Inside LA’s Coachella

Many of our Instagram feeds have been flooded with images from Los Angeles music festival Coachella.

This year, Harry Styles has performed with Shania Twain, as well as Billie Eilish and The Weeknd. As well as getting to enjoy the music, some revellers use the two weekends as a chance to showcase their fashion credentials.

In fact it is often referred to as the “influencer Olympics” for its ability to attract Instagram stars to the dessert.

The pictures we see are often quite glamorous – just look at how incredible Millie Court and Kaz Kamwi looked for the weekend.

However, according to some attendees it’s not all picture perfect moments, and there is a darker and less glamorous side to the famous festival too…

Millie showed off her style credentials at Coachella over the weekend

Millie showed off her style credentials at Coachella over the weekend

TikTok star Remi Bader – who has 2.1 million followers – posted a video travelling on a bike through the desert while hysterically crying and saying, “I hate it here.”

She later expanded on the emotional moment from her weekend, saying: “Lots of people and lots of my friends freaking love it… but I just wasn’t into it.”

Remi posted a video of herself crying at Coachella

Remi posted a video of herself crying at Coachella

She explained that she was limping because her feet hurt so much from all the walking in the hot desert, and she suffered from extreme chaffing on her upper legs – “my thighs were sizzling,” she complained.

YouTuber Emma Chamberlain shared with her 11.3 million subscribers, her experience of the festival in 2019 saying, “Everyone wants Coachella to be as amazing as it looks. They want to believe it.”

Emma first attended Coachella in 2019 and was honest about her experience of the festival

Emma first attended Coachella in 2019 and was honest about her experience of the festival

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She highlighted that there were more cons than pros. “Your body is going to be hurting at all times,” adding she had “blisters all over my feet” and “my nose was all dry and had dust encrusted in it because there’s dust flying around.”

“It is not all about the music… a lot of time you’ll show up and there will be technical difficulties,” she continued.

Influencer Maryam Ghafarinia is proof of this, she’s attended the festival four times in total, but has never even watched a single musical act. Instead she spends her time promoting and attending brand events. “There is so much work,” she said.

Emma bluntly continued, “It’s a freaking mess. There’s creepy men everywhere. People are grabbing your arm and kissing your hand, and following you around.”

British Influencers, including Sydney May Crouch, have attended this year's festival

British Influencers, including Sydney May Crouch, have attended this year’s festival

What’s more, Teen Vogue attended the festival the year before and spoke to 54 women who all claimed they’d experienced a form of sexual harassment or assault while at Coachella.

Emma continued, “There’s drunk people everywhere – people throwing up.”

There was 88 drug and alcohol-related arrests made during weekend one of Coachella, according to Desert Sun.

She concluded by telling her followers, “It’s so expensive.” Although, she wasn’t too put off as she returned this year!

YouTube star Sydney May Crouch, who travelled to Coachella for the first time this year, spoke about letting the “Coachella pressure” affect her. She remarked, “I dress better when there’s no pressure” posting a photo taken the day after Coachella.

She also teased fans about revealing the truth about her not totally positive experience in an upcoming YouTube video alluding to festival goers’ drug use.

Of course, everybody’s experience of one event is going to be different. Influencers such as Saffron Barker and Sarah Ashcroft as well as Love Island star Millie Court have shown themselves having fun during the weekend.

While Fitness Influencer Meggan Grub shared a video of her fun experience, although complained about the length of the queues for shuttle buses to leave the festival. “It was chaos,” she said of her two hour wait.

Meggan mostly enjoyed her experience

Meggan mostly enjoyed her experience

In July 2016 it was reported that Philip Anchutz, who’s company AEG runs Coachella, was linked to a foundation who made donations of around $200,000 to anti-LGBTQ political organisations.

However, he has since denied the allegations. “I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation,” he said. “Neither I nor the Foundation fund any organisation with the purpose or expectation that it would finance anti-LGBTQ initiatives.”

Fancy experiencing Coachella for yourself? You’d better start saving now. This year’s attendees paid between £327 and £400 for a general ticket, and that’s before booking fees. VIP passes were between £677 and £815. And of course, you’ll need to pay for the flight out there. Perhaps we’ll stick to following them all on social media instead….

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