DT: FEBRUARY 22, 2002
FM: MARCEE RONDAN/KRISTINE ASHTON/
ALEXANDRA GREENBERG/MITCH SCHNEIDER
COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL
RETURNS AS TWO-DAY EXTRAVAGANZA
SATURDAY, APRIL 27 AND SUNDAY, APRIL 28
AT THE EMPIRE POLO FIELDS IN INDIO, CA
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival—hailed in previous years as an unparalleled cutting-edge musical experience in a peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful setting—returns for a third year to the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, CA Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28.
The shows will be headlined by Bjork (Saturday) and Oasis (Sunday). Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Sasha & Digweed, Belle and Sebastian, Mos Def: Black Jack Johnson, Paul Oakenfold, Dilated Peoples, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, KRS-One, Ozomatli, Jurassic 5 and Groove Armada and are among the other notable artists in the fields of rock, electronic, dance and hip hop who will perform at the Palm Springs-area festival (full listing below), which returns as a two-day extravaganza (last year’s event was a single-day affair). Fans traveling from all over the country will be able to experience the music on two musical stages and in two dance tents spread out over 78 acres amid gorgeous desert sunsets, towering palm trees and mountainous views.
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Tickets for the festival go on sale Saturday, March 2 at 10:00 AM. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (213) 480-3232, at all Ticketmaster retail ticket centers or via http://www.ticketmaster.com/. General admission tickets for each day are priced at $75.00. A limited amount of 2-day tickets are available for $125.00. In the Coachella festival tradition, there is free parking and the doors to the venue will open at noon on both days.
Returning Coachella performers include Paul Oakenfold, Ozomatli, Chemical Brothers, Mos Def: Black Jack Johnson and Jurassic 5, underlining the artistic integrity of the event.
"We take great pride in assembling the talent for the Coachella Festival, keeping the line-up cutting edge and diverse,” says Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett. “We've read e-mails from fans about what they enjoyed at the previous festivals and the kind of music and artists they want to see at Coachella. We believe that we have created a true spirit with this festival. This year's line-up includes artists who've performed here before and they've told us that this festival offers them the chance to perform for serious music fans in a good vibes atmosphere. We’ve got a great location with panoramic views, amazing sunsets and nice weather.”
In its previous two incarnations, Coachella has generated noteworthy support from the media. Observed ROLLING STONE’s Pat Blashill of last year’s festival in his review (June 7, 2001): “Thirty-two thousand beat-heads strolled across soft grass fields between two stages and three huge white tents, peeping music that spawned genres and generations…dope beats and rhymes were anywhere you found them and everywhere you looked.”
Writing in the LOS ANGELES TIMES (April 30, 2001) Geoff Boucher noted: “Choosing just one defining moment for a concert as massive and artistically splintered as the Coachella Arts and Music Festival is like counting grains of desert sand…From one side came the caterwauling of Jane’s Addiction, and from the other direction the relentless beat of Roni Size’s drum-and-bass assault. Swirling in with that came the banda-with-a-breakbeat of the Nortec Collective, Mexico’s percolating new dance sound, and off in the distance, the old-school hip-hop songs from the break-dance tent. The Coachella festival is nothing if not eclectic.”
Other media chimed in with their support:
CD NOW’s Allstarnews.com (Troy Augusto, May 1, 2001): “Coachella is all about a vibe. And, vibe it certainly had in abundance…setting the stage for an easygoing day, organizers offered free parking, $2 water (cheaper than convenience store prices)…Concertgoers were able to walk through the field surrounded by a backdrop of mountains and palm trees…”
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (Ben Wener, April 30, 2001): “No doubt that Coachella is still the best festival in SoCal, maybe the West Coast….”
E! Online (Mark Armstrong, April 29, 2001): “While such gatherings have been going on in Europe for years, Saturday's second installment of Coachella proved the idea can work here in the U.S. A peaceful (if not downright friendly) contingent of hipsters, ravers and college-radio listeners all converged on a well-manicured polo field surrounded by palm trees in the middle of nowhere–better known as Indio, California, just east of Palm Springs.”
The line-up is as follows:
Saturday: Bjork, Chemical Brothers, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Sasha & Digweed, Groove Armada (DJ set), Cake, Jack Johnson, Pete Yorn, Jurassic 5, The Beta Band, The Charlatans UK, Queens Of The Stone Age, G Love and
Special Sauce, KRS-One, Cornershop, Folk Implosion, Jimmy Van M., Lee
Burridge, Z-Trip, International Noise Conspiracy, The Vines, Cirrus, Dan the Automator, Pharcyde, Citizen Cope, Liquid Todd, Forrest for the Trees, Kosheen, Princess Superstar and Saul Williams.
Sunday: Oasis, The Prodigy, Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Paul Oakenfold, Tiësto,
Belle & Sebastian, Dilated Peoples, Mos Def: Black Jack Johnson, BT, Ozomatli,
Saves The Day, Galactic, Sandra Collins, Pete Tong, DJ Dan, Cut Chemist, Zero
7, Blonde Redhead, The Mars Volta, DJ Peretz, Elbow, Triple Threat, Sound
Tribe Sector 9, Fairview, Ping Pong Bitches and Rock Steady Crew, Wagner.
The 2002 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is brought to you in part by Heineken, Virgin Megastore and Playstation 2. For information about nearby hotels, camping facilities and restaurants and more, check out http://www.coachella.com/ or http://www.goldenvoice.com/.
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