That time we got paid to go to COACHELLA

So, 3 years ago a Venado del Mar flew us to Coachella as part of an activation during the festival. We have always been keen on music and everything around it, videos, lifestyle, even our branding was intended to look like a rock band. Even though at the end Venado del Mar disappeared and the material remains unedited, our 17 years old self is still excited to remember that time someone paid us to take pictures in a music festival.

By growing in the rock / punk rock scene this massive festivals have always been a contradiction. In one hand you get to see live that big name, but on the other hand everything is so expensive, people is paying way more attention in how everything looks rather than enjoying the show. And Coachella is the McDonalds of all festivals. Is the Superbowl of music, it is absurdly commercial, so much that they just copy pasted it to make more money and people buy the tickets without knowing who´s playing.

Coachella

Anyways, you get to see big names, one of the biggest: AC/DC! AC “fucking Angus Young playing over a hundred speakers in the middle of flames” DC! There goes for first night, all drunk with some 10 dollar beers and lots of mezcal we managed to hide in our underwares, singing Highway to Hell and partying with some lovely 50+ years old rednecks. For the second day after moshin with LA cholos and Instastars in the BAD RELIGION show I thought that was it, day couldn´t get any better.

I said I grew up in a rock/punk-rock scene, but right now I run a Lifestyle Agency in Cancun, go every couple of weeks to the barber shop and wear nice posh shirts to meetings, so I´m quite comfortable with pinterest people. I was enjoying the festival, the music, good weather, beautiful girls and still lots of mezcal. And I was paying 10 dlls beers and not feeling guilty of it.

Coachella

But at night another big name: JACK WHITE. I´ve always been a fan of THE WHITE STRIPES but never paid attention to THE RACONTEURS or his solo career. And as I said, I didn´t thought the day could get any better, so the only thing I expected was that he played Fell in love with a girl so I could be drunk and yell the lyrics. He played on the main stage. The big screens at the sides were in black and white to make it all look like an old TV show. The musicians had way too much attitude, from the weird old guy that played the theremin, to the beautiful short haired, short skirted violinist, and of course, Jack all suited up holding his 1950´s Kay Hollowbody. It felt like everything was over produced to look cool, and every band member could be in the cover of a fashion magazine, yet everything sounded true, sounded real.

The concert was awesome, they played many songs from the WHITE BLOOD CELLS as well as RACOUNTEURS´ hits. The sound was full of texture, I think everything they used was analog. And you could easily understand why Jack was changing guitars, each one with a distinctive personality. And it was not a solo act, not at all. They were a band, a united well rehearsed band, of talented musicians . A lot of blues, a lot of rock n roll and lots of dirty fast chords. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!

At some point Jack White spoke to the audience, he preached that we shouldn´t forget why we were there: It´s all about music, “MUSIC IS SACRED” he said! He recalled when he was little and his favorite part of mass was when the priest said “may the lord be with you” and you were supposed to shake hands with whoever was next to you, no matter if he was a rich or a poor man. And he asked us to hug whoever was next to us.He made us look around and recognize the people we were sharing the music with. And of course after that the place exploded. It was madness!

And like if it wasn´t enough when the band left the stage, the crowd started chanting Seven Nations Army´s riff, that btw they didn´t played. You know how Thom Yorke said that they will never played “Creep” again after it became a mainstream success? Well this was the complete opposite, he grabbed that mainstream riff, and turned it into a massive stadium rock anthem. Every single people knew the song and was chanting it. It was like Hendrix at Woodstock, Morrison at the House of Blues, Zeppelin at the Royal Albert Music Hall. Old school kind of rockstar connecting with the whole audience through music.