“As the gates to Coachella opened Friday and thousands of fans began to stream across the grass of the Empire Polo Club here, Paul Tollett, the impresario behind the music festival, was as calm as could be. His phone beeped constantly with last-minute crises — one performer, George Ezra, got laryngitis and canceled — yet Mr. Tollett, wearing sunglasses and a black Dodgers cap, stayed mellow during his one last loop around the venue before the fields filled up with nearly 100,000 revelers. “We were up late last night, of course,” Mr. Tollett said, “but it seems like everything’s in place.”
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has just finished its first weekend, with AC/DC, Drake, Jack White and more than 160 other acts. It will return with an identical three-day lineup on Friday. Now in its 16th year, Coachella has firmly settled into the formula that has made it the nation’s premier pop festival: high-profile performances, celebrities galore and a constant on-the-ground fashion show — all with a backdrop of pastel-hued desert scenery that plays well on social media.”
