Everyone has an opinion on Coachella. You don't need to actually go to Coachella to have an opinion about Coachella, whether you hold the position that it's a fun cultural moment or that it's a sign of our inexorable slide toward corporate rot. Maybe it's both! (The one time I went, a decade ago, I had a pretty good time.) This year's first Coachella weekend is in the books, and the next one kicks off in two days. That means lots of opinions are flying around, and one of them comes from Reggie Watts, the comedian and musician. Watts has been onstage at Coachella more than once. He does not like it.
In a series of Instagram slides, Watts lays out all the reasons that he thinks Coachella sucks:
I've been to Coachella a handful of times now, and while the scale is impressive, the soul feels increasingly absent. The experience is confusing and impersonal -- checkpoint after checkpoint, wristband logic puzzles, security everywhere. Most people on the grounds move like walking credit cards, pinging from one branded experience to the next.
There's no real sense of love coming from the festival toward the people. No care. No reverence. Just vibes curated for influencer culture. You'll catch glimpses of something real -- an artist pouring their heart out on stage, a sudden wave of connection -- but those moments are fleeting. They're easily lost in the chaos, buried beneath the logistics, the brand activations, the overpriced everything.
And then there's the waste -- plastic, garbage, trash in the desert wind. Leaving is especially grim. You're navigating dust storms, people hustling to buy your wristband, and a general sense that it was all a transaction, not a shared experience. If you've got asthma or care about your breathing, bring a mask. Seriously.
There are better ways to do this. There are independent festivals run by people who give a shit -- about the music, the artists, the fans, the land. They treat performers with care and build environments where real communities can take root. That's where the magic is. That's what's worth supporting.
Last year, Reggie Watts introduced Flight Facilities at Coachella. This year, he was back in Palm Springs to perform at a Coachella-adjacent event that was sponsored by Amazon Pharmacy. Last month, Watts defended that decision on Instagram, writing that the company One Medical helped people in his life before it was absorbed by Amazon and that "it was also a meaningful paycheck -- something that, as an independent artist, doesn't always come around."
I once saw Reggie Watts do a stand-up set at All Tomorrows Parties, so he's being real about the independent-festivals thing. Also, Watts must have a high tolerance for irritation, since he was the bandleader on James Corden's Late Late Show for years.
