Coachella is renowned as one of the world’s greatest music festivals, serving as a reliable indicator as to where popular music is heading. The festival has earned its highly respected reputation from its diversity in genre, ranging from hip hop to rock music to indie and EDM. Whilst 2014 honoured this tradition with artists ranging from OutKast to The Pixies to Lorde on the line-up, the massive influx of candy-coloured ravers congregating at the various EDM stages over the three days certainly indicates an increased emphasis on electronic music.
Bands like Muse and Arcade Fire did fill the rock music quota, but the small crowd turnouts for these sets certainly suggests that both groups were filling a ‘quota’ as headlining rock bands, as opposed to truly earning their spot at the top of the bill. Muse were competing with EDM giant Skrillex during their set on Saturday and certainly lost the battle to EDM, with Skrillex commanding a beyond-capacity crowd of glow-stick weaving ravers at the Sahara tent. Also competing with Skrillex and Muse for the crowds was Nicholas Jarr’s side project Darkside with virtuoso Dave Harrington; a moody techno hybrid of classic guitar rock and Jarr’s ambient synth sounds. Whilst Darkside hardly commanded the boisterous crowds seeping out of the Sahara tent, The Los Angeles Times did note an enthusiastic response to the duo’s low-key set, another indication that at least for now, electronic music is what people are going to festivals for - whether it is the high energy house beats of Disclosure or the minimalist synth sounds of Lorde.
Although Arcade Fire’s set was more successful than Muse’s, frontman Win Butler himself noted the increased emphasis on EDM and gave a shoutout to, “all the bands still playing actual instruments at this festival.” The Queens of the Stone Age were another rock group expected to draw in the crowds and whilst The Sun did report an enthusiastic crowd response to hits like ‘No One Knows’, they also reported a large chunk of the audience leaving soon after. Classic glam rocker Bryan Ferry also suffered a “criminally underattended” set, according to The Times, amongst similarly scanty crowd sizes at Neko Case, Superchunk and AFI, all competing against EDM artists like Rudimental, Empire of the Sun and Bastille.
One factor to have in mind when considering how the success stories and flops of Coachella reflects developments in the music industry is the dominant age group attending the festival, which appears to be the 20 to 24 age group. A poll from 2010 on the most popular age group found 34.5 per cent of attendees were between the ages of 20 and 24, whilst 24.25 per cent were 25 to 29. The festival is all ages and likely drew in an even younger crowd this year, if the popularity of up-and-coming 17-year-old Lorde is anything to go by, and the brief appearance of pop idol Justin Bieber. Conversely, rock musicians like Queens of the Stone Age, Neutral Milk Hotel, Beck, Bryan Ferry and The Replacements are all well past their heyday of popularity and would have likely appealed to the older age groups attending the festival, who were certainly outnumbered by the young EDM buffs.
Many of these artists are also well beyond connecting with the young audience that dominates Coachella, with such a massive shift in pop culture dividing generations. The Replacements’ underattended set of mere few hundred was evidence of just this, with Paul Westerberg snidely declaring, “I just want a girl who’s never used the word awesome.” Like Win Butler’s bitter shoutout to “all the bands actually playing instruments”, Westerberg’s comment suggests not only a generational gap, but also the feeling that these groups haven’t quite caught up with the zeitgeist. Remarks like these two examples do little to amend that perception.
Coachella’s dominant age group has not always been young adults, however, with earlier festivals featuring headliners like Paul McCartney, Roger Waters and Prince, a spot Bryan Ferry may have commanded ten years ago. Instead, Coachella’s staple classic rockers have been demoted to low-billed slots and can barely fill out their tents. The change in headliner hierarchy could be attributed to a new marketing strategy from festival promoters, however, it seems more likely that over time Coachella promoters have gradually shifted the focus from classic rock n roll toward up-and-coming festival goldmine to coincide with decreased popularity with the former and increased interest in the latter category. Coachella 2014 will only further influence this process, with the meagre crowd turnouts for the rock n rollers cementing the validity of this perception.
And so the question of how this shift in demographics came to be must be addressed, which could be simply attributed to a change in ticket policy and an increased interest in the festival as its reputation has slowly built up over the past 15 years. With tickets selling out in twenty minutes, the kinds of people snapping up tickets are probably people attending the festival every year regardless of the line-up. Festivals like Coachella have now become more about the experience of the three days, as opposed to an opportunity to see your favourite band play live: a transition influenced by the festival incorporating more non-music centred activities into the program, as well as providing on-site camping. This idea of the ‘festival experience’ henceforth puts the emphasis on partying and creates an atmosphere that will inevitably appeal to a younger demographic.
In earlier years, tickets for Coachella did not sell out this fast, giving more people an opportunity to consider buying a ticket and thus, a more balanced range of age groups. Individual day passes also used to be available, whereas now the only option is a three-day pass. Younger age groups seeking the full festival experience are thus more likely to buy the three day pass, whilst older age groups only interested in a couple of bands will probably pass on the festival. It would also be difficult for full-time working adults to get the Friday off work, which would mean many people would be forced to purchase a three day pass for a two day experience. On the other-hand, younger age groups with part-time jobs attending university or high school would find it much easier to attend the full three days and be more likely to grab tickets the second they are on sale.
Whilst EDM’s takeover of Coachella this year was surprising, it was certainly not unjustified and no doubt reflects the future direction music festivals like Coachella will progressively emphasise in years to come. Acts like Muse and Arcade Fire will surely continue to reappear on the line-ups for these massive festivals, but will have to accept lower billing as the likes of Skrillex and Calvin Harris inspire an invasion of fluorescent EDM ravers. It seems as if it would make more sense for festival promoters to shift the festival’s original focus on diversity to a more EDM-centred event and to create a separate festival for rock fans. The reason this has not been achieved yet is that it would require a drastic shift in image for the festival that could see it lose its strong reputation. Coachella fans must instead be eased into this transition, a phenomenon we are seeing every year as news headlines describe the jaw-dropping performances of the EDM elite, and the conversely lacklustre turnouts for rock bands. It also begs the question as to how successful a pure rock n roll festival would be, a question Coachella festival organisers would likely prefer to not answer.
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