It's time to get rid of the "EDM" cheese.

[Sensuality]

I've been hearing a lot about how the dance music side of Coachella dominated the landscape this year, as crowds at the "EDM" acts were overflowing out of the Sahara (and have been in the last few years) and at Calvin Harris on the main stage. Good for the pocket books at GV, but is it really necessary at this festival anymore?

Coachella is a well established festival, one of the biggest in the US, and tickets will move fast almost regardless of who is on the lineup. Why continue booking these "superstar DJs" that are simply Beatport top-10 jukeboxes in the flesh? It's a shameless cash-grab on the part of GV that is effectively denying tickets to those who would like to go and catch good music, and it's watering down the entire experience to those who are able to attend. There are (or at least seem to be) 3,924 other festivals in the Southern California alone that are solely devoted to this mindless drivel, so it seems quite redundant having said artists on the bill. The corona chugging bro-ragers and their bulimic basic chicks have many, many other opportunities to get their "EDM" fixes without destroying a great festival.

Ask yourselves, how much would the overall quality of music and the temperament of the crowd suffer if these "artists" were not booked in the future?

Adding more bands, rap acts, and quality electronic music will do nothing but improve Coachella. Less cheese = better experiences for all.

[Corona89]

Skrillex/avicii/Swedish house Mafia 2015 headliners.

[algunz]

[theklein25]

No they keep that cheese to keep all those horny rabbits in the Sahara

[nathanfairchild]

At least keep it in the Sahara. Calvin Harris has no business being on the main stage (although it did make getting up front for Beck super easy).

[algunz]

(although it did make getting up front for Beck super easy).

This worked out nicely.

[stinkbutt]

The problem is that these are the people that sell the fest out and make it huge. They can and do get their fix elsewhere. They go to all of these EDM fests and Coachella. If Coachella doesn't book the cheese the most profitable demographic will not come back as strong. Last year there was way less cheese and the Bros were there. It doesn't matter. It is either cater to them and make more money or don't. Pretty simple answer

[stinkbutt]

To those saying that it doesn't matter and that the artsy acts have wide open access now. How long do you really think this will last? Why the fuck would bands like The Matts, Beck, etc wanna go play to an empty field? The Matts and Stone Roses are perfect examples of bands who were pissed to see the turnout they got. Word will get around, and I doubt any of these bands would wanna play.

[swdshfsk]

I couldn't agree more. This may be an assumption, but it seems to me Coachella began as a festival that very intentionally did not align itself with shallow trends, opting instead to book more thoughtful and challenging artists both big and small. There have always been populist streaks in the line-up, but never any commitment to representing a particular scene because "it's what the people want".

On a more personal note, as much as I hate to generalize, the last Coachella I went to was damn-near ruined because of the type of atmosphere EDM fans perpetuate. I have no problems with partying or drugs, but do you have to run your shitty "drop"-leaden music through a system (powered by a generator, no less) all fucking night?! The drugs just made these people all the more uninhibited and obnoxious when everyone in the surrounding campsites were shouting at them to turn their shit off. Their response: "What the fuck is wrong with you people? This is COACHELLA!". Which also happened to be my same thought: this is Coachella, not EDC pt. 2. I don't think I'm wrong in asserting that there is a sort of culture clash occurring that is souring the festival for a lot of people. And, as much as I believe Coachella was always set up to be inclusive, it was done so to the benefit of the underdog artists and their fans. I'd personally love to see Coachella be hip again.

[erselone]

So very true....what happened to all the quality electronic acts.....NO Groove Armada, Ladytron, Basement Jaxx, Royksopp, Adult, Burial, The Avalanches.....These are all artists I'd rather see at Coachella!!!! I think Paul lost touch after seeing the dollar signs!!!

[algunz]

I actually met quite a few cool people this year that were there mainly for the dance music.

[chanelbowling]

I think the EDM cheese this year was considerably less in amount than it was in years past. How quickly you all forget 2012 with Swedish House, Kaskade & Avicii. Or how about when Afrojack & Guetta played two years back to back? No one should get offered that - unless you are Disclosure. GV gets kudos this year for Tiga, Scuba, Nicholas Jaar etc.

[IlliniQ]

The problem is that these are the people that sell the fest out and make it huge. They can and do get their fix elsewhere. They go to all of these EDM fests and Coachella. If Coachella doesn't book the cheese the most profitable demographic will not come back as strong. Last year there was way less cheese and the Bros were there. It doesn't matter. It is either cater to them and make more money or don't. Pretty simple answer

The counter argument to this is that if Coachella totally caves in to the EDM the older rock acts and special reunions will stop coming back. If I'm In Living Color or Charlatan UK or Teenage Fanclub or The Smithereens or Cowboy Junkies or Elvis Costello or Television, and I look at the size of the crowds Bryan Ferry and Superchunk and Neko Case and Afghan Whigs and Jon Spencer had this year and Stone Roses Blur pulled last year...I'm not just saying yes the moment Paul Tollett calls and offers a load of cash.

But you're right, to correct, GV would have to take a intentional multi-year strategy of willfully alienating the mainstream dance audience to reverse the trend, and based on this year's lineup I get no sense of that happening. It's like the Hispanic Voter surge, a demographic sea change that can't be stopped. Hell the rich kid private schools in LA now treat Coachella as an excused absence.

So as earlier poster said, get ready for Swedish House Mafia/AVICII/Skrillex 2015 headlienrs, with a 9pm Saturday Bowie set in the Mojave and a Friday 5:30 Gobi set with the Smiths...that's where we're heading.

[thagorillaz]

Long live the rave tent. Die hippie scum.

[PulpOne]

I'll preface this with the fact that I wasn't there this year, as I sold my ticket a few weeks before. I regretted it as the festival was approaching, but after reading so much about the scene at Coachella this year, I'm starting to think I made the right choice. From what everyone is describing, it really seems like EDM has taken over the festival. An overflowing Sahara that has already undergone expansion, that's bad news. Low to no crowd attendance for the rock acts, Hanging out in the beer gardens because there was really no one interesting to see other than cheese? What the hell is going on. Was this year really that bad?

[efrain44]

Seriously, is it really ruining "your" festival? Last time I checked, Coachella prided itself on displaying a variety of musical culture. As a person who attended Coachella mainly for the EDM portion of the festival, I was in the Yuma and Sahara for most of the event and everyone seemed to be having a great time and was pretty tame.

For the most part those crowds will stay in their respective tents (minus Calvin Harris and Flosstradamus) so you really don't have to worry too much about dealing with the invaders of "your" festival. And it's not like they're gonna stop booking other acts just because they're bringing in new genres of music, you're just being paranoid at this point.

[emoboiler]

I like EDM and I like non-EDM as well. I plan on spending a significant amount of time at all of the stages. For me, it's nice to be able to go to a festival and experience all of the genres I like at one venue, instead of needing to go to some POS insomniac event and listen to pounding bass for hours on end if I want to listen to EDM. Insomniac is a joke compared to Goldenvoice.

Plus, haven't there always been EDM acts at Coachella? That's at least been the norm for better half of a decade.

[Sensuality]

The problem is that these are the people that sell the fest out and make it huge. They can and do get their fix elsewhere. They go to all of these EDM fests and Coachella. If Coachella doesn't book the cheese the most profitable demographic will not come back as strong. Last year there was way less cheese and the Bros were there. It doesn't matter. It is either cater to them and make more money or don't. Pretty simple answer

Very true about those types making it huge, I noticed a massive difference between 2010 and 2011, when the "EDM" barflsplosion began to take hold. It's been filled with shitty bros since then. Coachella was doing well for itself before 2011, and it's WAY more established now. I really don't think attendance will suffer as greatly as you might think.

With eliminating these terrible acts, more slots could be freed up for a wider array of different, and quality artists and bands. People that wouldn't normally try to battle the hordes of rave kiddies and bros with "Molly is my homegirl" T-shirts would have more reason to attend.

I normally just ignore the type of people the "EDM" artists attract to festivals, but when they're flooding the website trying to buy tickets to Coachella so they can see (at most) 10 of their favorite DJs all in the Sahara, it ruins things for everyone else. Coachella is all about variety, it's not tailored to one type of music. If you want all cheese, all the time, go to Insomniac events. They're all over the place.

[emoboiler]

There are (or at least seem to be) 3,924 other festivals in the Southern California alone that are solely devoted to this mindless drivel, so it seems quite redundant having said artists on the bill. The corona chugging bro-ragers and their bulimic basic chicks have many, many other opportunities to get their "EDM" fixes without destroying a great festival.

You're right.
Hopefully they also stop booking punk bands because Warped Tour exists.
No more Motorhead-esque acts due to the numerous metal and rockabilly festivals.
We can probably cut out hip hop acts as well.

[crombrenner]

It works our great for us "real" music fans to have the demographics like this. All of the e-tards stay in the Sahara and we get to move up close for a great spot without any issues. As for whether the rock bands and reunions want to play in front of an "empty crowd?" Trust me they are happy to get the check, and they appreciate however many people show up. From up on stage it tends to look crowded regardless of how it feels when you're in the crowd. GV will continue to cater to all types of music. There's no reason to change a winning formula like they have now.

[SoulDischarge]

I was in the Yuma and Sahara for most of the event

There you have it.

[SoulDischarge]

There's an amusement park in Ohio called Cedar Point. It has a water park connected to it called Soak City. You can buy a pass for just Cedar Point, just Soak City, or a discounted combo of the two. Maybe they should that with Coachella and the Sahara tent.

[Sensuality]

There's an amusement park in Ohio called Cedar Point. It has a water park connected to it called Soak City. You can buy a pass for just Cedar Point, just Soak City, or a discounted combo of the two. Maybe they should that with Coachella and the Sahara tent.

That's a great idea. Separate the campsites too, and problem solved.

[JaredColeman21]

sounds like a typical culture clash

get over it and enjoy the music you came to enjoy

if your whole festival is ruined by strangers you dont know and claim to not even be at the same stage with then thats your problem not Coachellas

[TomAz]

Coachella 2004: DJ Peretz.

those of you saying this is getting worse just don't know your history.

but keep fighting the good fight, OP. Fuck the saharatards.

[Ross1492]

move to 2 weekends dictated the booking strategy imo. I know some on here will say that gv could move 180,000 tickets irrespective of the lineup but I don't believe that. the Sahara acts and radio-friendly pop acts ensure a sellout. Does anyone really think they'd continue to enjoy the financial success they currently do by offering up, say, a primavera type lineup over the course of the 2 weekends?

[Ross1492]

as an aside ... I do think the demand exists such that they could comfortably sell out 1 weekend w primavera's lineup

[disch0rd]

Let's cry about having mainstream artists of ANY genre play at one of the most mainstream festivals of our generation.

[nathanfairchild]

move to 2 weekends dictated the booking strategy imo. I know some on here will say that gv could move 180,000 tickets irrespective of the lineup but I don't believe that. the Sahara acts and radio-friendly pop acts ensure a sellout. Does anyone really think they'd continue to enjoy the financial success they currently do by offering up, say, a primavera type lineup over the course of the 2 weekends?

The lineup last year wasn't this heavy on the cheese and they still sold out both weekends extremely fast.

[SoulDischarge]

Coachella 2004: DJ Peretz.

those of you saying this is getting worse just don't know your history.

but keep fighting the good fight, OP. Fuck the saharatards.

It's gotten worse, there's no way you can look at the electronic lineup of say, 2008, and then the electronic lineup of 2014 and not say that there are FAR more terrible acts there. They've balanced things with the Yuma, but every single thing in the Sahara is full on terrible. Yeah, they had Calvin Harris, Fatboy Slim, and Does It Offend You Yeah? on there, but there weren't 20 mainstream cheesedick DJs who don't really DJ. It's not your wheelhouse, but just because Coachella had some bad dance music in the past doesn't mean it had this level.