now I'm supplied for a little bit. Maybe if I find a ticket for under $225 I'd go for weekend 2, but really, nothing amazing here. Dr. Dre and Snoop, sure. I've seen radiohead before and I'm not a rabid fan.

Usually I let Coachella bless me with some amazing DJs that I get to research the fuck out of when I get home. There really wasn't that much this year that blew me away. Nothing came close to the highs I've reached before at this festival.

This makes disappoint.

[weezy f baby]

And hey, just so we're clear, I'm certainly not a fan of what was going on in the Sahara tent this year. But I found lots of dope stuff to enjoy in The Do Lab and the Gobi & Mojave tents.

Flying Lotus killed it. Modeselektor killed it. Machinedrum killed it. Those are the highlights.

[Explore84]

Coachella is a special event in so many ways and it's unfortunate they can't find a way to accomodate those of us who aren't into the cheesy bro-house.

Coachella has always brought the cheese (just look at past lineup posters), but they have also always booked other high quality EDM acts to balance that. This year's lineup seems to be moving away from that formula and that's why most of this board is upset.

Book Guetta Afrowhack and Ingrosso, just give me the Chemical brothers, Orbital and/or Underworld as well.

[weezy f baby]

Oh and btw, I would have LOVED to have heard Andy Stott's incredible bass at Coachella. So it's not like we're on opposing ends of the spectrum.

you get a +1. I will now light myself on fire.

[trakball]

Sigh. I'm too old to tell if I'm getting snarked or not.

[seitron]

The other issue is that as house has gotten so popular in the mainstream like Trick mentioned, the majority of the bigger DJs have started to converge in terms of sound. If this had been three years ago, Calvin Harris would have done a live set with a band, Kaskade would have spun all that tranquil relaxing stuff he did in 2010, Guetta would still be cheesy but it all would have been Chris Willis instead of Usher, etc. All the sets would have sounded different. Nothing terribly groundbreaking, but it would have felt a little more like a mix. The issue is that they all play the same fucking songs. We had some girls with our group who love Levels/Save the World Tonight/Feel so Close to You type stuff, and even they were bored with the Sahara by the end of Saturday and stopped going.

This definitely is a big part of the problem. I only heard about 5-10 minutes of Kaskade, but I noticed he sounded much more high-energy than he usually does - basically he's turning into every other DJ. Every single act was just playing the same songs the whole weekend and there really wasn't all that much difference between them.

Also, Avicii was pretty empty by the time I went over there (around 10:45), a lot of people probably wanted to see the very beginning but bailed right after.

[cheesehead004]

you people complaining about crappy sahara shit really need to broaden your horizons and realize that there is a ton of amazing talent at coachella this year, but get this (this is the crazy part) it's not exactly EDM... *gasp*

[seitron]

you people complaining about crappy sahara shit really need to broaden your horizons and realize that there is a ton of amazing talent at coachella this year, but get this (this is the crazy part) it's not exactly EDM... *gasp*

Says the dude called cheesehead.

So basically because there is non-EDM music at coachella the EDM is not bad? OK!!!!

[betao]

you people complaining about crappy sahara shit really need to broaden your horizons and realize that there is a ton of amazing talent at coachella this year, but get this (this is the crazy part) it's not exactly EDM... *gasp*

Well how convenient, because we never said there wasn't amazing non-EDM talent. Thanks for the contribution.

[cheesehead004]

Says the dude called cheesehead.

So basically because there is non-EDM music at coachella the EDM is not bad? OK!!!!

im saying instead of bitching about how fucking terrible the edm was, why not go see something that ISNT EDM? i know that sounds absurd for most of the people on this forum, but still