NASHVILLE |DATE: FEBRUARY 18, 2003
FROM: MARCEE RONDAN/KRISTINE ASHTON/
MITCH SCHNEIDER/ALEXANDRA GREENBERG
COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL RETURNS FOR FOURTH YEAR WITH HEADLINING PERFORMANCES FROM
BEASTIE BOYS AND RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS;
FESTIVAL FOLLOWS LAST YEAR’S SUCCESSFUL OUTING WHEN
55,000 MUSIC FANS RETURNED TO THE CALIFORNIA DESERT
Having been hailed as "The Best American Festival" by Rolling Stone (6/6/02) and "Probably The Best Festival In The World" by England's NME (5/11/02), The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival returns for its fourth year Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27 at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, CA. An unparalleled cutting-edge musical experience in a peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful setting that last year attracted 55,000 music fans, the Goldenvoice-promoted extravaganza is being headlined by Beastie Boys (Saturday) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Sunday).
Returning Coachella performers include: Queens of the Stone Age, Underworld, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Jack Johnson, Groove Armada (this year with a live performance), Thievery Corporation and Christopher Lawrence. The White Stripes, Primal Scream, N*E*R*D, Café
Tacuba, Kinky, The Donnas, Deep Dish, Black Eyed Peas, Ben Folds and Felix da Housecat are among the other notable artists in the fields of rock, electronic, dance and hip hop. In addition, this year’s festival marks the hotly-anticipated Southern California debut of Fischerspooner–who'll also be screening their documentary #1 and doing a Q&A with fans–while Blue Man Group will perform on both days in what represents the debut of their new full-production concert tour.
Fans traveling from around the country and overseas will be able to experience a truly diverse line-up of music in four musical areas spread out over 78 acres amid gorgeous desert sunsets, towering palm trees and mountainous views.
Tickets for the festival go on sale Saturday, February 22 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 www.ticketmaster.com. General admission tickets for each day are priced at $75.00, with a limited amount of 2-day tickets available for $140.00. In the Coachella festival tradition, there is free parking and the doors to the venue will open at noon on both days. Parking lots open at 10:00 AM.
“It’s been amazing to watch Coachella grow and to receive such positive feedback from the artists, the fans and the media,” says Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett. “We take true pride in this year’s line-up. There are performers from around the world, like Mexico, Sweden and Germany as well as North America and the U.K. We strive to present great music in a hassle-free, comfortable environment with nice weather.” In an interview with the Los Angeles Times (2/16/03), Tollett said, “There’s no one flavor on any stage. People go back and forth, and we try to stagger the set times. Last year we did pretty well in not having things too similar playing against each other.”
The line-up is as follows:
Saturday: Beastie Boys, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Queens of the Stone Age, Blur, Groove Armada (live), Blue Man Group, the Donnas, N*E*R*D, Ladytron, Felix Da Housecat, Masters At Work (Little Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzales), Kinky, Roger Sanchez, Darren Emerson, Talib Kweli, Peanut Butter Wolf/Jaylib (Jaydee & Madlib)/Wildchild, Badly Drawn Boy, the Libertines, the Rapture, Gomez, the Music, Hot Hot Heat, Dillinja & Lemon D, Amon Tobin, Ben Kweller, Idlewild, Joseph Arthur, Particle, Christopher Lawrence, Division of Laura Lee, South, Stereo Total, the Mooney Suzuki, Nightmares On Wax, Hernan Cattaneo, D:Fuse, Spymob.
Sunday: Red Hot Chili Peppers, the White Stripes, Underworld, Jack Johnson, Sonic Youth, Primal Scream, Blue Man Group, Thievery Corporation, Café Tacuba, Fischerspooner, Richie Hawtin, Timo Maas, Dirty Vegas, Deep Dish, the Mars Volta, Johnny Marr and the Healers, G. Love and Special Sauce, Ben Folds, Rooney, Tortoise, the Soundtrack of our Lives, the Polyphonic Spree, Mouse on Mars, El~P/Aesop Rock/Rjd2/Mr. Lif/Murs, Black Eyed Peas, the Von Bondies, Whirlwind Heat, the Kinison, DJ Irene, 22-20s, DB, Eisley.
Here are critical soundbites about last year’s festival:
Robert Hilburn, Los Angeles Times (4/30/02): “Echoing the spirit of European rock festivals, Coachella sidesteps mundane hit-makers in favor of a cutting-edge lineup that reflects many of the strongest currents in today's rock and electronic fields…The favorable buzz even lured some European festival organizers Sunday to see if they could pick up ideas.”
Neil Strauss, New York Times (4/30/02): “It's rare to attend a large outdoor weekend rock festival and find little fault with the organization and booking, but that was the case with the Coachella Valley Art and Music Festival.”
Steve Appleford, Rolling Stone (6/6/02): “…the third Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival gathered an ambitious line-up of cutting-edge rock and electronic acts for a weekend of great music, odd amusements and perfect weather…the concert was notable not only for its range of acts—from the Chemical Brothers and the Strokes to Mos Def and Foo Fighters—but also for the smoothness of the operation…the outdoor sound quality was remarkably consistent…Coachella now has a showcase perhaps unmatched outside of rock festivals in the U.K.”
NME (5/11/02): “Coachella: The world's top bands in the sweltering California sun…It is quite possibly the most beautiful festival site in the world, framed by mountains which glow pink in the dusk…And the line-up? That's pretty much paradise too, with The Strokes, Oasis, Queens of the Stone Age, Prodigy, Foo Fighters, The Vines, Princess Superstar and Belle & Sebastian.”
Corey Moss, MTV.COM (4/29/02): “Part rock concert, part rave, the event takes everything fans and artists love about the Europe's summer music festivals and transports them to a Stateside locale known for spa resorts and country clubs. The result, at least this year, was 30,000…music geeks racing back and forth between four stages.”
Jonathan Cohen/Todd Martens, BILLBOARD.COM (4/30/02): “As the sun set on another edition of Coachella, concertgoers could revel in the fact that they had enjoyed a rarity in this day and age: a well-organized, impressively stocked American music festival that is truly worth experiencing year after year.”
Steven Mirkin, DAILY VARIETY (in a 4/30/02 review of Saturday’s performances): “Blessed with perfect weather, some 30 bands and DJs–appearing on five stages and tents arrayed across a grassy 80-acre field–the first day of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival played to a well-behaved, appreciative crowd of 30,000.”
Darryl Morden, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER (4/30/02): “From electronic to hip-hop to rock in various permutations, the two-day concert event offered up more than 20 hours of music for one big, exhausting sonic delight. And that was the idea.”
Joshua Sindell, KERRANG! (5/18/02): “A grand experiment that seems to get more confident each time out, the Coachella Festival turns three years old this year, with over 50 rock, hip-hop, electronic and avant-garde musical artists…”
The 2002 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is brought to you in part by Virgin Megastore and Playstation 2. For information about nearby hotels, camping facilities and restaurants and more, check out www.coachella.com or www.goldenvoice.com.
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