{"id":4582,"date":"2016-04-26T20:20:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T03:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=4582"},"modified":"2025-11-02T09:51:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T16:51:48","slug":"coachella-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=4582","title":{"rendered":"Coachella 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, two years of Coachella has come and gone.\u00a0 It says something of my busy factor that I’m a year behind writing this blog entry!\u00a0 But lets start at the beginning.\u00a0 In 2014.<\/p>\n

Shortly after a Coachella the presale for the NEXT Coachella goes on sale.\u00a0 Sex God and I try to get all our friends to get tickets at this time so we can all go together, cuz its easier to pay for tickets that almost cost $400 each, on the monthly layaway program they’ve set up.\u00a0 So while Sex God’s friend Cesar didn’t manage it, and Tongue God totally forgot (or was expecting me to remind him idk). I managed to get 2 tix to Weekend One and Sex God managed to get 2 Weekend Two (primarily in case Cesar didn’t get tix) and our friend Mike got 2 for Weekend One to go with us.\u00a0 I managed to secure condo space for 6 and we were set for vacation!<\/p>\n

\"Coachella\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Then the lineup came out.\u00a0 And I’ll admit I was sorely disappointed. \u00a0\u00a0 I didn’t really want to see any of the headliners and none of the new bands I was in love with were even on the billing.\u00a0 No Kongos, no Bleachers, no Priory.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And I’d recently been going through this, “Is this who I want to be” phase of introspection.\u00a0 So I really wasn’t feeling like I wanted to go that year.\u00a0 The expense of all the food.\u00a0 The fact I’m not a beer drinker & that’s the primary liquor.\u00a0 The weight I’d gained over the year combined with the judgement of the status seekers of Weekend One REALLY made it unattractive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And then cruising on my Facebook page floats an ad for a different festival.\u00a0 BottleRock….\u00a0 3 \"BottleRock2015\"days, just like Coachella.\u00a0 Fancy food & drink like Coachella (although I expect the wine is better because its\u00a0 in Napa.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But, Oh My that lineup!\u00a0\u00a0 Suddenly all the excitement I should have had for Coachella was completely there…. for BottleRock.\u00a0 And the ticket price was $100 LESS than Coachella!<\/p>\n

Sex God was right there with me in the decision.\u00a0 Sell Coachella and do BottleRock for 2015.\u00a0\u00a0 So when my Weekend One tickets arrived, I promptly put them on Craigslist.\u00a0 Alas, so did TONS of people.\u00a0 And while I had nibbles, mine were priced higher than straight tix due to having purchased a shuttle pass along with them.\u00a0 (This on the advice of Tongue God who shuttled last year and said it was much better than driving.)<\/p>\n

Worse was the fact I couldn’t get anyone interested in renting the condo space from me.\u00a0 Oh, I got nibbles.\u00a0 I even got one woman to commit to it, only to back out.\u00a0\u00a0 The closer it got to the event the more despondent I got about being able to recoup my money.\u00a0 But Sex God reminded me of the time we won tickets from radio stations and how we sold them to the scalpers which lined the roads to the event.\u00a0 Which meant, off to Palm Springs we were going to have to go.<\/p>\n

And since I couldn’t get anyone to rent the condo space, I decided to take the kids with us on a vacation.\u00a0\u00a0 I packed up a small amount of food, their PS3, bathing suits and a change of clothes and off we were on a road trip.<\/p>\n

The kids were great.\u00a0 They rarely fight and if they do its quickly diffused.\u00a0 The drive up was mostly quiet while the radio lasted.\u00a0 Then it was silly as their humor is quite random.\u00a0 Once in the condo and the PS3 was set up, Luke and Conor wanted to go to the pool and Brant and I needed to head to the festival to try to sell the tickets.\u00a0\u00a0 So we all went our perspective way.<\/p>\n

But when Brant and I get near the festival we see NO scalpers anywhere.\u00a0 The city had completely cracked down.\u00a0 Which I personally think is great, even if it did pose a problem to those changing their minds about the concert, because I hope it will discourage the scalpers from scooping up tickets they don’t plan on going to next year.\u00a0\u00a0 Even on Craigslist I couldn’t get any price close to what I paid, even ticket price without shuttle pass.\u00a0\u00a0 So we gave up and went back to the condo.<\/p>\n

\"084\"Looking at each other Sex God and I decided if we weren’t going to recoup costs, we might as well GO!\u00a0\u00a0 Of course by the time we realized this we’d missed most of Friday.\u00a0 But we went Saturday and part of Sunday.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, we walked to the shuttle (20 minute walk away) and caught a bus ride to the festival.\u00a0 Which, wasn’t too bad actually.\u00a0 If we go next year, we may invest in a shuttle pass but buy it AFTER we know we’re going! lol\u00a0\u00a0 It definitely lets you off closer to the event and lets you avoid a lot of street traffic.\u00a0 But the walk back at night to our condo had a few scary, no-sidewalk, is-that-car-circling-back- around-to-kill us… moments.\u00a0\u00a0 Much better to drive to one next year.<\/p>\n

We only had a few bands we wanted to see Saturday so we ended up parked at the main state to see Bad Religion, Milky Chance and Hozier.\u00a0\u00a0 But we got there early enough to wander around.\u00a0 I got my usual coffee toffee ice cream from BlackBeanIceCream.com stand and oh, it is soooo yummy.\u00a0 In one of the beer gardens, I left where we were standing to get Sex God a beer and got grabbed and danced around in a circle several times by a very happy drunk. lol\u00a0\u00a0 In that beer garden we were able to see\/hear the house DJ music of Alison Wonderland.\u00a0 She was very, very good!\u00a0\u00a0 Too bad my feet (and weight) don’t let me dance like all the other 20 year olds to this music. hahaha!\u00a0 [Often I’ll insert vid clips but other people film better than I do and YouTube is a wonderful medium for that lol]<\/p>\n

Bad Religion was ok.\u00a0\u00a0 I probably should have tried to see Andrew McMahon instead, but it did a little time crossover with Milky Chance and that was what Sex God really wanted to see.\u00a0 Poor lead singer of Milky Chance had some cold or something because while his voice sounded the same, he claimed he was sick and apologized, although he put on a great show anyway.\u00a0 And Hozier… well, that was almost as much fun as seeing Vampire Weekend in (2011 & 2013).\u00a0 Knowing all the songs is way better than not knowing when you see a performance!<\/p>\n

We perused the line up after Hozier and like the old people we have to admit we are, we decided we were good to go!\u00a0 So we left by 7:30.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I entertained Sex God on the shuttle back with stories of bus sexploits I’d had.\u00a0 He was so turned on he got hard… so I indulged him in a little oral just for the shock and awe of it!\u00a0 There were barely 10 people on the bus that looked like it could hold 50!<\/p>\n

I\u00a0 had given the boys some money and instructions to keep together but walk to the mini mall on the corner filled with fast food and buy dinner.\u00a0 And to have the salad I’d brought for them to eat.\u00a0 They did and left the change on the counter for me.\u00a0\u00a0 Such good kids.\u00a0 They were happy with their free Wifi, PS3 and Evan got some alone time and space by sleeping on the pull out couch in the living room.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But I made them go to bed early because since we were gong to go to Coachella Sunday and the kids had school Monday, I decided to drive them home early Sunday morning.\u00a0\u00a0 They were very ready, since they decided home’s Wifi was faster than the condo’s. lol.<\/p>\n

Now this decision proved quite challenging.\u00a0 But since the band I wanted to see Sunday was Saint Motel and they played at 1:20 I thought I’d\u00a0 make it.\u00a0 But, see, Sex God also had to go back to L.A. for a blood draw appointment Sunday am, but it wouldn’t have worked to have him take the boys since the blood draw was in the OC.\u00a0 So we all hit the road at about 8 am and I managed to get the kids home by 10am and me back on the road by 10:20.\u00a0 And while I made it back to the condo in 2 hours, I didn’t factor in how long it was going to take to get to the venue AND get through security.\u00a0 I barely saw the last 3 songs from Saint Motel, particularly since by then I had a blister on my toe, due to flip flops!<\/p>\n

But I did get to see them and boy I thoroughly enjoyed that.\u00a0 Sex God finally arrived and we tried to have fun (after all its was my birthday) and did a pretty good job but by 4pm we were burnt out.\u00a0 Ok… HE was burnt out.\u00a0 It was a combination of no breakfast nor coffee before the 4 vials of blood drawn at 11 am, the long drives with traffic, drinking too much water in the morning and then trying to make it up with bear and vodka at the event, and the long walk from parking in pants because he didn’t bring shorts to change in, and the heat and sun… it all made him too drunk, then by the evening gave him a horrid migraine headache, complete with nausea.\u00a0 \u00a0 Didn’t stop him from running to the market to buy a steak to cook for me for my birthday.\u00a0 Crazy man.<\/p>\n

We kinda wanted to stay for Vance Joy and Kaskade but he deferred to me and we left.\u00a0 And on the way out this guy asks to buy our wristbands.\u00a0 He offered us $40 each and since we were done with them, and to make the ENTIRE trip not a total loss we said sure.\u00a0\u00a0 THAT put Sex God in a much better mood about leaving early.\u00a0\u00a0 Didn’t offset his migraine, sadly, but with enough Motrin, food, water and a dip in the pool he finally was able to get it down enough to fall asleep.<\/p>\n

As to the rest of our lovely vacation.\u00a0 That, was as great as time together usually is.\u00a0 We did a bit a swimming in the pool but more laying out in it getting a bit tan.\u00a0 He is SO hot he gets looks from the guys and the girls.\u00a0 We went to a restaurant or two.\u00a0 One was so empty that we were able to play our music on our phones while we ate.\u00a0 The bill was a bit pricey but it was the best burger Sex God ever had and the ice cream drinks were delicious.\u00a0\u00a0 Although, jeez Palm Springs, who’s liver are you trying to kill!!\u00a0 I know you’re the city of James Dean, but holy shit these drinks are triple strength!<\/p>\n

\"CoachellaSo that was Coachella 2015.\u00a0 And all that happened didn’t stop me from buying presale 2016 tickets.\u00a0 After all.. I had great hope next year would be different!\u00a0 Sadly it wasn’t. lol\u00a0 But this time I didn’t shell out an irretrievable amount for a place to stay and I didn’t have any difficulty selling the tickets.\u00a0 Although I didn’t price them higher than my cost and I didn’t wait a single second to unload them, so that may have been the key.<\/p>\n

And I’ll buy the presale in a few weeks for 2017 because maybe next year will be different.<\/p>\n

ha<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, two years of Coachella has come and gone.\u00a0 It says something of my busy factor that I’m a year behind writing this blog entry!\u00a0 But lets start at the beginning.\u00a0 In 2014. Shortly after a Coachella the presale for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-just-ramblings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4582"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4704,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582\/revisions\/4704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}