Coachella’s looking ahead, and back too

In early 1999, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival was just a dream set in the desert -- a dream that was doubted by many in the music industry. Promoter Paul Tollett’s task then was to persuade others to share his belief in creating a massive, annual music festival that would be set in oven-baked Indio and geared to satisfy discerning music fans. The first year he lost money; the second year, he almost lost his house. Now, Coachella is a brand name in the concert business and its template has been borrowed in part or in whole by nearly a dozen other festival franchises. So Tollett is thrilled, right? Yes and no. Imitation may be flattery, but it can create hassles too.

“It’s getting harder and harder every year,” Tollett said. “The good part is, people come to us now and we don’t have to convince [them] that this thing can work. The problem is that with all the other festivals, it’s getting more difficult to create a bill where you don’t have a fan saying, ‘I just saw that somewhere else.’ But we will do it.”Today, Tollett and his company, Goldenvoice, will announce that next year’s edition of the festival will be staged April 29 and 30, and you may want to book a hotel room right now. The festival swelled to more than 50,000 each day last year. The show has enjoyed six stagings with sublime performances and enjoys a reputation as the most fan-friendly festival of them all. If you want to see what you missed (or remember what you saw), you can do so next month at the movie theater. The ambitious concert film “Coachella” debuts Jan. 24 and features memorable stage moments by Arcade Fire, the Pixies, Belle & Sebastian, the White Stripes, Bright Eyes and 20 others. The movie is geared toward straight documentation, not artsy distraction. “With the moments we’ve had,” Tollett said, “the main thing you have to remember [is] to take the lens cap off.”

What about the next big highlight in Coachella history? Tollett is mum on the 2006 lineup.

“I’ve painted myself into a corner,” he said of his past declaration that bringing back a former headliner would go against the festival’s spirit of discovery. Past headliners include Coldplay, the White Stripes, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Will one of them be back?

There was also talk last year of U2 considering a trek to the desert. “I’m not telling anything about anything,” Tollett said. When he’s trying to beat history as well as a growing field of competitors, why would he tip his hand to a newspaper? “That’s right. Right now, you’re the enemy.”

-- Geoff Boucher