Final Day of Coachella Fest Lifts Spirits of the Promoters

The hopes of promoters to create a Southern California tradition with the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival appeared to be wilting in the desert sun on Saturday, but a surge in attendance on Sunday created new hope for the sprawling event, which is fashioned after European rock festivals.

The heavy firepower of Rage Against the Machine and Tool, the closing acts on the main stage Sunday, were the clear fan favorite of the two-day event and pushed the Sunday crowd total past 30,000, up significantly from Saturday’s estimated 20,000.

Paul Tollett, a partner in Goldenvoice, the event’s promoter, said a final tally of ticket and vending grosses will be needed to tell the tale of the festival’s future, but he was optimistic Sunday that the response of fans, artists and the local community would lead to a 2000 show at the same venue, the 78-acre Empire Polo Field.

“The vibe of a show like this is so important,” Tollett said. “The talent is important, too, of course, but it’s the vibe that makes people come back the next year. And it seems to me this show delivered the vibe.”

The preliminary numbers for the final day buoyed the spirits of the festival’s promoters, who defied industry conventions with the show. Following the lead of European shows, Coachella organizers assembled a bill that was heavy on critics’ darlings (such as Beck and Moby) and obscure DJs, but was devoid of the current album-selling superstars who typically provide the core of most U.S. multi-day shows.

The festival, which featured more than seven dozen acts on two stages and in three tents, also grappled with the short-term legacy of Woodstock 99, which erupted into chaos the week before Coachella tickets went on sale.

This event, however, went remarkably smoothly: Police reported a total of five arrests for the two days, and in spite of triple-digit heat and the bruising mosh pits on Sunday night, there were no major medical emergencies. More than 100 people visited the first aid tents, most for dehydration and heat-related problems, but a woman who broke her arm on Sunday was the only one who required a hospital visit, according to medical reports.

City leaders reported that the concert created a windfall for local businesses, with hotels booked to capacity and restaurants scrambling to serve legions of young music fans.

By far the major problem for the event was traffic, according to Indio police spokesman Benjamin Guitron. Narrow local streets were overwhelmed by the crush of fans, he said, and while the situation was far better than the snarls experienced at the last rock event here, a Pearl Jam concert in 1993, it took many fans an hour to travel a few short miles from the venue to the onramps of Interstate 10.