Coachella's Music, Fans Overcome Festival Troubles

April 30 -- Approximately 33,500 ravers, hip-hop denizens, and Red Bull-drinking music fans descended into the 95-plus degree heat of Indio, Calif., on Saturday for the 2001 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Tents were sprawled over the 175-acre, perfectly manicured lawn of the Empire Polo Club, lined with palm trees and blown with a balmy desert wind.

A peaceful, bathing-suited crowd paid $65 to see the world's top hip-hop and electronica artists on six stages, including The Roots, Mos Def, Gang Starr, Fatboy Slim, Tricky, Roni Size & Reprazent, Chemical Brothers, Paul Oakenfold, and the Orb. The night would eventually belong to the return of Jane's Addiction, who returned after a four-year absence with a carnival-esque stage show.

Sophomore SlumpSouthern California-based promotional company Goldenvoice inaugurated the Festival in 1999, with acts as diverse as Rage Against the Machine, Beck, and Moby cross-pollinating each other's fan base. The event was considered groundbreaking for granting DJs headlining spots with high-profile rock acts and has since spawned imitators, including Moby's planned Area: One series.

Unlike the first edition, however, this year saw massive organizational problems: Virtually no trash cans on the premises left the grounds piled with trash and water bottles; no drinking fountains and long lines for water made the high heat dangerous (the average attendee would need to spend $32 and three hours in lines to stay hydrated); no performance schedule was issued prior to the show nor upon entrance; food lines were an hour long by mid-afternoon; security was unsure who was allowed in what areas; a poorly lit and non-marked parking lot had many searching for their cars for hours in the dark.. Add a few technical problems and the event had the potential for disaster.

Yet the socially conscious, overtly polite crowd, and 13 hours of groove-oriented music redeemed the day.

On the mainstage, the shirtless Iggy Pop entertained the early afternoon crowd with Stooge rock, followed by alternative hip-hop act The Roots. They opened with new material, with frontman Black Thought hobbling on a cane due to a sprained ankle. Their jazzy set (though stripped of their usually heavy live instrumentation) riled the large crowd with songs like "Clones" and a remix version of "You Got Me," from their acclaimed 1999 album, Things Fall Apart.