This post was updated May 1 at 8:49 p.m.
The dust on Coachella 2025 is finally starting to settle – or at least clear – from festival-goers’ lungs.
Now that the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has come and gone – as well as the Stagecoach Festival that follows the weekend after – the memories of the West Coast’s premier music festival still linger. Although the festival experience was in large part enjoyable for attendees, it is no secret that going to Coachella is far from an easy ride or a smooth experience. Embracing the elements of the scorching April desert is an obstacle, and the steep price of a ticket – which for Coachella 2026 weekend two starts at $549 – means fans deserve to have a thrilling time from beginning to end. On the whole, the food and sanitation failed to inspire awe, while the performances and festival grounds exceeded expectations.
Arguably, the element of Coachella that could have used the most work is reducing pathways for post-festival illness to strike. The use of portable toilets across the festival grounds was ergonomic and practical, but the inexplicable decision to shut off water for handwashing later on in the day was incredibly disappointing and failed to prioritize festival-goers’ health. Even with attendees being encouraged to bring hand sanitizer, the organizers of Coachella could have done more to ensure access to hand sanitizer and the ability to wash one’s hands at any time throughout the weekend.
The food was largely hit-or-miss, with an emphasis on the miss. Even with some tasty morsels of grub to be found throughout the festival grounds, the exorbitant prices of such items – combined with small portions – left a bitter taste for festival-goers merely trying to find reliable sustenance on the hot Indio, California, days. The worst offender may have been the $17 lemonade, which was not adequately refreshing or satisfyingly flavorful. A drink at this price point should have been the best lemonade ever created, but it was instead a pitiful symbol of the worst of Coachella capitalism.
However, it must be acknowledged that the wait times for food at Coachella were thankfully very short, usually not exceeding 10 minutes for dishes such as MANEATINGPLANT’s delicious garlic noodles. Thanks to the sheer number of options available, it was reliably easy to grab a bite of food and make it back in time to catch the majority of the next set of an anticipated artist. When there are so many musicians to see, the efficiency of the food is especially vital, and Coachella delivered upon this task. Another instrumental positive of the Coachella offerings was the accessibility of $2 water bottles and water-refilling stations to maintain hydration in the desert.
One of the surprises of the Coachella experience was the level of sound pollution between stages. On the first night of the weekend, for instance, it was difficult to concentrate on the final 20 minutes of The Marías’ set at the Outdoor Theatre because the projections of music and light from Missy Elliott’s set at the Coachella Stage were so extreme. On this measure, there is admittedly very little that can be done to remedy the immersion of future festivals, as the Empire Polo Club is strapped for space and simultaneously trying to host as many artists as possible. With that said, perhaps slightly more staggered set times could have helped each act better claim their time on stage.
In spite of these grievances, there are still many pieces that Coachella gets right. Contrary to online chatter that derided the 2025 lineup as middling compared to past years, the artists brought on stage for this year’s festival delivered consistently enthralling performances and captured the musical interests and nostalgia of multiple generations of attendees.
Likewise, a particular piece of the entire Coachella operation that deserves heaps of praise is how meticulously clean and spotless the festival grounds remained. Immediately after the conclusion of one of the night’s major performances – and often even before, during the penultimate song of the setlist – Coachella custodial workers appeared in droves to pick up every plate, bottle and piece of trash that had been left and abandoned on the festival grounds. This herculean effort enabled the wide open plain of the Empire Polo Club to remain a suitable place to sit and rest between sets – even as it became increasingly dry.
The effort of the custodial staff at Coachella demonstrates an overall potential for positive effort and organization at the festival in general. If the same energy and commitment could be applied to the food and providing consistent opportunities for cleaning one’s hands, the festival experience for 2026 will be even better. As it is, the festival is a nonstop jaunt from set to set – but is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take in more music than a lifetime’s worth of concerts.
With continuous improvements, Coachella can continue to be the live music experience of festival-goers’ dreams.
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