History
It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Live. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, indie, hip hop, and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures.
Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music. The main stages are the: Coachella Stage, Outdoor Theatre, Gobi Tent, Mojave Tent, and Sahara Tent.
On November 5, 1993, Pearl Jam performed for almost 25,000 fans at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The site was selected because the band refused to play in Los Angeles as a result of a dispute with Ticketmaster over service charges applied to ticket purchases. The show established the polo club's suitability for large-scale events; Paul Tollett, whose concert promotion company Goldenvoice booked the venue for Pearl Jam, said the concert sowed the seeds for an eventual music festival there.
On October 9–10, 1999, the inaugural Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held. Originally, promoters had hoped to make the event three days (Friday to Sunday) and even considered the UK band Massive Attack as the third-day headliner.
The 2003 festival drew the largest crowd yet, with 60,000 people attending. The event began to develop worldwide interest and began to become nationally known. It was also the first year on-site camping was provided, improving accessibility as a destination music festival for concertgoers.
Coachella was permanently extended to three days in 2007.
On May 31, 2011, Goldenvoice announced that beginning with the 2012 festival, Coachella would be expanded to a second, separately-ticketed weekend, with identical lineups for each.
