Coachella Chaos as Attendees Complain About Long Lines
April 11, 2025
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Coachella 2025 opened to frustration on Friday after attendees endured hours-long waits to enter the festival’s car camping areas.
The California event was compared to the Fyre Festival by attendees, who said they were stuck in gridlock for hours overnight without basic amenities.
Newsweek contacted Coachella’s management via email for comment.
The Context
The 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s first weekend runs from April 11 to 13 and is being headlined by Lady Gaga, Green Day and Post Malone. However, despite the festival’s reputation as one of the most exclusive events of the year, the opening has been affected by what some have called its worst organizational failure to date.
Stock Image: Guests attend 2025 Desert Smash Bash at Zenyara Estate at Zenyara on March 4, 2025, in Coachella, California. Stock Image: Guests attend 2025 Desert Smash Bash at Zenyara Estate at Zenyara on March 4, 2025, in Coachella, California. Getty Images
What To Know
Coachella attendees shared accounts of 12-hour delays, limited access to bathrooms and a chaotic check-in process on Friday, when lines for the festival campsites first opened.
“This is the worst line I’ve ever seen to get into Coachella car camping in the 10 plus times I’ve been,” one said on X, formerly Twitter, where “Coachella” started trending. “Nothing makes sense. This sh*t is not moving.”
Several top posts on Coachella’s official subreddit complained about the disorganization, with one poster writing: “Got in line at 9:30 AM…got in at 5 PM.”
One of the most popular posts on the community in the last few hours on Friday read: “Coachella’s new camping setup is what’s ruining the experience this year.
“Coachella made some major changes to their camping setup this year, adding powered van sections, pre-set tents, and front-row preferred camping. Honestly, it just feels like a way to squeeze more money out of campers. It’s disappointing.”
Elsewhere, lines for the venue got so bad that local California news started covering them, with reports from KESQ showing trails of cars that lasted for seven hours, reportedly without access to water or toilets.
There were several comparisons with the Fyre Festival, a disastrous 2017 event in the Bahamas that was widely ridiculed for its lack of organization, with one user suggesting that the event was as bad as the food service at Fyre.
However, some festivalgoers thought that the complaints about the lines were overrated.
“People think just because line getting in was awful, that their whole time is ruined,” one person commented under the Fyre comparison. “You still got 3 full days and nights.”
“It wasn’t even like that the whole time,” another attendee said. “Select people got the ridiculous waits. This was a fast year for my group.”
What Happens Next
Coachella officials have not made a statement addressing the complaints. The festival’s first weekend will continue as normal until April 13. Weekend 2 of the festival starts on April 18.
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