All language subtitles for Coachella.20.Years.In.The.Desert.2020.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.BZ]

Downloaded from
YTS.BZ

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ

[cheering]

MAN: We begin this
half an hour

with one of the hottest
scenes in music,

thousands of people
coming out for the
Coachella Music Festival.

As far as the lineup goes,

it will include artists
like Beyoncé,

The Weekend,
and Post Malone.

Coachella has
the tradition of having
classic performers.

Madonna's been there,
Paul McCartney played
Coachella.

WOMAN: Some of
the biggest names in music,

of course, uh, Radiohead,
the Black Keys.

Many, many, many others.

ALL: [chanting]
Billie, Billie, Billie...

BILLIE EILISH:
I was very nervous about it.

which I've never felt, ever,
from a show.

And I was trying to
think about why I was,

and I was, like,
because it's a big deal,
Billie, that's why.

Everybody knows
what Coachella is.

Even if you don't care
about music, you know.

The Coachella Valley
Music and Arts Festival

wrapped up yesterday.

It's a huge concert,
goes over two weekends.

A right of passage
for any Millennial

is attending Coachella.

This is not a rock concert.
This is not Coachella.

RK for the chaos,
Coachella!

[cheering]

♪♪

We'd like to make
an announcement

that we just booked
another show.

We will be doing Sunday Service
at Coachella.

[cheering]

♪♪

ICE CUBE: The biggest artists
in the world do Coachella,

so, you know,
the pressure's there

to bring it.

WOMAN: You cannot escape it,
and it became Beychella.

Beyoncé took it over
this weekend.

♪♪

More people talkin' about
your performance.

You know, you open up
the paper the next day,

see 'em talkin' about
what you did,

not what three acts
before you did.

This morning, the most
talked about concert on
the planet

was a weekend performance
from someone who's been dead
for 15 years.

Make some noise for Tupac!

[cheering]

You're gonna be judged, man,

when you hit Coachella's stage.

And it's gonna be talked about
for the rest of the year.

So you better get
your shit right.

♪♪

MAN: Make some noise
for Post Malone!

[cheering]

KASKADE:
Coming from my world,

they've always been
extremely welcoming.

I think the programming's
always been

extremely progressive.

They put everything on
from Rock or Hip Hop

to electronic music.

Coachella has been able to
facilitate a space for

all of these styles of music
to exist.

You know where you are?

You in the jungle,
Coachella!

♪♪

MOBY: I played '99.

1999, which I think was
the first Coachella.

I remember Paul Tollett,
who was one of the guys
who started Coachella,

told me he had this idea
of starting a festival

in the middle of the desert.

And it seemed like
a remarkable idea,

but I didn't expect it
to actually work.

♪♪

Coachella, y'all ready?

[cheering]

HUELL HOWSER:
Tell everybody
where we are.

ROBERT DEL MAS: We are at
the Empire Polo Club

in Indio, California.

HUELL HOWSER:
Okay, now, this polo club

is where it all happens,
right here.

That's where the main stage
would be, right there.

This whole area
was just teeming

-with people.
-Yes.

HUELL HOWSER:
It's hard to believe it.

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
Some people see Coachella now
and they think,

oh, that's a no-brainer.

Coachella's beautiful, right?

It's a beautiful venue.
It's easy.

It was difficult.

I took the concert promoter,
Goldenvoice,

several years
to make it happen.

And if it wasn't for
Goldenvoice's roots,

I don't think that Coachella
would be what it is today.

♪♪

[static]

MAN:
Ladies and gentlemen...

"I Fought the Law and I Won."

♪♪

♪ Drinkin' beer
in the hot sun ♪

♪ I fought the law
and I won ♪

♪ I fought the law
and I won ♪

STEVE APPLEFORD:
Everything that Coachella is

is rooted in the early days
of Goldenvoice.

and the punk rock shows
that Gary Tovar did.

WOMAN: Hey, Gary!

This is Gary Tovar,
a great promoter of
the punk scene.

Do you have something to say?

Oh, well, I hope this venue
survives tonight.

GARY TOVAR:
When I started doing concerts,

the punk rock that I did,

it was too wild
for a lot of people.

They-- They couldn't handle it.

[static]

MALE REPORTER:
Punk's roots began in
England in the 1970's,

appealing to a group of
lower income teens

who were out of work
and out of hope.

Now, a new wave of punk
is coming to the affluent
middle class,

and that trend is
beginning here in Hollywood.

♪♪

It was the time
when it was dangerous

to book events like that.

They would break up the place,
there'd be fights.

GARY TOVAR:
I didn't like violence,

but there was a lot of
violence in the '80s,

and a lot of slam dancing,

and a lot of stage diving.

You had to have
a certain commitment to
the music and the scene

to be involved,

and Gary Tovar, you know,
he had resources and interest,

and a passion for it,
and became a folk hero
of the punk scene.

GARY TOVAR: I think
the music speaks for itself,

and, um,
I don't take anything
to the point of where

I'm going to be judgmental.

And I don't think
anybody else should, either.

♪♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
My brother Perry and I

were promoting SKA shows
in Pomona

at small halls, pizza places,
things like that,

and we'd heard that
Goldenvoice was gonna

start doing shows in Pomona.

So we drove down to Long Beach
to tell them, you know,

stay out of here, you know,
give 'em a piece of our mind.

So they came over thinking,
oh, this guy's a big promoter,

he's coming to take over Pomona,
or somewhat, right?

PAUL TOLLETT:
But we met Gary, and
he was just the coolest.

We hit if off instantly.

We talked all night,
and he gave me

a box of fliers that night
to pass out.

and that was the first day
I worked at Goldenvoice.

♪♪

You know, the punk scene
really changed by '87 or '88.

It kind of had waned off.

Then there was acts like
Jane's Addiction, Fishbone,

Chili Peppers,

really helped Goldenvoice
still remain relevant.

♪♪

[cheering]

PERRY FARRELL:
Back in those days,

Los Angeles was the epicenter
for young, up and coming music.

People would go out to see
groups that weren't even signed.

♪ Jane says ♪

♪ I'm done with Sergio ♪

♪ He treats me
like a rag doll ♪

♪ She hides... ♪

PAUL FARRELL:
Jane's Addiction,

when we were coming up,

we started in the underbelly
of Los Angeles.

And I would go to Goldenvoice
and I'd say,

"Look, fellas, I want to work
with you guys as promoters."

They were, first and foremost,
fans themselves.

DANI LINDSTROM:
Our offices were upstairs
at the Hollywood Palladium.

It was literally
just five people...

booking shows,
a-- all my favorite bands,

getting to watch
the sound check

for any bands playing
at the Palladium.

It was, like,
the dream job.

MIKE ROCCHIO:
Goldenvoice was in
a prime position to

seize that
alternative rock scene

where the big promoter in town
was clueless of it.

You know,
they were still booking
Janet Jacksons or something.

And that really helped fuel
the growth of Goldenvoice

from a small punk promoter
into a real player.

[cheering]

[indistinct chatter]

PAUL TOLLETT:
In the early '90s,
we were doing all these bands,

you know, Nirvana
and Chili Peppers,

and it looked like
we were doing great,

but we were really
struggling financially.

These shows weren't
making money,

but, uh, Gary had
a business on the side

selling weed.

GARY TOVAR:
I involved myself with
a group of people,

we were all marijuana smokers
and surfers at the beach.

We didn't want to just go get
marijuana from the border,

which was terrible.

We wanted to bring
the highest quality,

and it came from
the other side of the world,

so that's what I did.

It was the "Just Say No"
period.

Last year alone,

over 10,000 drug criminals
were convicted,

and nearly $250 million
of their assets were seized

by the DEA.

GARY TOVAR:
The federal government

investigated me for
four years.

And then things
started happening

and I knew I was gonna get
an indictment.

PAUL TOLLETT:
In March of '91,
he got arrested,

and from then on,
he was out of the business.

We bought the company
from Gary,

and didn't use the Goldenvoice
name for a while.

Thought maybe
the cops would call us,

but they never did.

GARY TOVAR:
After I went away,

all I hoped was
they could keep it going.

And they did.

Next week, Congress
is going to hold hearings
on ticket pricing.

The hearings
come at a time when
the nation's top rock band

is accusing the biggest
ticket distributor in
the business

of unfair practices
and price gouging.

MALE REPORTER: Ticketmaster
refused to reduce its fees

low enough to suit Peal Jam.

The band cancelled its tour.

Our main concern is
are we entitled to use
a different company

other than Ticketmaster,
and right now,

so far we haven't been
able to, you know,

find an alternative
that's viable.

MIKE ROCCHIO:
Ticketmaster had a lock

on all the largest venues
in southern California

to be able to perform at.

And I think Pearl Jam
approached Paul

and said something like,

you guys can land the gig
if you can put us in a place

that isn't
a Ticketmaster venue.

PAUL TOLLETT:
So Pearl Jam was gonna
skip Los Angeles,

and we talked them into
maybe Palm Springs.

And so we drove up to
Palm Springs,

couldn't find anyplace,

but someone told us
there's a polo field
out in Indio.

It was even further.

MIKE ROCCHIO:
We were just, like,
first off, where--

Indio, California, and
what are you talkin' about?

And we've gotta drive east
and not west to a show?

PAUL TOLLETT:
We drove out to Indio.
It really felt far.

You know,
farther than it does now.

So how was the drive?

[cheering]

PAUL TOLLETT:
We put it on sale,

and sold, I think,
25,000 tickets.

It was super low budget,

just a stage in
the middle of the field,

but it was still special.

♪♪

MIKE ROCCHIO: Of course,
the lure of that whole show

was that there was
this phenomenon of shoes
coming on stage.

I mean, 100 pairs of shoes
at least,

and one of them hit
Eddie Vedder in the head.

So the band went behind
the thing and played
behind their equipment,

and came back out.

Me and Jeff are gonna go to
the front gate...

and when you guys exit,

we're gonna
beat the shit out of every
barefoot person here.

[cheering, applause]

PAUL TOLLETT:
In the 90s, the bands
we were close to,

Pearl Jam, Nirvana
and Chili Peppers,

the started to explode.

But they grew too fast.

We couldn't afford, really,
to do the--

the arenas where
they could sell out.

So I started paying attention
to the rave scene

as it was starting
to bubble up.

WOMAN:
Rave is a British import

that caught on here within
the last two years.

A typical rave party
usually takes place in
an abandoned warehouse.

♪♪

MAN: This very
rapidly changing subculture

even has its own voice
in the form of a monthly
magazine publication

known as URB.

Raymond Roker,
editor of URB magazine,

explains his views
on the strengths

and progressions
of rave culture.

Well, I mean,
I-- I started just
going to clubs

like, you know,
everybody else did,

uh, the clubs that
just started to break off

the mainstream,
you know, path.

♪♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
Early '90s was a really
interesting time.

You had underground music,

you had, uh,
underground club culture,

and also this electronic sound.

PAUL TOLLETT:
I'd been hanging out a lot
with Raymond Roker,

and I just loved
his magazine so much.

Every issue was just
jammed pack full of things
I'd never heard of.

It was just mind blowing.

♪♪

Like punk rock,
the rave scene had
its own world.

And it was just
so different than everything
that we were doing.

♪♪

RAYMOND ROKER: You know,
I don't know how many events
he got involved with,

but he invested in some.

He invested in Organic,
which was like, you know,

this incredible outdoor
electronic music concert.

♪♪

Here we are in the lovely
Snow Valley ski resort,

and we're not going to ski.

We're here for
the biggest rave event

that's ever taken place in
the northern hemisphere.

This is truly the first,

you know, all night
festival or rave

that is similar to
what happens in the U.K.,

and they haven't really
had that here in Los Angeles.

PAUL TOLLETT:
Organic was different than
any of the other raves.

This was almost like bands--

Chemical Brothers,
Orb, Orbital.

I remember hearing
Rez from Underworld

about 6:00 a.m.
in the morning.

It was just a feeling
I never had.

♪♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
All these things are
seeds for the future.

It's like everything
along the way

you pick up these
little tips, you know,

from the early
Goldenvoice days,

and then you see
electronic raves going on,

then you're at Organic
and you thought,

I want to do something
that has a combination of

the rock bands that
we're close to,

and also all these new artists
that are popping up.

so set out to, uh,
put on an event

that married all of this
together.

MIKE ROCCHIO:
The Paul at some point
in the summertime

went to all the U.K. festivals
and European festivals,

then came back and I remember
sitting in his office one time

and he was, like, hey,
I'm thinking about starting
a music festival

out at that venue
we did Pearl Jam at,

and I'm thinking about
calling it Coachella,

and I remember thinking,

Coachella?
That's an awful name.

♪♪

DAVE RAT:
I remember Paul
coming up to me,

and he said,
"I got this idea.

"We want to do a big festival
in the desert,

and we want to have
all these bands play."

We talked about
all kinds of stuff,
even the name.

He said, "Well,
I'm gonna call it Coachella,"

and I remember
arguing against the name.

I said, "Ah,
don't call it Coachella.
That's a terrible idea."

Yeah, mo-- most people said,
you know,

just don't call it Coachella.

Especially Coachella Valley
Music and Arts Festival.

It's a little clunky.

MOBY:
As far as I knew,

the idea of, like,
a European style festival
in the United States

was sort of unprecedented.

So when Paul first started
Coachella,

I thought it was-- it was
really a little baffling.

DAVE RAT:
In the U.S.,

the concept or the thinking
is that it just doesn't work.

The American public
is not compatible

with gathering in
a large group without

beating the shit out of
each other.

FEMALE REPORTER:
Woodstock '99,

a weekend of rock and roll
in upstate New York

ended with fire and vandalism
late last night.

KURT LODER: This is
a very dangerous situation.

Everyone is trying to
get out of here.

I think we're going to go.

[police radio chatter]

FEMALE REPORTER:
As the three-day concert
ended Sunday night,

bonfires blazed out of control,

and looters battled police.

We announced Coachella
the Monday after Woodstock

cause it was all pre-prepped,

and it was just
a total disaster.

People laughed, like,
why would you do this right now?

Woodstock is on the news
on CNN,

how terrible everything was,
all the riots.

Trying to sell tickets
when everyone is saying
how bad festivals are,

it was pretty much impossible.

♪♪

The city wanted to cancel it,
and they just thought,

"How can you bring
a version of Woodstock '99

to our desert?"

And we weren't even thinking
it was related.

We had never thought about
Woodstock at the time,

we were just caught up in our
southern California scene.

And in our mind,
we wanted to be in
the tradition of

the California festivals.

♪ All the leaves are brown ♪

♪ All the leaves
are brown ♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
We wanted to have
the feeling of Monterey Pop,

Cal Jam, Us Festival,

the whole California
laid back vibe.

The reputation for festivals
at that point was not--

was not very good.

It was a dirty experience,
it was a muddy experience,

you had to wear Wellies
up to your knees.

I think Paul was
trying to create

a southern California version.

♪ If I was in L.A. ♪

♪ California dreamin' ♪

MOBY:
Some European festivals
have this amazing energy,

but a lot of times
they're really cold,

they're really muddy,

and pouring down with rain.

Whereas, you go to Coachella,
and like, it's a polo field.

RAYMOND ROKER:
So Goldenvoice

invited some friends
to come see the space.

and the instant I saw it,
I just said,

"This cracks the code.

"This is something special.

This is going to be
something special."

♪♪

♪♪

♪ Sleep on and ♪

♪ Dream of love ♪

♪ Because it's
the closest you will get ♪

♪ To love ♪

♪ Poor ♪

♪ Twisted child ♪

♪ Oh, hug me ♪

♪ Please hug me ♪

♪ One November ♪

Z-TRIP: Coachella was
just starting that year,

and the thing that
I loved about it

is it was culturally and
sonically and musically a hub

where all of these people
came together.

♪♪

There really weren't festivals
at the time

that were bringing in rock,

electronic,

hip hop,

and mixing them all together.

You know, there's this
cross polinization that happens,

you can't help but walk by
a tent and hear something

and it draws you in and
you just get exposed to
new music.

♪♪

♪ So sleep and ♪

♪ Dream of love ♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
I think the first Coachella

had roughly
35, 40,000 people that
came over the two days.

The event looked terrific.

Everybody was excited by it.

MIKE ROCCHIO: We liked
the vastness of the field
and the different stages,

and the fact that you could
walk around the field barefoot
at the time

was something that you just
didn't experience very often
at a concert.

The heat was
a little unbearable that year,

but the vibe of everyone
who was there, I think,

everyone was pretty happy
with the whole situation.

We all saw the potential.

Thank you.

[cheering]

RAYMOND ROKER:
From the outside,

it looked like
an amazing success.

But the math didn't work.
It lost a lot of money.

And Goldenvoice was
an independent company
at the time,

so there wasn't anybody to,
like, bail it out.

Well, it was dicey because
we had no money to begin with,

and then we lost $850,000
or a million, we don't know.
You know?

We didn't have accounting,
but it was-- it was nasty.

So bad that I got
kicked out of the bank.

Personally.

Like, not even just
the company,

I was on the something
called Check Guard.

I wasn't allowed to
cash a check anymore.

RAYMOND ROKER:
But, like, Goldenvoice
could have died a few times.

But definitely could have died
when Gary went to prison.

GARY TOVAR:
I could have filed for
bankruptcy when I left.

I didn't do that.
We paid our bills instead.

You know, my lawyer was--
was thinking what--

what's wrong with you.

You know, you--
keep your money

and let--
let everybody hanging,

but no, I didn't
want to do that,

and I think it was
a wise choice

'cause when they needed help,

after the first Coachella,

the people stepped forward
and said that

we were always good to them.

PAUL TOLLETT:
The only reason we even
were able to keep going

is we had a good reputation.

Rage Against the Machine
and Beck, you know,

they gave us money off.

Don Muller and Marc Geiger,
the producers of Lollapalooza,

really helped us financially.

Everyone one of 'em,
it was, like,

"Oh, pay us later,
you're good for it."

And it's weird,
at the time I thought, like,

uh, it's-- you know,
we're not really a good loan.

I'm not so sure
you should do this.

At the same time,
AEG built Staples Center,

and they were looking to
get in the concert business.

We cut a deal with them.

They came to us and said,

"Why don't you find shows
for us at the Staples Center,

and become a concert promoter
for us?"

We're, like, sure,
no problem.

They said,
"And you should do
Coachella again."

We're, like, "Really?

It lost a lot of money.
Are you sure?"

♪♪

Yes, we lost the first time.

Now we're coming back,
we've got a partner,

and we start
looking for bands,

kind of the last minute
because we cut our deal
pretty late.

♪♪

Struggling for headliners,
there's no one out there.

I mean, having no headliner
means you have no show.

We're like, what about
Jane's Addiction?

♪♪

PERRY FARRELL:
After Lollapalooza,

I was done.

I just ripped
all my clothes off,

signifying I was gonna be like
a newborn baby when I got home.

RAYMOND ROKER:
Rick Van Santen,
who was Paul's partner,

came to Paul and said,
"I think I can reach out
to everybody,

and we might be able to
get them back together to
perform.

So Rick was, I guess,

put in charge to kind of
try to get me to do it,

and, uh, I would do
almost anything
Rick wanted me to.

♪♪

♪ You know,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

MIKE ROCCHIO:
And so they were able to do
another show,

but I don't think 2001,
the next year, the second year
of Coachella,

necessarily made
a ton of money.

PAUL TOLLETT:
We did that show,
that was great,

but it was just one day,
we couldn't find anyone else.

So it was just a one-day show.

And it was fun but
we made dumb mistakes.

We forgot trashcans.

Just really rookie stuff,
you know?

♪♪

2002...

I feel that the year
we didn't make a mistake.

Didn't really make any money
financially,

but didn't lose that much.

All the artists were on time,

no one's equipment melted down,

it was just really--
really a good thing.

♪ A blueprint ♪

♪ Of the pleasure ♪

STACY VEE:
I started in 2002.

I remember watching Bjork
just so beautifully pregnant.

Up there in the wind
and she just, like,

looked so glamorous
and exquisite.

♪ A secret code carved ♪

♪ In me ♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
That's when music
changed a little bit.

There was a little bit more of
an indie rock scene.

You know, the New York scene
started coming through.

♪♪

♪ Get so scared of ♪

♪ Get so scared of ♪

♪ Shake, shake, shake,
shake, shake, shake,
shake, shake ♪

♪ Shake, shake, shake, shake,
shake, shake, shake, shake ♪

STACY VEE:
Coachella was just, like,
really heating up.

All these, like,
indie New York darling bands
came around,

and it was so exciting
for everybody.

♪ Out of the righteous
and onto the... ♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
Like, you love that world.

An the U.K. bands,
and the NME bands,

LCD and-- and, uh,
Strokes and White Stripes

and these things for
the next few years

was just ruling everything.
It was awesome.

♪ Thirty notes
in the mailbox ♪

♪ Will tell you that
I'm comin' home ♪

♪ And I think I'm gonna
stick around ♪

♪ For a while
so you're not alone ♪

♪ For a while so
you're not alone ♪

♪♪

STACY VEE:
Goldenvoice was still

a really small company,

so it was just like
hands-on everything,

everybody does everything.

♪♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
2004, that was the first year

we turned a profit.

It was Radiohead,
Pixies, Kraftwerk.

It was just this combo that
was just too good.

And everyone
wanted to buy a ticket.

♪♪

DANI LINDSTROM:
We didn't do one in 2000
to kind of recover,

and then '01, '02, '03,
it's just getting bigger,
bigger, bigger,

and then '04 just seemed like

we can't get any bigger
than this, this is crazy.

♪♪

PHILIP BLAINE:
It was not until 2004
with Radiohead,

finally, it was like
fully attended
and fully realized

as this is what it looks like
with a lot of people here.

♪♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
So now we felt like

there's gonna be a future
for the show.

It was always on the chopping
block up until then.

It was always,
every time we did one,

we thought it was gonna be
the last.

[indistinct chatter]

All rightey.

-Can we go on now?
-Yeah.

MAN: Are we goin' on now?

[cheering]

PAUL TOLLETT:
Jane's Addiction
was the beginning,

Pixies was like,

okay, this is a thing
that people like.

Getting a band that hasn't
played in a long time

back together.

♪♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
The Pixies, I think,
were as surprised as anybody

that there was
this level of interest.

So to be brought out of that,
to be put on the stage,

and then have people
receive it so warmly,

and to do such a good show.

♪ You're into your
Japanese fast food ♪

♪ And I drop you off with
your Japanese lover ♪

♪ You're going to
the beach all day ♪

♪ You're so pretty when
you're unfaithful to me ♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
It was now the new
kind of benchmark.

♪ You're lookin' like
you've got some sun ♪

It was such a big moment for
the band and for us

just to be part of them
getting back together,

and pulling off
this big moment.

♪ Uh-oh, uh-oh,
uh-oh, uh-oh ♪

♪ Your bones got
a little machine ♪

PERRY FARRELL:
Paul seeks 'em out.

I mean, like,
he runs around in his head,

"Who can I
bring back together?"

And I don't know if it
started by accidentally

asking us if we would do it
because he was our friend,

but whatever for
whatever reason, man,

he's got a good thing going.

♪♪

DANIEL ASH: Bauhaus is
so long ago to me now.

I remember
the first time around,

we were just beginning to get
really big,

and, uh, we quit.

Boom. And it stayed--
we don't--

we just-- we quit,
and it's--

You know, it's a very
English thing to do.

DAVID J:
I remember very clearly

the phone call from
Paul Tollett

to do Coachella.

I played it cool and simple.
That's very interesting, Paul.

I'll have a word with
the others and, uh,
I'll get back to you.

Put the phone down,
I was like-- Yes!

The opening features Peter
hanging upside-down,

which was Peter's
brilliant idea.

I knew that I had to
physically practice

because there's a time limit
of something like 15 minutes,
I think,

before you pass out,
and it's a long song.

DAVID J:
The original idea was
to release bats,

hundreds of bats,
into the audience at dusk,

but they looked into and
you cannot have a bird release

after 5 p.m. for some reason,

and bats, apparently,
are considered to be birds

under these circumstances,

um, and, uh, it was also the--
the twin peril of, uh--

of rabies and bat shit.

♪ White on white
translucent black capes ♪

♪ Back on the rack ♪

♪ Bela Lugosi's dead ♪

♪ The bats have left
the bell tower ♪

♪ The victims
have been bled ♪

♪ Red velvet lines
the black box ♪

♪ Bela Lugosi's dead ♪

♪♪

NIC ADLER:
I had a lot of friends
working on the show.

Goldenvoice, at that time,
they were building Coachella,

would come to the Roxy
and drop off--

Here's a pack of 20 tickets.

Please come out to this place
called Indio.

We were like,
"Yeah, we might go to that."

And then I remember, like,
year six or seven, we're like,

"That's weird.
Goldenvoice didn't come by
and drop any tickets off."

And there was that switch
in the festival where

you literally saw it turn into
something that you had to do,

you had to be at.

[cheering]

PAUL TOLLETT:
Madonna, I was friends
with her manager...

♪ Time goes by ♪

♪ So slowly ♪

I was like, what about
Madonna for Coachella?

I'm like, wow,
that's crazy,

I mean, my headliners
are booked.

Well, what about
the dance tent?

I'm like,
that's incredible.

It's so different
for Coachella,

so when we put
the poster out,

I made sure it said
"in the tent"

to really set the pace for
what that show was gonna be.

[cheering]

♪♪

♪ Every little thing
that you say or do ♪

♪ I'm hung up ♪

♪ I'm hung up on you ♪

♪ Waiting for your call,
baby, night and day ♪

♪ I'm fed up ♪

♪ I'm tired of
waitin' on you ♪

♪ Time goes by so slowly ♪

STACY VEE:
It was packed.

There are so many people
who love Madonna,

but might not buy a ticket
to go to a Madonna concert,

but since she's like
right over there,

everybody went.

♪ Time goes by ♪

♪ So slowly ♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
It was a sign that
the show was growing up,

that there was, like--
there were stars here.

♪ Time goes by ♪

I would argue that
she was the first star
to play the show.

♪ Every little thing,
every little thing ♪

♪ I'm fed up ♪

[cheering]

BECK: If I'm in town,
I usually go as a fan.

because it's, you know,
the state of music.

It's the, pretty much,

everything that's happening
in music at the-- at the moment.

AMY WINEHOUSE:
I'm really excited to be here.

Oh. I'm so excited
to be here, like, um--

like, I'm not a very
organized person,

but this is one thing that
everybody has said to me,

wait until you
get to Coachella.

[cheering]

I-- I'm so excited to be here.

♪ Well, sometimes
I go out by myself ♪

♪ And I look across
the water ♪

♪ And I think of
all the things ♪

♪ Of what you're doing ♪

♪ In my head
I paint a picture ♪

STACY VEE:
I just remember
that being, like.

a super energetic time where
the appetite for people,

they just wanted
in everything,

new music, new music,
new music.

then, like, the most popular
things on the poster

were the things
they didn't know.

♪ Won't you come on over ♪

♪ Stop making
a fool out of me ♪

♪ Oh, why don't you
come on over, Valerie ♪

♪ Valerie ♪

STACY VEE:
Everybody was just
so into music discovery.

SHEPARD FAIREY: Coachella,
when you look at it,

there's no-- there's no one
cohesive genre,

it's just more cohesive in
the idea that good is good.

You know? That you don't
define it by category.

♪ All the good people
wanna rescue ♪

♪ All the smart people
wanna talk to you ♪

♪ All the clever people
wanna tell you ♪

♪ All the little people
wanna dance, it's true ♪

♪ Cloud, block out the sun ♪

ROSANNA ARQUETTE:
For the first years
of Coachella,

I would always go as a fan
and see the great bands,

and I asked Paul
if I could, you know,

interview people,

and I-- I think I could get
really good interviews,

and they said,
yeah, let's do that,

and we-- we did.

Hey, everybody,
it's Rosanna Arquette.

I'm here backstage
with Calvin Harris.

Here with Norman Cook
live from Coachella.

And we are with Justice.
Roger Waters.

Sir Paul McCartney.
The Specials.

It was my most favorite job
I ever had in my life.

The guys from Portishead,
Geoff and Adrian.

Nobody said no.

And it would be like a joke,

like, well, you're never
gonna get Lauryn Hill.

It's just not gonna happen.

Thank you so much.

Who inspires you?

I'm inspired by beauty.

I'm inspired by love,

I'm inspired by things
that I see come together.

♪ Us ♪

♪ V. them ♪

♪ Over and over again ♪♪

[cheering]

RZA:
The one thing you guys did

that was more special than
anything to me,

you guys brought
Rage Against the Machine back.

And when that happened,
y'all,

that's when it-- you know,
I always said to myself

Wu-Tang will play Coachella
one day.

Good evening, we are
Rage Against the Machine

from Los Angeles, California.

[cheering]

RZA: Now it's exactly
a year ago when I saw him,

he didn't seem very keen on
the industry

or what it stood for.

So for a guy like that
to come out,

okay, it's something serious,
I-- it's-- it's a more--

he didn't come out for
no money.

You can't get him
out his house for money.

-Right. Right, right, right.
-You know what I mean?

♪ Uh! ♪

♪ The movie ran through me ♪

♪ The glamour subdue me ♪

CHUCK D:
Rage Against the Machine
is self explanatory, man.

The songs--
especially when they

speak to some truth
and freedom, man--

you really can't
fuck with that.

PERRY FARRELL:
They're one of the great groups

to ever come out of
Los Angeles,

so everybody
waits until the day

that they're ready
to play again.

♪ And it's right outside
the door ♪

♪ Now testify! ♪

♪ Now testify! ♪

♪ It's right outside
the door ♪

♪ Testify! ♪

PERRY FARRELL:
And the next time they
do, we're gonna be

back on our hands and knees
beggin' 'em,

because they
turn the crowd on that much.

♪ Mass graves for the pump
when the price is set ♪

♪ When the price is set ♪

♪ Mass graves for the pump
when the price is set ♪

♪ When the price is set ♪

PERRY FARRELL:
There's not that many groups
in the world, man,

that can do that,

and less and less and less.

♪♪

♪ Who controls the past now ♪

♪ Controls the future ♪

♪ Who controls
the present now ♪

♪ Controls the past ♪

♪ Who controls the past now ♪

♪ Controls the future ♪

♪ Who controls
the present now ♪

♪ Now testify! ♪

♪♪

♪ Now testify! ♪

♪ It's right outside
the door ♪

♪ Testify! ♪

♪♪

♪ Now testify! ♪

♪ The war is right outside
your door ♪♪

[cheering]

♪♪

♪ All along
the western front ♪

♪ People line up
to receive ♪

A-TRAK:
During the mid 2000s,

Coachella really
established itself as,

like, the ultimate
indie festival.

♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Shock me like
an electric eel ♪

♪ Baby girl ♪

♪ Turn me on with
your electric feel ♪

A-TRAK:
In popular understanding,

Coachella became kind of
this sacred indie temple.

♪ Baby girl ♪

♪ Turn me on with
your electric feel ♪

A-TRAK:
And then through the years,

the DJ presence at Coachella

became more and more
of a thing.

And then the Sahara tent
became almost like a party
unto itself.

I think it's important
to remind people that

in 1999,
festivals didn't have

the huge LED panels
that we know now,

and the-- the huge
stage production.

♪♪

MOBY:
You know, I felt like
for most of the '90s,

electronic music existed in
a place where,

if you weren't
an electronic music fan,

you generally didn't pay
that much attention to it.

One of the things that
I thought was kind of amazing

but odd about
the first Coachella

was that it was very
electronic music oriented

at a time, you know,
when electronic music

really was very,
very underground.

♪♪

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN:
If I were governor of my state
or mayor of my town,

I would be passing
new ordinances

relating to stiff
criminal penalties

for anyone who held a rave;

The promoter, the guy
who owned the building.

I would put the son of a gun
in jail.

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
So 2001, 2002 was a really
tough time for dance music.

The DEA created
the Crack House Law

and went after not only venues
but event producers.

MAN: All right, you're gonna
have to clear this area.

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
The venues didn't want to rent
their facilities to you

and some of the producers
weren't even willing to
produce anymore.

[indistinct chatter]

The culture was almost
destroyed completely.

And you could have
not had dance music at
a festival at one point.

PAUL TOLLETT:
So the whole rave scene,
at that point, was on trial.

And law enforcement wanted us
to drop that type of music.

♪♪

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
In the early 2000s,
the scene was struggling,

but Coachella,
they kept... doing it.

And it was so great
for dance music.

♪♪

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
I am so happy Coachella
didn't jump on the bandwagon,

because when the events
are healthy,

that pushes the music forward.

♪♪

PAUL TOLLETT:
We had Sahara tent,
and we Dew Lab.

When Dew Lab started out,
it was just an art piece.

We barely were even
paying attention to 'em.

They were DJ-ing in there.

They've been an institution
for us ever since.

So we felt like
we were doing good
with electronic music.

ALL [chanting]:
Daft Punk, Daft Punk,
Daft Punk, Daft Punk...

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
Then Coachella 2006,

Daft Punk plays.

And people's minds get blown.

It, like,
changed people's lives,
including mine.

Forever.

[cheering]

JASON BENTLEY:
We didn't know what to expect.

And the first thing
that you hear is

the "Close Encounters"
melody.

♪ Do, do, do, do, doo ♪

And it was, like--
Ohhh.

[cheering]

And then you hear it again.

♪ Do, do, do, do, doo ♪

It's, like--
Ohhhh.

And then the curtain
slowly parts to reveal

this fucking pyramid
with these robots on top.

And you're like,
they are aliens.

They are not from planet Earth.

♪ Television ♪

♪ Rules the nation ♪

♪ Television ♪

♪ Rules the nation ♪

♪ Around the world ♪

♪♪

[cheering]

♪♪

JASON BENTLEY:
It was just such a
mind-blowing performance.

It was kind of the birth of
EDM right there.

♪♪

From that point on,

dance music needed to have
a giant spectacle on stage.

And so you could love it
or you could hate it.

I mean-- [chuckles]

But the fact is that

nothing was the same
after that performance.

♪ Rules the nation ♪

♪♪

STEVE AOKI:
And from that--
that moment, it was like--

I mean, it's all what DJs
would be playing all across
the country.

Wherever I was playing,
it was like,

Daft Punk, Daft Punk,
Daft Punk.

Then we would
always be doing, like,

the pyramid that they did
at Coachella.

♪♪

[cheering]

CARL COX:
As headliners here today,
it was just absolutely amazing.

And how they got embraced
by what they are

as-- as a group,
as an art-- as artists.

By the end of the day,
they brought, brought
the funk kind of sound

and the house music
to the table,

and-- and the new
electronic sound.

They're the ones
that were there first
before anyone else,

so for me to hear them today
was amazing.

♪♪

[cheering]

I think it's good.
We're gonna have
some good shows now.

♪♪

12TH PLANET:
Technologically speaking,

it's always new ideas
and new concepts

coming from the Sahara tent.

♪♪

DAVE RAT:
The new technology shows up,

and the artists with
the creativity

will utilize that technology
to push the limits

♪♪

Just on an audio/visual level,

regardless of who's
performing in there,

it's incredible.

PAUL VAN DYK:
I'm not scared of technology.

For me,
this is always something
that I use like a tool

to bring across what I have
in my head.

DAVE RAT:
It's the same thing as
having a muscle car.

Getting a V8 engine,
450 horse power,

it's big power.

When we get
those big subs in there
and light those things up,

it could blur your vision.

You could stand in front
and everything turns fuzzy.

One day, someone's gonna
bring in too many subs

and someone's just gonna,
like--

their stomach
is gonna explode.

Ugh!

♪♪

[cheering]

♪♪

TIESTO:
Social media made
a big difference.

Like, as soon as Facebook
and Instagram blew up,

EDM blew up,
because for years

it was held down
by people who control

the radio and television,
who control the media.

A-TRAK:
It was big, it was,
you know, felt like

you could tell that the bands
were starting to break,

that this festival culture,

this electronic music
youth festival culture

was... you know, like,
pushing other genres
out of the way,

like, we are here.

♪♪

Tiesto on the main stage
changed the game.

And Paul Tollett,
hats off for that booking

because I think that was--
that was a controversial choice.

TIESTO:
People were pretty, uh, shocked

that I played Coachella,
main stage.

And they were, like--
they didn't know what to expect.

KASKADE:
'Cause a lot of bands and,
like, traditional musicians

are, like,
you're not us, man.

Like, what, 'cause I don't
sit behind the drum and play
the drum?

Like it or not,
Tiesto's here and he's gonna
play on the main stage.

♪♪

A-TRAK:
And that proved a point that

large scale DJ culture
was becoming a real thing.

♪♪

[cheering]

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
No one had done that
at that time

at a multi-genre
music festival.

Taking a dance act
and having him play to
that large of an audience

was unbelievable
and something that...

pushed things forward
for the industry that
I love so much,

and the culture that
I love so much.

♪♪

STEVE ANGELLO:
At first, we felt that

the main stage was
a little big for us,

but we were like,
eh, you know what?

Let's try it and let's do
our best and pushed for it.

♪♪

KASKADE:
But it definitely
changed the sound

going from night clubs
to these big stages

that made everything bigger,
louder, more grand,

and now we've graduated to where
there's a pop element to it.

♪♪

DAVE IRELAND:
I think that happens
with any genre,

from hip hop to, you know,
to indie rock to whatever.

There's always just layers.
There's an underground,

more independent sound
that's more cultured,

and, I guess, takes a little
more digging to get to,

and there's the stuff
that's on the radio

that's more accessible.

[cheering]

PASQUALE ROTELLA:
People need not be afraid

of big dance acts
that have success,

because you can always
go find your house music
or your techno.

♪♪

JASON BENTLEY:
Yuma is a really
interesting innovation

because it's just
about the music.

It's more of the intimate
club experience

but on a larger scale
and at a festival.

♪♪

♪♪

The Yuma stage is very much,
you know, sort of like

the quintessential heads,
you know,

they know what they want.

That's my favorite type
of vibe.

There's no screens,
it's just music.

NINA: It's around
connecting to people.

JASON BENTLEY:
As we track the growth of
electronic music,

there doesn't seem
any end in sight.

People just seem to have
the drive to have

the time of your life.

♪ One, two ♪

♪ Everybody jump ♪

[cheering]

♪♪

DIPLO: I remember, like,
the second Major Lazer show,

and it was, like,
the most epic--

Sunset is sort of
the best time to play
at Coachella.

Nobody can tell you
differently.

Whether they say it's
headlining, whatever,

as long as it's sunset.

♪♪

A-TRAK:
EDM became a thing,

and through that, I think,

more and more people
in North America

finally got accustomed to
the sonics of electronic music,

'cause it used to be foreign.

It used to be
exotic and crazy.

♪♪

KASKADE:
I knew it was gonna be
a big moment in my career;

first time on the main stage
at Coachella.

This is the festival
the whole world looks at.

♪ Look into my eyes ♪

♪ Eyes ♪

♪ Are the windows
to the soul ♪

KASKADE:
I walked off stage
that first week,

and the guys who'd flown
the drone, they walk up,

and they're like,
"Dude, oh, my gosh,"

and they're freakin' out.

And they whip out an iPad
and it has the drone
footage on it.

And I'm just like--
Ahh!

We're all, like, screaming
looking at this thing,

like rewinding it,
like-- What?!

How far back does
the crowd go?

♪ Look into my eyes ♪

♪♪

And there's a big red blast
on the screen,

and you can see it just
lights the whole crowd up red.

♪ Look into my eyes ♪

♪♪

Whether the radio
wants to admit it

or whatever,
the TV,

I don't know what's goin' on,
but there's a movement,

and it's solidified,
and guess what?

It's been 20 years
in the making.

♪ Eyes ♪

♪♪

♪♪

[record scratching]

A-TRAK:
At the end of the day,

and I've said this
all throughout
the commotion of EDM,

I've always said this,
hip hop is, like,

the generational music
of North American youth.

♪♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
Early Coachella
definitely had hip hop.

You had hip hop DJs,

you had, like,
the Invisibl Skratch Piklz,

which A-Trak was part of
at the time.

[record scratching]

And that was like
the height of turntablism

in terms of, like, what
Echelon and those guys
were playing at.

♪♪

[cheering, applause]

But I think it was what
you would have expected
at the time,

it was the
festival friendly versions

of what was going on
in hip hop.

♪ Well, I'd like to know ♪

♪ If you got the notion ♪

♪ 'Cause we're number one ♪

♪ I'm not tryin' to say my
style is better than yours ♪

♪ I'm just on
some other shit ♪

♪ I'm all about
the beats and the lyrics ♪

♪ So when you hear it
you can feel it ♪

♪ The vibe is energized... ♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
And there was all this
alternative or underground

or backpack hip hop
or, you know,

really like college hip hop.

♪ 'Cause we take it back
like Robbin Loxly ♪

♪ Rockin' from
country sides to spots ♪

♪ Where hard rocks be ♪

RAYMOND ROKER:
If you really were
to get into, like,

culture and groups,

the fans of that hip hop
were--

I don't know if there was
majority white,

but it was largely white.

Um, and way more
over represented than...

southern hip hop
or like, you know,

Wu Tang inspired, like,
east coast hip hop,

uh, and gangster rap
and everything.

That hip hop had
a large black fan base.

♪ Motherfucker comin'
straight outta Compton ♪

♪ Crazy motherfucker
named Ice Cube ♪

♪ From the gang called
Niggaz With Attitudes ♪

♪ When I'm called off ♪

It wasn't that Goldenvoice

didn't have history
doing hip hop.

You know, Goldenvoice
had done early NWA concerts.

ICE CUBE:
It was a situation where

you know, rap music was
getting a black eye,

you know,
everywhere you looked.

Like, nobody wanted to have
anything to do with rap.

PAUL TOLLETT:
Yeah, I mean, hip hop

in Southern California in
the '80s was hard to place.

Uh, there was some violence
associated with it,

and many venues
didn't want to book it,

so that is code for
call Goldenvoice.

RAYMOND ROKER:
So the festival promoters

had a history
with doing hip hop,

but the festival setting itself
and festival culture was--

you know, was not as
multicultural as it is today.

♪♪

I mean, what's the template
for music festivals?

Woodstock.

There were not many
people of color at that show.

There were a handful,

but if you see the movie,

it's white girls
with flower crowns

and white guys with long hair.

So when you think festival,
that's what you think,

and, you know,
you could lose sight about

how important that
iconography is to people

in determining what they do
and how they celebrate music.

♪♪

So it took a while
for culture to merge.

And over time, it took,
like, early acts to kind of
break through,

so if you look at
the evolution of
hip hop early days,

it was everybody that
fit into that indie realm.

And then mid 2000s
you had the flirtations with
some of those bigger acts,

and ones that offered
a bit of crossover,

uh, the biggest one,
of course, being Kanye.

♪♪

A-TRAK:
I was at Coachella that year,

'cause I played with Kanye.

The Kanye performance
was kind of hilarious

because he showed up
at least 20 minutes late--

20 to 30 minutes late.

So we were onstage--

myself, the string section.

And it's show time,
and we knew Kanye
was on his way.

I don't think he knew
about the traffic

between L.A. and Indio,

specifically during
a day of Coachella.

♪♪

♪ Please believe... ♪

[crowd cheering]

A-TRAK: And long story short,

he showed up halfway
into the set.

And at a festival
like Coachella,
there's no wiggle room.

It can't be like,
"Okay, well, you can go
over a half hour."

'Cause someone else has
a set right after.

So he played a shortened set.

♪ Throw your diamonds
in the sky if you feel
the vibe ♪

♪ Forever ♪

♪ The Roc is still alive
every time I rhyme ♪

♪ Forever ever, forever ever,
ever ever ♪

I mean, Kanye
was always Kanye, right,

but when he first came out,

he was considered
in that more backpack realm.

♪ After debris settles
and the dust gets swept off ♪

♪ Big K pick up
where young Hov left off ♪

♪ Right when magazines
wrote Kanye West off ♪

♪ I dropped my new shit,
it sound like the best of ♪

♪ A&R lookin' like,
"Pssh, we messed up ♪

♪ Grammy night, damn right,
we get dressed up ♪

♪ Bottle after bottle
till we get next, uh ♪

♪ Yeah, he next up ♪

ROKER:
It took artists like that

that were kind of, like,
the testing grounds for hip-hop

at the festival.

You couldn't have just jumped
forward and put--

I mean, Lil Wayne was big
in the mid-2000s.

Jay-Z was big in the mid-2000s.
It was too early for that.

♪♪ [rapping continues]

♪ Power to make a diamond
with his bare hands ♪

♪ ...if you feel the vibe ♪

♪ Come on, come on ♪

♪ Roc is still alive
every time I rhyme ♪

♪ Forever ever ♪

♪ Ever ever ♪

♪ Ever ever, ever ever,
ever ever ♪

♪ Ever ever, ever ever ♪

♪ Ever ever,
ever ever ♪

♪ Ever ever, ever ever,
ever ever ♪

[crowd roars]

I look at every demographic,
like, man, hopefully I get
the college kids,

I wanna get the girls,
the little kids,

the older people,
the niggas from the streets,

backpackers.

-All that.
-You know?

[crowd cheering]

CROWD [chanting]:
Kanye! Kanye! Kanye!

-We gotta go?
-Yeah.

-We gotta go?
-Yeah, man.

-We can't sing one more?
-[crowd chanting]

A-TRAK! A-TRAK!

He can't do it, man.

I'm sorry, brother.

Well, it was the time when,
you know,

we had these artists

that were just blowing up
pretty quick.

♪♪

TOLLETT:
M.I.A., she was great,

because she worked up
the stages.

And every stage was crazy
every time.

♪♪

First time I ever played
a festival was Coachella.

That's my first festival ever.

♪♪

From my recollection,
the next big thing
was probably Jay-Z.

TOLLETT:
Well, what happened is,

we were promoting a festival
back in New York,

and Beastie Boys
were headlining it.

And we'd already had Beasties
at Coachella before.

And it was just so good.

♪ Well, now, don't you
tell me to smile ♪

♪ You stick around
I'll make it worth your while ♪

♪ My number's beyond
what you can dial ♪

♪♪ [continues]

TOLLETT: Some could say that's
the first hip-hop headliner.

But others, they were rock,
they were punk rock,

they were all these
different genres.

♪ I run the marathon
to the very last mile ♪

They certainly paved the way
for future hip-hop headliners.

♪ You've got gall,
you've got guile ♪

♪ Step to me,
I'm a rap-o-phile ♪

So we had Beastie Boys
on this festival in New York,

but they had to cancel.

So we got Jay-Z to fill in.
And when he came out,

he went straight into
"No Sleep Till Brooklyn."

♪ No sleep till ♪

♪♪

♪ Foot on the pedal,
never ever false metal ♪

♪ Engine running hotter
than a boiling kettle ♪

♪ My job ain't a job,
it's a pretty good time ♪

♪ City to city,
I'm running out of rhymes ♪

♪ On location,
tour around the nation ♪

♪ Beastie Boys
never on vacation ♪

TOLLETT:
And it was awesome.

♪ Do what I do 'cause
I'm willing and able ♪

I'm like, wow, Jay-z is that--
is that good live?

♪ Allow me
to reintroduce myself ♪

♪ My name is Hov ♪

♪ H to the O-V ♪

♪ I used to move snowflakes
by the O-Z ♪

TOLLETT: So we grabbed him
for Coachella.

♪ CEO of the R-O-C ♪

♪ Fresh out the fryin' pan,
into the fire ♪

♪ I be the music biz
number one supplier ♪

♪ Flyer than a piece
of paper bearing my name ♪

♪ Got the hottest chick
in the game wearing my chain,
that's right ♪

2010, Jay-z, that was like
a big breakout.

Fans were totally ready for it.

They were ready for it
musically.

They were ready
for his presence.

♪♪ [rap continues]

They were ready for
the show to take
on hip-hop at that scale.

♪ Let me tell you dudes
what I do to protect this ♪

♪ I shoot at you actors
like movie directors ♪

I think it was only
a matter of time

because everybody just
thinks that rap is cool.

Rap is cool.
There's nothing cooler than rap.

Rap is the coolest music ever.

Any kid that you catch
walking down the street

or driving down the street,
whatever,

they know Lil Wayne records,
they know Jay-Z records,

they know Kanye records.

BLAINE: Kanye came back in 2011

with an incredible

theater of a performance.

Broke yet new ground.

RZA:
First time I went to Coachella,

Kanye had invited me
the first time to Coachella.

And I went,
and I had a great night.

It was--
When I seen his show, actually--

At that time,
that was the best hip-hop show

I ever seen in my life.

[crowd cheering]

♪♪ ["Power" plays]

♪ I'm living in
that 21st century ♪

♪ Doing something mean to it ♪

♪ Do it better than anybody
you ever seen do it ♪

♪ Scream from the haters,
got a nice ring to it ♪

♪ I guess every superhero
need his theme music ♪

♪ No one man should
have all that power ♪

♪ The clocks ticking,
I just count the hours ♪

ROKER:
Just the way he took that stage

and took over that stage,

it was hip-hop as art.

♪ And they say ♪

♪ And they say ♪

♪ And they say ♪

♪ And we say ♪

♪ And they say ♪

♪ And they say ♪

♪ And they say ♪

♪ 21st Century schizoid man ♪

[crowd roars]

To do it
in that festival setting

was just one more step
in that march

towards just
the unstoppable beast

that would become,
like, the headliners.

♪♪

BLAINE:
That year we had Arcade Fire

which did the incredible
ball drop.

Awesome concept,
beautifully executed.

But there are few bands
that can even, like, bring that.

The rock headliners
of those years had
a harder time keeping up.

TOLLETT: That was the first year
where we started livestreaming
on YouTube.

That was the thing
that got us across the world.

It really was shocking.

You know, now all these
different countries are coming.

There was so much demand
that year.

More than 100,000 people
were shut out.

Thought about all these people

who didn't get to go
to Coachella.

VEE:
You know, he has a lot of ideas.

And I remember when
he said to me,

"What's the only thing
better than Coachella?

Two Coachellas."

ROKER: It was just such
an unprecedented move.

No one had a two-weekend event
like that.

And people thought that that was
just a selfish money grab...

which I can understand.

But it also made tons of sense,
'cause a lot of people

that wanted to go to the show
that couldn't go to the show.

TOLLETT: I always thought
about doing two weekends.

But we thought, "I'm gonna
run out of headliners.

if it's two different sets
of music."

So it hit me, like, "Every
single artist needs to repeat."

"Wait a second.
The same artists come back

and play a second time
a week later?

That's just weird."

I didn't even know how they
were gonna pull that off.

-♪ California love ♪
-Come on!

♪ Put your motherfuckin' dubs
in the air ♪

Sing this shit!

♪ California ♪

-♪ Knows how to party ♪
-What you say?

ROKER: It was hard to explain
the two-weekend concept to Dre,

'cause he didn't really know
a lot about Coachella
to begin with.

♪♪

But he knew about Burning
Man, because

him and Tupac bumped into it

when they were filming
that video.

It was the funniest thing.

♪ The city of Compton ♪

SNOOP: Hey, yo, Dre,

I think you should
welcome everybody.

♪ Now, let me welcome everybody
to the wild, wild west ♪

♪ A state that's untouchable
like Eliot Ness

♪ The track hits your eardrum
like a slug to your chest ♪

♪ Pack a vest for your Jimmy
in the city of sex ♪

TOLLETT: We lay out
what we wanna do with him
headlining Coachella.

He said, "I'd like to do it,
but I got this idea

about like a 3-D thing
or a hologram,

or-- I got this art thing."

I hope this ain't people's
first show seeing a concert.

After this one, you probably
don't want to see it.

It's kind of unfair
what Dre is doing

to the whole Coachella lineup
on Sunday.

It's all I gotta say.

What's the surprises?
Any surprises?

Everybody gonna come out,
that's all I gotta say.

-People are gonna cry?
-Yeah, people are gonna
fuckin' boo-hoo.

GREGG GILLIS:
A hologram came up,

and it was, like,

"Are we supposed
to celebrate this?

"Or be sad?

"Or is this disrespectful?

Or is this cool?
Or, like--"

It was complex.

It was a really complicated
thing that they did.

I felt like it didn't get
enough credit

for being, like, so crazy.

♪♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Do you know who
the fuck this is? ♪

-What up, Dre?
-I'm chillin'. What's up, Pac?

-What up, Snoop?
-What's up, my nigga?

What the fuck is up, Coachella?

Throw up a motherfucking finger!

ICE CUBE: Only Dre would
take it to this level.

Makaveli in this.

Every artist looks
for one of those moments

that people are never
gonna forget,

and he was able
to pull it off.

I was happy for him,

and also happy for Tupac.

Being able to get on--
be onstage with those people.

♪ Come with me ♪

♪ Hail Mary ♪

♪ Come quick see ♪

♪ What do we have here now ♪

♪ Do you want to ride or die ♪

♪ La dada lala ♪

We're stepping out
into territory

that hasn't really been
stepped into.

So we just wanted
to do it right.

Obviously,
respectful of the family.

Respectful of the fans, too.

There was a version of Tupac
that would look even less
like Tupac than that.

You can see kind of, like,
progressively become

more and more Tupac over time.

♪ Now pay attention, mister ♪

We made this, like, key chart

of all these different
Tupac looks,

where we, like, call this one
"eyebrow raise."

And you can see
the way his eyebrows raise.

And it doesn't--

It doesn't seem like, you know,
this matters that much.

But when you make a model,
it's totally inert.

So then you have to find
these signature moments

that represent who he was
in his essence.

♪♪ [rap]

♪ But Mama told me never stop
until I bust a nut ♪

ROKER:
I didn't go first weekend.

And it was the first year
of two weekends.

Thank you, Coachella.

So I came the second weekend.

I knew exactly
what was going to occur.

And yet there were more people
there the second weekend.

And then you had all
the special guests come back
again and do it again.

♪ Come with me ♪

♪ Hail Mary, run quick see ♪

♪ What do we have here now ♪

♪ Do we wanna ride or die ♪

♪ La dada lada la la la ♪

SNOOP: Gangsta shit.

[crowd cheering]

This morning, the most talked
about concert on the planet

was a weekend performance
from someone who's been dead

for 15 years.

I don't know
what the big deal is.

My hologram has been hosting
this show since December.

The audience there at Coachella

suddenly see someone
who is dead.

It's the technology that has
some of us unable to believe
our eyes.

It kind of bums me out that
he's been dead for 16 years,

he's still in much
better shape than I am.

WOMAN: Tupac Shakur has set
Twitter ablaze.

This was done strictly
for Coachella 2012, baby.

Just for you.

ROKER: There were big points
before that.

Daft Punk, Pixies,
things like that,

that were really monumental.

But they were monumental
for fans...

insular fans.

For mainstream people
that started to know Coachella

as synonymous with festival,

it was definitely Tupac.

-What is that?
-Tupac.

No matter what we think,
it's not just a passing trend.

We need to realize
that the new generation
of entertainment is here.

It was the single most
popular thing

that ever happened
at Coachella.

ROKER: That was the moment where
people understood the power

of that performance,
that stage,

watching it online.

Like, all those things
that culminated.

The genie was never going
back to the bottle.

It just established
the show as, like,

part of popular culture.

-ALEX TREBEK: Kerry.
-Who is Tupac?

-Correct.
-Coachella for 400.

[audio fades]

ROKER: So this was...

It must have been,
like, 2011 or something...

long before Tyler came
to play the show.

He shows up
with Odd Future crew.

But they got Super Soakers
with them.

They just kind of roll
on the field.

Start walking around.
I happen to be in the area.

I had my camera.

You know,
I knew who they were.

I didn't really know them.

I started snapping
some pictures.

And, you know,
this girl jumps up on Tyler,

and he starts making out
with her.

WOMAN:
No, Gina! Oh, my God!

ROKER:
It was just some random girl

that just, like, kind of,
jumps into his arms

and kisses him.

Oh, shit!

Shut the fuck up!

ROKER: And then he takes
his Super Soaker out

and sprays her
and everybody else.

And later on, I heard that Tyler
got kicked out of the show.

[laughs] Because I think
they took the Super Soaker
a little too far.

Soaked a security officer,
and found themselves ejected
from the show.

By that evening, though,
they were back in.

You saw the kids that were
going to be the headliners

through them.

♪ Turn that light ♪

♪ Oh, turn that light ♪

♪ Oh, turn
that light ♪

♪ Oh, turn that light ♪

ROKER: Young and confident
and could say entitled,

but colorful and fun
and talented,

irreverent at the same time.

♪ How much wood could
a woodchuck chuck ♪

♪ If a woodchuck could
ever give a fuck? ♪

To see those artists now,

it's the third, kind of,
evolution.

♪ I get those goose bumps
every time ♪

♪♪

♪ I get those goose bumps
every time ♪

♪ When you're not ♪

ROKER: I mean, I remember
it just stood out to me

when I was
watching Travis Scott.
Outdoor Theater.

It was watching the fans
and how into it they were.

I remember talking
to the stage manager

and he said this is the biggest
crowd he's seen at that stage,

and he's been at that stage
since Coachella One.

[vocalizing, indistinct]

That's probably been
the bitterest pill to swallow

for some of the old fans,

because the artists
are so young

and they're coming
with fashion,

wealth, and with bravado,

and this carefree aggression.

I want to see
the fuckin' rage, Coachella.

[crowd roars]

If you're not trying to mosh,

if you're not trying
to crowd surf,

if you're not trying to lay it
on the ground tonight,

get the fuck out!

-[crowd cheering]
-I started to get that
understanding,

that chatter, and feel it
from both people

that worked the show
and just, kind of, the--

the, kind of, perception
in the air.

It was like, "Damn, this is
like the GV shows of the
early '80s."

♪ My left stroke
just went viral ♪

♪ Right stroke put
the baby in the spiral ♪

♪ Soprano C, we like
to keep it on the high note ♪

♪ There's levels to it,
you and I know ♪

♪ Bitch, be humble ♪

♪ Hold up, bitch, sit down ♪

ROKER: The misconception,
the dismissal, the derision.

-Coachella!
-♪ Bitch, sit down ♪

♪ Little bitch, be humble ♪

ROKER: All those things that
are put at these performers

is very similar to punk.

-♪ Be humble ♪
-♪ Bitch ♪

Hip-hop has similar roots,
but because it's black-rooted,

you got a little bit more of
that shit that goes with it,

you know,
when it's really angry.

♪ Holla, holla, holla ♪

♪ I'm so fucking sick
and tired of the Photoshop ♪

♪ Show me something natural
like afro on Richard Pryor ♪

♪ Show me something natural like
ass with some stretch marks ♪

In a way,
when it comes to punk rock,

there's, like,
the form of punk rock

and the function of punk rock.

♪♪

Let's go!

♪ One summer night I was
drinking with my dad ♪

♪ He tried to give me love
that he never had ♪

MOBY: And, of course,
the form is easy to identify.

It's, like, shaved heads,
loud guitars,

white guys yelling really loud.

♪ Here it is, here I am ♪

♪ Turn it up fucking loud ♪

♪ Radio, radio, radio, radio,
radio, radio ♪

♪ When I got the music,
I got a place to go ♪

And the function of punk rock
is more...

an independent questioning.

[crowd cheering]

MOBY: Clearly, Paul Tollett
and the people at Goldenvoice

come from punk rock...

...because the way they've
always approached
scheduling acts at Coachella

it's very eclectic,
very open-minded,

but there's also
this third part of punk rock

which is a little provocation.

♪ Seasons change ♪

♪♪ [continues]

MOBY: And it's one of the things
I love about the choice of bands

and artists at Coachella.

Sometimes you feel
challenged by it.

♪ The seasons change ♪

♪ But I've spent time
trying to change ♪

It's just fascinating
to see how things change.

♪♪

Things move so fast nowadays.

What happened five years ago,
ten years ago,

maybe isn't today anymore.
So what do you do?

Do you stay with your
original '99

type of music you were doing,

or do you say it's 2018,
let's go 2018...

with a nod to the past?

And so you kind of just go
with both of it.

♪ And I've been
waiting on you ♪

[crowd cheering]

[whistle blowing]

♪♪ [drum line plays]

TOLLETT: You had all these
combinations in year one.

There was hip-hop,
there was indie,
there was DJs.

But in the beginning,
we wouldn't have ever
thought of booking a pop act.

♪♪

But as the years go by,

all the dance music
getting so big,

and then hip-hop,
and then pop not being

a bad word among
the indie rock people anymore.

It just started feeling
like this is something
that Coachella really needs.

♪♪

ROKER:
She's a woman on a mission.

She came there with a script.

♪♪

Her performance was the state
of the union for her,

and she was gonna deliver it.

♪♪

Beyoncé could have played
Madison Square Garden

or Staples Center

or any massive celebrated venue.

That performance would not
have been as important
as Coachella.

Thank you for allowing me
to be the first black woman

to headline Coachella.

ROKER:
You know, that was the beacon.

♪♪

VEE: I don't think anybody could
have expected what we saw,

but the moment she stepped out,

you're just like, "Oh, my God."

♪ Crazy right now ♪

♪ I look and stare
so deep in your eyes ♪

♪ I touch on you more
and more every time ♪

♪ When you leave,
I'm begging you not to go ♪

♪ Call your name
two or three times in a row ♪

♪ Such a funny thing
for me to try to explain ♪

♪ How I'm feeling and my pride
is the one to blame ♪

♪ I still don't understand ♪

♪ Just how your love can do
what no one else can ♪

TOLLETT: She had some big ideas,
and she pulled them all off.

Just people were--

Their minds were blown
on so many levels.

I feel fortunate that
we were able to deliver
everything she needed

that story and that show told.

♪ Drop it ♪

♪♪

ROKER:
She was expressing artistry

within the black community.

But the timing of that
was really phenomenal.

She got pregnant.
She couldn't play at 2017.

Conversation shifted
over that year.

The election of Donald Trump.

Me Too.

[crowd chanting]

It got even heavier.

♪ When I talk to my friends
so quietly ♪

♪ Who he think he is? ♪

♪ Look at what you did to me ♪

♪ Tennis shoes, don't even need
to buy a new dress ♪

♪ If you ain't there,
ain't nobody else to impress ♪

TOLLETT: It's a rare artist
that can bring that

to the widest swath of people

on the biggest stage
with the biggest production.

She's just
one of those talents.

♪ Just how your love can
do what no one else can ♪

WOMAN: The Internet buzzing
about the one and only Beyoncé.

Even this morning,
Beychella is still top trending.

The first time that
an African-American woman
headlined Coachella.

She did more for recruitment

of HBCUs
in that performance,

that's historically
black colleges,

than anybody could have done.

That shit last night?
Spectacular.

WENDY WILLIAMS: She performed
for nearly two hours and did
five costume changes.

And, yeah, and Jay-Z made
an appearance.

And Solange was there,
and so was Destiny's Child.

Beyoncé is the greatest
performer of all time,
living or dead.

People are now saying
that Beyoncé

is a greater performer
than Michael Jackson.

[gasps]

♪♪

ROKER:
That opened the door so wide.

I mean, she is now
the biggest performance
Coachella's ever had.

A black woman.

[crowd cheering]

That script could not have
been conceived 15 years ago.

♪♪

♪ Blackpink ♪

♪ Oh, yeah, oh, yeah ♪

♪ Blackpink ♪

♪ Oh, yeah, oh, yeah ♪

NADESKA ALEXIS: Beyoncé's
headlining performance
really opened up the doors

for a lot of people
who maybe didn't think they
would have a shot previously.

You know what I mean?
Now it feels like there's
space for everyone.

♪♪ [vocalizing]

We didn't expect anybody
to even, you know,
know our music or anything,

but we came in,
and everybody started screaming,

"Blackpink in the area."

-That's just blowing our mind.
-Yeah.

♪♪

I love what you guys are doing.
I love it so much.

Nice to meet you.

You're the best.
Thank you so much.

Congrats on being, like,
the biggest female k-pop debut.

Oh, my God.
This is, like, the beginning.

♪♪

I'm excited, yeah.
Well, I can't wait to hear the--

-[vocalizing]
-Ah!

♪ Get you with that ♪

[vocalizing]

♪ Oh yeah, oh yeah ♪

ROKER: What's really exciting
is different people

are feeling they're
represented at Coachella

in a big way now.

♪ I like it like that ♪

♪♪ [vocalizing]

♪♪

ALEXIS: More and more,
we're gonna continue
to see diversity.

I want to practice
my English with you, okay?

ALEXIA: Really, it just is
an incredible thing,

and I can't even imagine
five years from now,

what the lineup
and the crowds are gonna
look like at Coachella.

♪♪

DIPLO: It's always
been a festival
for discovery anyway.

So we're just reaching,
sort of, a global cusp.

I mean, every year, it's like--
It's a metamorphosis.

Coachella make some noise!

ROKER:
The artists are evolving.

The show and
the community is evolving.

The fact that it
represents a more fuller
picture of culture,

like, that's the bottom line.

That's what I'm most happy about
when I see the lineup this year

and recent years.

[crowd cheering]

ROKER: I think the sense of
discovery on the music side

is really where we are
as a culture

and how we ingest music.

♪ And you're quiet when ♪

♪ The party's over ♪

♪ Quiet when I'm coming home ♪

♪ And I'm on my own ♪

ROKER: Beyond that, I think
there's still a romance

with, like,
gathering at some field

and having this, sort of,
cultural connection.

♪ I could lie,
say I like it like that ♪

♪ I like it like that ♪

Hope for something amazing
to happen.

Could be romantic.

It could be just hanging
with your friends.

and just having, kind of,
like, that time,

that great time.

Festivals hold the promise
of that.

And so Coachella,
for many people, I think,

it's just like that beacon.

It's part of their year

where they know
that all that is possible.

♪ Let me let you go ♪

I'm grateful for Coachella
and everything

that it's done for
the festival culture in America.

I'm sure eventually something
would have took off,

but not as rapidly as it did.
and not the way it did,

not without Coachella.

♪ I could lie
and say I like it like that ♪

♪ Like it like that ♪

[crowd cheers]

Happy Coachella!

Happy Coachella.

Happy Coachella.

LINDSTROM: I remember it seemed
to get so big so fast.

Every year that it's grown,

I can't believe that
we've had room to grow.

I feel so, so lucky
that I got to be involved

in the project since it started

and to still be involved.

It's just striking
when you compare '99 to 2019.

♪♪

LINDSTROM: I don't have kids,
but I imagine that's
what its like

for a parent watching their kid
grow and grow and grow,

and getting so big,
and you can't believe
how big they've grown.

Coachella, the festival,
is like a person.

It's like family,
and it's off to college now.

♪♪

RIVERS CUOMO:
When Weezer started,
there was nothing like this.

You always looked forward
to going abroad

to play the big festivals.

That's where
the legendary shows were.

And now the biggest one

is right here
in Southern California.

♪♪

MAN: I come because
I genuinely love music.

I've done Coachella since 2007.

So it's, like, 13 years.

I've only skipped
Weekend Two two times.

Like, I can't not do Two
at this point.

I've seen more music
in a few weekends here

than I've seen in my entire
life in other places.

♪♪

Yeah, I see acts here

that I will never see
at the other festivals all over.

♪♪

So Kanye had been confirmed
for three or four months prior,

and on January 1, we were having
a production called Jason and I

about Kanye's stage plans
for the show.

And he let us know that the
stage we had didn't match up

with what was in his head.

We went back and forth
a little bit.

We realized we're not gonna
be able to pull this off.

♪♪

And then about a month
before the show,

I get a call from Paul,

and he says,
"Kanye's back on."

♪ 'Cause you're the only power ♪

♪ Power ♪

♪ That can save this world ♪

♪ Power ♪

Paul was out at his house
in Indio,

and he went out
to a hill in camping

and took a video
to show Kanye's team

a possible performance area.

♪ You're the only power ♪

♪ Power ♪

TOLLETT: We get the first
rendering from their team,

and that's the game plan,
it's moving along quite nicely.

And then probably
two weeks prior

to the actual show,

we get a second drawing
sent over to us,

and there's
a second mountain on it.

Their vision had changed.

They wanted us collectively
to build another mountain.

♪♪

The mountain
that we're building

is out in the middle of where
all the campers are
for Weekend One,

so we have to wait
for the show to be done

and the campers
to leave on Monday.

And then come Tuesday,
in comes 500 trucks of dirt.

♪♪

And then Friday,
three semi-trucks of grass.

♪♪

Compact it, water it...

and get ready to go.

♪ I never knew ♪

♪ I could be so happy ♪

♪ I never knew ♪

When the choir
and everyone started singing,

the whole crowd just...

was in shock of, like,
what they were experiencing.

And then it continued
with the dancers sprinkled
throughout.

♪♪

There were so many
different elements of,

"Look over here,
look over there.

"Oh, my gosh, who's that?

Who's that? Who's that?"

♪♪

Kanye was not front
and center.

His team was
very particular about

wanting to make sure
that it was not about him.

♪♪

WHITMORE:
It was about the choir.

It was about the music.

It was about the songs

and the experience
of what Sunday service was.

♪♪

Which is literally
my childhood every Sunday.

MAN: Come on, Coachella,
put your hands together!

WHITMORE: Going to church
and singing spiritual hymns.

-♪ I never knew ♪
-♪ I never knew ♪

♪ Oh, I could be so happy ♪

I don't think anyone understood
the full magnitude

of what was going to take place.

But to have it on that scale,

it was just a very,
very magical

and powerful experience.

♪ Brighter day, brighter day ♪

♪ Brighter day ♪

[cheering]

TOLLETT:
Last year, I was in Indio,

and I get a call
from a friend that says

you have to go watch
Black Panther right now.

So I told him,
"I'll catch it someday."

He says,
"No, you have to go right now."

So I go to a local theater
and I watch it,

thinking all the way through
the movie, "Why did he tell me
to see it?"

Then right at the end of the
movie, they mention Coachella.

When you said you would
take me to California
for the first time,

I thought
you meant Coachella

or Disneyland.

They mentioned Coachella
in the same sentence
as Disneyland.

And I'm like,
"Wow, that's heavy."

Now we just don't wanna make
a mistake for the people
that like the show.

And that changes.
Who likes the show changes.

In the beginning,
I thought people
would go forever.

I didn't realize there would be
a whole new set of people

who went and loved the show.

I didn't realize there'd be
new styles of music,

new sounds.

So the show has to keep up.

♪♪

TOVAR:
When I started doing concerts,

it was a gathering of people

enjoying music

and having a good time.

And then that's what
they carried on.

That's what Coachella's about.

♪♪

TOLLETT: Rene started going
to the Glass House

when he was 14, and started
promoting shows here.

and I just have always liked
the music that he likes.

So when I thought
I needed a new tent

with a new outlook,
he was the obvious choice.

CONTRERAS:
I was in econ class in school,

and, uh, I get a text.

And Paul was like,
"Can you come to the office?"

I was like,
"I'm in class, dude.

I can't go to the office
right now."

And, uh, he waited for me.

I-- I got there,

and he-- he pitched the idea

of starting a new stage
at Coachella.

To have a space
for not just, like,

the bigger
established musician,

but also for, like,
the up and coming artist.

Sonora represents who I am
and how I grew up,

but in a way also how--

how Gary and--
and Paul-- Paul T--

how they were brought up,

and how the company sprouted.

I feel like that's
the beauty of it,

like, back to the roots.

[laughter]

-Two minutes.
-All right.

Yeah. Later.

♪♪

[buzzing]

[buzzing]

Much like a kazoo.

It's Coachella, baby.

♪♪

[crowd cheering]

Coachella!

[crowd cheers]

I am here!

Prince was always on the list,
but seemed impossible.

He never played
any of these things.

Brett met with him,
talked everything out,

he had me come
back to the house,
bring my artist,

uh, to make the poster.

We talked money,
talked everything.

I said to him, "Look, are we
done? Are we confirmed?"

And he said, "No.
I'm not playing Coachella.

Why would I play Coachella?"

When they asked me
to come work this place,

I said I can't
come work no place.

[crowd cheers]

TOLLETT: I was sad.
I thought I had it.

And, uh, three weeks
before the show,

he calls out of the blue.

He says,

"Do I have to split the money

if I put the Coachella logo
and the Prince symbol together?"

I said,
"Are you playing Coachella?"

And he says,
"Yeah, Saturday night."

Like, we'd been on sale--

Like, we were three weeks
before the show.

And I'm like,
"Okay."

I will come to party.

Is that all right with y'all?

[crowd cheering]

In the spirit of that,

you're in the coolest place
on earth right now.

♪ If you
don't like ♪

♪ The world
you're living in ♪

♪ Take a look
around ♪

♪ At least
you got friends ♪

♪ Called my
old lady ♪

♪ For a friendly
word ♪

♪ Picked up the
phone dropped it
on the floor ♪

♪ Ah, ah,
was all I heard ♪

♪ Are we gonna
let the elevator
bring us down? ♪

♪ Oh, no,
let's go ♪

♪ Let's go
crazy ♪

♪ Let's get
nuts ♪

♪ Look for
the purple banana ♪

♪ Till they put us
in the truck ♪

♪ Let's go ♪

Coachella!

Y'all wanna
be crazy
one more time?

Somebody!

♪♪

♪ Let's go
crazy ♪

♪ Are we gonna
let the elevator
bring us down? ♪

♪ Oh, no,
let's go ♪

Somebody say
"Go crazy!"

CROWD:
Go crazy!

PRINCE:
Say go, go, go!
Go, go, go!

♪ Are we gonna
let the elevator
bring us down? ♪

♪ Oh, no,
let's go ♪

Thank you,
Coachella!

♪♪ [ends]

[crowd roars]