INDIO, Calif. - What's sweaty, loud and weighs more than 100,000 people?
The Cure's Robert Smith?
The 2004 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival?
Yes and yes.
Last weekend, UA students and nearly 100,000 others traveled to Indio, Calif., for the fifth annual Coachella festival, one of the biggest outdoor concerts in the world. British bands Radiohead and the Cure headlined Saturday and Sunday, respectively, but more than 90 bands performed on five stages during the course of the weekend.
"I went to see Radiohead, and being in a crowd that huge, that's when it hit me. Seeing it (on the screen) was like, oh my God, I'm in that. It was so crazy," said journalism senior Moochie Bennen.
Bands weren't the only highlights of the weekend, which also included 100-degree-plus weather, special surprise performances, a film festival, strange art installations and an array of oddly dressed concertgoers.
Though Radiohead was possibly the biggest attraction at the festival, the absurdly popular British band would not even exist were it not for a few legendary performers on the bill. Some of Coachella's other bands, like Kraftwerk, the Pixies and the Cure, were making music before many of the concertgoers, or even some of the other musicians, were born.
For history senior Josh Kanto, reputation alone was enough to get him to Kraftwerk's show-closing set.
"I really went to be able to say I saw Kraftwerk," said Kanto, who added that their recordings were "less techno-y" than their live performance.
Some concertgoers were eager to put on their own performances.
"Regular people were dressed up," Kanto said. "People dressed up like the Flintstones. I had no idea what that was about."
The festival, which was created by concert promoters Goldenvoice, had bands performing simultaneously on each stage. One notable exception was The Flaming Lips. The band usually has a large stage show that includes giant balls, smoke guns and people in cartoon animal suits dancing alongside the musicians. For this performance, however, The Flaming Lips tried something new: walking across the crowd in a giant plastic bubble. The bubble took a while to inflate, which forced the band to start late and end early.
After many profuse apologies, singer Wayne Coyne entered the bubble and directed the crowd to pass him over their heads. Though the stunt delayed the show, it was worth the wait.
"(The Flaming Lips) was the best show I've ever seen," Bennen said. "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen. I think (Coyne) is my favorite rock star now. (The short set) didn't even bother me because the songs they played were so good."
While Coyne's bubble performance made him a crowd favorite, Robert Smith's Coachella appearance represented a formerly great front man in decline.
"Robert Smith was pretty weird and fat," said media arts sophomore Andy Martinez of the former posterboy of Goth. "Combined with his music it was even sadder."
"I'm not a huge Cure fan," Kanto said. "They were just kind of posing and didn't look energized. It was probably one of the worst shows (at Coachella)."
Despite complaints, Cure's set was packed, as were performances by Radiohead, the Pixies and Beck on a smaller stage. Studio art freshman Olga Goryunoza managed to stay at the front of the main stage for packed performances by Radiohead and the Pixies.
"I'm really surprised we stayed there and didn't faint," said Goryunoza. "We were crying for water in the front rows. On the second day, they poured buckets of water on us and gave us bottled water because people were fainting."
Though it may not have been the most heavily attended set, Beck's performance in a relatively small tent was possibly the most crowded.
"Seven or eight thousand people tried to see Beck perform in a tent that only held two or three thousand," said Brannon Larson, a junior majoring in English.
Even if all of this sounds like a trip through hell, the discomfort won't deter some Coachella fans from attending next year.
"I would go again at the drop of a hat," said Larson, who also took advantage of being in California by eating In-N-Out Burger four times.
"It was worth it to be in the front row getting twisted and pulled but seeing the best bands in the world," said Goryunoza.
"I had a 10 page paper due on Tuesday and had to write six (pages) when I came back, but it was OK. I'm going back to Russia for three months, and I'm going to tell all of my friends about this."
Kanto said he would think about going back in a few years, but great shows bring big crowds.
"The parking lot, afterwards (on Saturday), took about three hours to get out. I didn't get to where I was staying until 6 (a.m.). I didn't make it back (on Sunday) until 2:30," Kanto said.