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    Coachella 2023: Excited fans strut into Day 1 to catch their favorite acts
    • April 15, 2023

    For stepsisters Danielle Portney and Tamara Lett waltzing into the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival early Friday afternoon was a homecoming of sorts.

    Portney, 32, of Los Angeles, and Lett, 33, of San Diego haven’t missed a festival since they were juniors in high school 16 years ago.

    “It’s exciting to be back,” said Portney, who along with Lett was accompanied by Dylan Carro of Imperial Beach.

    “It’s fun for me because while people complain about the festival not being like it used to be, I have the most fun just discovering bands I’ve never heard of before,” Portney said of their annual decision to buy tickets before the lineups are known.

    Gates opened Friday, April 14 a few minutes after noon, letting fans rush onto the pristine green fields of the Empire Polo Club in Indio once again.

    The Spectra Tower at the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by David Brendan Hall, Contributing Photographer)

    From left, Avalon Aloia and Karenna Traylor of Dana Point fan themselves under the Do Lab tent during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

    Fans of Lewis OfMan dance during his performance in the Mojave tent at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

    Festivalgoers enter the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on day one of the three day event at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

    From left, Dylan Carro, Tamara Lett and Danielle Portney pose for a photograph during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

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    As the Ferris wheel slowly groaned into motion some fans headed straight for the merch tents, which this year included a special standalone tent for Friday’s headliner Bad Bunny. Others rushed to check out the new art installations for selfies and social media photos before the crowds arrive to spoil their perfect backgrounds.

    Jordan Bibbs of Crown Point, Indiana just south of Chicago, posed for his friend Rachel Baranowski of Dyer, Indiana in front of new installation that looked like giant, shiny purple grapes hovering above the field.

    Both 24, they’d driven 30 hours almost non-stop to realize a dream they’d shared since high school.

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    “Me and Rachel have always seen Coachella from social media, Instagram or influencers,” Bibbs said.

    They knew the lineup before they bought their passes — Frank Ocean was a big draw — but said it wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t. Blackpink, Metro Boomin, Charli XCX, Rae Sremmurd and Gorillaz were also on their to-see list, they said

    William Stone, an Australian living in Dubai, and Dominique Harrison-Bentzen, a Brit living in the same Middle Eastern nation, were also first-timers at the fest.

    Their trip was a Christmas present to satisfy their bucket list goal of attending a world-famous festival, Stone, 36, said.

    “You just know it’s one of those festivals that’s just going to be an epic lineup,” Stone said of buying their tickets to weekend one before the lineup was released.

    “It’s more a discovery,” Harrison-Bentzen, 31, said. “We were driving listening to (Coachella acts on) Spotify and realizing. ‘Oh we know this song, we know this song.’”

    That’s a big part of the fun, Portney and Lett agreed.

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    “We plan to go every year,” Portney said.

    “We like it more than Christmas,” Lett added.

    While some fans rushed in to claim their merch or spots near the front of the Coachella stage to catch higher-billed sets, others took a more leisurely approach. They went and grabbed snacks, hopped on the Ferris wheel for a ride and walked inside the rainbow-colored Spectra Tower.

    Brent Brubaker, who resides in Riverside County, is celebrating his twelfth Coachella this year.

    “It never gets old to me,” he said as he was leaving his car to head into the festival from the parking lot. “I’m one of those people who really doesn’t like crowds, but after experiencing my first Coachella, I’ll never miss a year.”

    This year, he’s coming both festival weekends as the event continues April 21-23. Unlike the first weekend, the second weekend isn’t sold out.

    “I’m doing weekend one alone and weekend two with some friends, but either way it’s always a great time,” he said. “You meet so many people and link up with so many people you never expected to. For me, I don’t come to see anybody, I come to just be here. I love it.”

    Then there are the fans that just can’t wait to get the party started. Some showed up a day early with their on-site camping passes, noting that the campgrounds are often a festival highlight.

    “We’ve been camping at Coachella for the past few years and after experiencing it in 2019, we couldn’t go back to just renting a house or a hotel,” Mindy Klan of Arizona said while enjoying a slice of pizza by the Yuma Tent. “Camping here is its own party. We’ve seriously made lifelong friends with other people who happened to be camping by us, and it always ends up with all of us having after parties by our cars when the days end. Even though it can get hot, we love the luxury of just waking up, being on the grounds and escaping the madness when we want to. There’s no other festival that offers that experience.”

    Noah Costales, who flew in from New York, admitted he only came to see Frank Ocean perform.

    “I bought a three-day festival pass before I knew who else would be on the bill — but I knew Frank would be playing since he couldn’t back in 2020 since COVID happened — so it was a done deal,” Costales said. “If I’m being honest, I wasn’t as impressed with this year’s lineup as I have been in the past, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to catch Frank Ocean.”

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    ​ Orange County Register 

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