It’s the biggest time of year for influencers: it’s the first weekend of Coachella. Almost every influencer flees their home in Los Angeles to the deserts of Palm Springs for the weekend. For this year, the festival is headlined by Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, and Swedish House Mafia x The Weekend. Coachella sold over 198,000 tickets for the two weekends bringing in a whopping $84 million. With the popularity of music festivals continuing to rise, many companies have tried to make their own. But in the past almost none of them have gone well, both safety wise and enjoyment wise. This year Revolve Festival, hosted by the brand Revolve, has been having some key issues of its own. Some influencers have even been comparing it to the 2017 disaster, Fyre Festival.
What happened with Fyre Festival?
The Fyre Festival, which took place in April 2017, was supposed to be the most luxurious music festival for elite celebrities. Happening in the Bahamas, it was made out to be extremely more glamorous than Coachella. They were also promised the top most talented artists. With tickets costing up to $100,000, guests were told they would have the best accommodations, food, and music. It was even advertised by some of the most followed influencers of today: Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Hailey Bieber. But when everyone arrived, it seemed what they had been told was too good to be true.
The guests arrived to disaster on the island, with the whole setup in shambles. The living situation turned out to be half built huts with only sandwiches to eat. Following the disaster of a festival, organizer Billy McFarland failed to take responsibility for his actions. He was later convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison.
What’s happening with Revolve FestIVAL?
Revolve’s own festival titled ‘Revolve Festival’ has been a rival festival to Coachella for five years now. Considered a side party to Coachella, it is described as an even more exclusive event. It seems as if the brand’s main goal is to prove how private the event is. There are even different status levels that each influencer is given based on their popularity. But apparently unless you are a Kardashian or a Jenner, these levels didn’t cause you to be treated any differently. Differing from Coachella, this festival mainly focuses on the opportunity to create content. With fun backgrounds and cute displays, it was made for influencers and not the average music lover. Although they did try to one-up Coachella with some of their performances.
One artist in particular, Travis Scott, is playing the Revolve Festival after being removed as a Coachella headliner. Following the deaths that occured at his own festival, Astroworld, many people felt it would be unsafe for him to headline the Palm Springs festival. In addition to Travis, Post Malone, Jack Harlow, and Willow Smith also performed.
So what’s going wrong? The Revolve Festival seems to be going great according to their instagram. But from many TikTokers who attended the event, it seems like all of that is a facade. Many even claim they will never go to a Revolve event ever again. The only way to get to the Merv Griffin Estate in La Quinta, California, where the festival was being held, was through the provided shuttles. It seems that the shuttles were disorganized and Revolve did not seem ready for the large crowds. Some even claimed that they had to wait for hours, additionally with no access to food or water. This put people in an unsafe situation as it is extremely hot where the festival is taking place. Overall, it seems that the management and planning aspect of the festival was not fully thought out for such a large number of people. Especially for influencers, who feel they are all ‘VIP’ and should be given top treatment.
So has anyone really been able to replicate Coachella? The answer seems to be no. Although many companies and brands try to compete with the world’s most famous music festival, they simply can’t. Coachella is by no means perfect with planning and conditions as well, but it is clear that they can run a festival that is relatively safe and enjoyable for most people.