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The Coachella music festival officially kicked off in California on Friday and will welcome hundreds of thousands of people who made the trek to its hallowed grounds. However, many of them had to endure an excruciating wait due to traffic issues that were compounded by the heat and a lack of bathrooms that set a less than enjoyable tone for the event.
In 1999, what is officially known as the “Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival” was held on the grounds of Empire Polo Club in Indio, California for the first time. It returned in 2001, and aside from the two times it was canceled due to the pandemic, it’s been held on an annual basis for close to 25 years while cementing itself as one of the biggest musical gatherings in the United States.
This year, Coachella will take place from April 11th to 13th. Lady Gaga, Green Day, and Post Malone are respectively serving as the headliners on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but they’re just three of the dozens of musical acts that will get the chance to take the stage during the event.
Based on how long Coachella has been going on, you might assume organizers have perfected the art of welcoming an influx of attendees while making the experience as streamlined and painless as possible. However, that apparently was not the case in 2025.
Plenty of people who decided to make the pilgrimage this year headed to Indio on Thursday in the hopes of getting a head start on the festivities, but according to KESQ, many of them saw those plans hit a snag thanks to lengthy lines that forced some people who were trying to get past security to wait more than 12 hours to actually get through the gates.
Long lines of cars outside the #Coachella festival grounds. Some campers said they’ve been in line for more than 7 hours without access to water or restrooms. @luisavilanews will have more live starting at 4PM
Details: https://t.co/moPPIrDEsD pic.twitter.com/2aYHHjhf30
— KESQ News Channel 3 (@KESQ) April 10, 2025
While that was already an unpleasant situation, it was made even worse by the lack of portapotties on the road leading to Coachella and temperatures that peaked over 100°F on Thursday afternoon, with one person telling the outlet they saw multiple people passing out from heat exhaustion (which presumably stemmed from drivers being forced to turn off their vehicles—and air conditioning—to avoid running out of gas).
It probably goes without saying that it’s not uncommon to get stuck in some traffic while trying to get to Coachella given the size of the festival, but this is a seemingly unprecedented situation. It’s not entirely clear why things took a turn this year, and officials have yet to provide any sort of explanation as of this writing.
Content shared from brobible.com.