Believe it or not, there’s a lot more to Coachella than its 2019 headliners, which include Janelle Monae, Tame Impala, and Ariana Grande. The two-weekend event is considered a music and arts festival, however, each year, Coachella becomes increasingly more technologically advanced.
There is already an air that Google may be a major player at Coachella 2019. Music from the lineup artists is already curated in YouTube Music playlists on the festival website. As is already common for many music festivals, the Coachella app is available for iOS and Android. Soon-to-be festival goers will be able to activate their wristbands, create their personal performance lineups, get event notifications, and interactive maps on the app, among other features.
Coachella 2018 tech highlights
In 2018, Adweek explored the tech presence brought to Coachella by Google, Amazon, and American Express. While artists used Google Home Max devices to play music during downtime, event goers had access to Pixel 3 devices for photo ops. The Amazon Echo Look was on hand to help attendees perfect their festival attire. American Express had a host of shopping perks for cardholders at the festival, from an Uber priority lane to exclusive Coachella shirts that were available for purchase in VR.
Drones served as the primary security option for Coachella 2018 to allow offers to be on hand in the event of an emergency and not in the middle of crowds. Intel also brought its own drones to perform a light how during ODESZA’s set.
The HP Antarctic Dome was another highlight of Coachella 2018, featuring 108 speakers and 15 projectors to create as close to a 360-degree audio-visual experience for up to 500 patrons at a time.
For those at home, Google enabled a “talk to Coachella” command for its Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Max devices. The command provided users with the lineup and schedule details, as well as artists interviews, and festival trivia.
Coachella tech history
Prior years of Coachella have also had their own technology highlights. Coachella 2016 featured virtual reality tours and 360-live streaming. Coachella 2012 will likely remain a festival for the history books, featuring a hologram of the late Tupac Shakur rapping for attendees during the Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre set.
Coachella 2019 tickets and lineup
Coachella 2019 takes place from April 12 to 14 and from April 19 to 21 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA. The artist line up for Coachella 2019 is now available, with tickets going on sale January 4 at 11 a.m. PT.
Check out the full Coachella 2019 line up below.
— Coachella (@coachella) January 3, 2019
