As we’re still riding the high from BINI's historic performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, let us take a quick look at how the event came to be.
Coachella is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, situated in the heart of the Colorado Desert.
Known as one of the world's largest music festivals, Coachella attracts thousands of attendees each year and features a diverse lineup of musical artists from around the globe. Coachella has multiple stages, namely the Main stage, Outdoor Theater, and the Mojave, Gobi, Sahara, Yuma, and Sonora tents, each featuring artists of a certain genre. The Mojave tent in particular is where BINI performed their jaw-dropping sets last April 10 and 17.
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How did it start?
Coachella's history can be tracked way back to 1993 when the American rock band Pearl Jam decided to perform their “Vs. Tour” at the Empire Polo Club as a protest to Ticketmaster's monopoly on ticket selling. The band refused to play on every venue under Ticketmaster, so Paul Tollett, Coachella's founder, booked the venue for the band through his concert promotion company Goldenvoice. The concert was a success as the band performed in front of 25,000 fans.
In 1997, the idea of a music festival came up where Tollett wanted to book trendy artists who are not necessarily chart successes, thinking that it would be easier to attract more people by gathering multiple artists on a single venue.
Tollett, with his co-founder Rick Van Santen, decided to finally book the Empire Polo Club because they were impressed by the venue’s sustainability. They had hoped to launch the festival in 1998 but were unable to until 1999. After a brief hiatus in 2000 due to financial losses, they re-launched in 2001 where it officially became an annual event.
Now, more than two decades later, Coachella has cemented itself as one of the biggest events for music and arts. Not only is it a stage for the biggest stars, but it also serves as a platform for emerging artists all over the world.