Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert | YouTube Originals

[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: [chanti

ng] 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 conce

rt. 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, o

h, 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 i

s 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 te

ll 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 wa

s 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 clueles

s 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 nati

on'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 ta

lkin' 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 lea

st, 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 se

ll 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 starte

d 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 fi

rst, 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 d

oesn'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 batt

led 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 thi

nking 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 mud

dy 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 bring

ing 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 sta

ges, 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 ha

ve 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 e

ven 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 th

e 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 headlin

ers, 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 t

o 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 kno

w? ♪♪ 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 mus

ic 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... ♪ PAU

L 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, ev

erybody 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. Ge

tting 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 whateve

r 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-- Her

e'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 f

or 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 musi

c 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 s

ee 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 subd

ue 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 b

ack 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 t

he '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 cultur

e 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 mu

sic 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 ♪ ♪ Aro

und 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. Wher

ever 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, t

his 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 Tollet

t, 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 sca

le 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 th

at'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 the

y 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 i

f 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 festi

val 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 th

ey 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 c

heering] 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 rec

ollection, 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 ke

ttle ♪ ♪ 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 t

o 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, beautiful

ly 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 he

adliners. 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 lo

t 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: O

nly 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 ♪ ♪ Ha

il 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 matt

er 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. -C

oachella 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 go

ing 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 thi

s 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 fo

rm 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 y

ou 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 a

llowing 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 p

ride 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. Co

nversation 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 d

o 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 wa

s 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 perfo

rmance 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 l

ike 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 2

019. ♪♪ 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 Jaso

n 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 sho

w 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 Weeken

d 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 diff

erent 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 promot

ing 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 est

ablished 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 sh

ow, 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 loo

k 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 ♪ S

omebody 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]