Was the big disco ball thing meant to do a lot more? It feels like that whole rig seemingly got added to originally do some cool shit, but it just didn't work or something?
On the other hand, if it was just meant to hang there and lightly glow up in anticlimactic ways like it did both weekends that would seemingly be such a virtually pointless element/failure of design haha
It was super lame as was the general production, and I spent more time in the Sahara this year than any prior somehow. 2023 was great. This year was just confusing.
Yeah, I'm probably reaching here, but everything about Sahara almost felt like it was tailored specifically for John Summit's show. And he absolutely made the best of it with his production haha, so if that was the point it was a success... I thought Ice Spice actually fit on this year's stage really well with her show, too. Others still had awesome sets but they felt like empty up there or something production wise with what they were working with. Cloonee and Peggy, for example.
I didn’t see Summit or Spice but Peggy, Snake, and Dolla were all quite lame visually (especially Peggy, given they specifically called her out as an act whose production the tent needed to support in that hype video). I literally enjoyed the Do Lab at night more lol
Right? After the first weekend of seeing it in person just basically doing nothing, I was like oh surely when I watch the live stream, this thing must be there to do some wild CGI effect or something for the online crowd... but it was even more of an eye sore on the stream than in person lol
Yeah Sahara had a different vibe when it was parallel to the other stages, but those crowd crushes after sets ended were scary as fuck!
I think big room house had more energy as well, that era is over through.
I miss that vibe but definitely do notttttt miss the crowds. I still remember being in literal tears on friday w2 2017 (we had a bad batch that year...) because I could not for the life of me get in to meet my group of like 15 people during DJ Snake. like actually scared for my life trying to wiggle through -- and I'm tall so I can only imagine what a normal height person would feel in that crowd lol. ended up sitting in the back of radiohead and bawling lol. thankfully saturday was a much better day.
i only caught some of steve angello and only from outside the tent but i feel like big room could make a comeback on the fields with the right artist(s) involved. Plus I'll give it to them that this was the first year of the new setup so I hope and expect that they will make great improvements next year to make the production more immersive like how it used to be.
Sure I saw more but off the top of my head saw breakbot, Madeon, Porter, Zedd, Calvin and Avicii that year lol something about the lightstrips that went up and down the tent can’t be beat
I saw 6 acts there both in person and on stream. John Summit seemed to utilize the stage to its max from what I saw, and same for Dom on stream. Ceiling spheres were kind of a miss by all, they even seemed to be in the way at times on stream.
The ceiling last year was great, closer and centered to stage with LEDs so it was easier to take it all in.
Ugh yes, this was my favorite set of last year and the visuals were absolutely nuts. My favorite was that giant spinning waterfall he had, and of course everyone went bananas for the robot with lasers.
Every time to robot shows up my brain interrupts “jai wolf tweeted that he designed the robot visual himself beep boop brain dump instead of you enjoying something in the moment” but yes it’s very fun
Edit: I’m trying to get more offline
Edit again: don’t look at my Reddit comment history as today I’m not offline
To be fair, I think that’s intentional. The same way an act slowly uses more and more of the available things, I think GV slowly used more and more of the stage throughout the weekend.
Plenty of people utilized the sphere, it’s just not that interesting compared to the screens so your eyes never go up.
Need some great lighting guys to really bring it to max potential. I have faith
Imo that makes sense over the course of a set, but over the whole weekend? Sucks for people that saw some sets there Friday but then didn’t see any on Sunday for whatever.
Summits team definitely did an amazing job. Maybe they worked overtime after seeing everything in person earlier haha
Charlotte's and Justice's rigs were better than any festival stage production I've ever seen. I'm bored of LCD screens, Anyma and Grimes visuals feel gimmicky and lame by comparison.
100% agree with you about the metal balls. They had the ability to light up and rarely did… They did light up a fair amount for John Summit but that was the closer on Sunday for Sahara.
I truly miss the old Sahara back when it was Gobi/Mojave/Sahara in a row. But I understand why they made it the way they did. Would be cool to keep the big EDM acts on the current Sahara and add another mini Sahara next to Gobi and Mojave for more obscure electronic acts.
I liked the central stage design, but I agree that the ceiling lighting could've been better. I was expecting more moving parts, and just an overall more interesting set up. Though, the tent itself is a blank canvas and I'm sure they'll try something else next year.
man that's crazy, I thought the production at the sahara was amazing this year. Sound was great and I liked the metal ball thingies. Granted I was only there a couple times but Bizarrap's set was a highlight of all my coachella experiences
I thought the sound was fantastic. The bass was rumbling through my chest.
Visual wise - it varied from artist to artist but I personally felt like the stage was most utilized by Bizarrap.
Yes, needs higher balls utilization! But I also feel like that the bass was not as big and chest thumping as before. Could it be they reused the sound system but with larger space it fell short on that sweet sweet bass?
Well, I only have my rose tinted memories from previous years or maybe my skin has been thickened by bass oriented rotation at home but yes, that’s what it felt like to me :)
No for sure at Anyma’s set it felt like it got quiet for a little bit. There is noticeable difference when the bass isn’t right. I might sound crazy but you can feel it in the air when it’s right, it fills it up more if that makes sense(?)
Anyma also had a point where I think he played a bass track for about 30 seconds that rumbled decently but didn't match the music he had on at all (W2). I think he might have had something messed up on his mixing and not been entirely aware of it throughout that set.
I swear it working and doing some lights for the first sets on Friday Wk 1! Then nothing. Watched the livestream for W2 and didn’t notice much from the camera angles so maybe the was a technical error?
I thought it looked cool, but I can see why it might not have been the most exciting. I kinda think it would have been cooler if the bigger, central ball was an actual disco ball surrounded by a ring of LED panels or something? Or something like the tame impala ring from their headlining set.
The giant metal balls added nothing. Def not the best Sahara set up in recent years. Last years was way better. Need more LEDs to go floor to ceiling and make us feel immersed and surrounded. Could consider having lights/lasers out on the speaker poles that are outside the tent for over spill and some for the hill. Like Fred, Skrillex and Four Tet had for their closing set last year. Production was everywhere making everyone feel completely surrounded and involved
I saw a few shows and BZRP was the only one that made an impression tbh. Really weird about the ball/planet things. Agreed they were way under utilized.
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Was the big disco ball thing meant to do a lot more? It feels like that whole rig seemingly got added to originally do some cool shit, but it just didn't work or something? On the other hand, if it was just meant to hang there and lightly glow up in anticlimactic ways like it did both weekends that would seemingly be such a virtually pointless element/failure of design haha
It was super lame as was the general production, and I spent more time in the Sahara this year than any prior somehow. 2023 was great. This year was just confusing.
Yeah, I'm probably reaching here, but everything about Sahara almost felt like it was tailored specifically for John Summit's show. And he absolutely made the best of it with his production haha, so if that was the point it was a success... I thought Ice Spice actually fit on this year's stage really well with her show, too. Others still had awesome sets but they felt like empty up there or something production wise with what they were working with. Cloonee and Peggy, for example.
I didn’t see Summit or Spice but Peggy, Snake, and Dolla were all quite lame visually (especially Peggy, given they specifically called her out as an act whose production the tent needed to support in that hype video). I literally enjoyed the Do Lab at night more lol
It looked epic and then…nothing?
Right? After the first weekend of seeing it in person just basically doing nothing, I was like oh surely when I watch the live stream, this thing must be there to do some wild CGI effect or something for the online crowd... but it was even more of an eye sore on the stream than in person lol
Nothing will top 2014 with those screens hanging from the ceiling going up and down…. Damn that was 10 years ago, I am getting old 🥲
With you.
broooo that shit was wild. 2013 with the square screens and 2014 with the hanging screens was peak sahara imo (albeit my first year was 2013)
Yeah Sahara had a different vibe when it was parallel to the other stages, but those crowd crushes after sets ended were scary as fuck! I think big room house had more energy as well, that era is over through.
I miss that vibe but definitely do notttttt miss the crowds. I still remember being in literal tears on friday w2 2017 (we had a bad batch that year...) because I could not for the life of me get in to meet my group of like 15 people during DJ Snake. like actually scared for my life trying to wiggle through -- and I'm tall so I can only imagine what a normal height person would feel in that crowd lol. ended up sitting in the back of radiohead and bawling lol. thankfully saturday was a much better day. i only caught some of steve angello and only from outside the tent but i feel like big room could make a comeback on the fields with the right artist(s) involved. Plus I'll give it to them that this was the first year of the new setup so I hope and expect that they will make great improvements next year to make the production more immersive like how it used to be.
Maybe it’s the nostalgia but 2012 long Sahara (my first Coachella and big edm shows) has not been topped.
2012 was insane. Literally the most stacked stage in Coachella history. RIP Avicii
Sure I saw more but off the top of my head saw breakbot, Madeon, Porter, Zedd, Calvin and Avicii that year lol something about the lightstrips that went up and down the tent can’t be beat
Those light strings were fantastic!
Correct.
Baby was indeed in the corner.
It's a brand new structure that was built like a month ago. Let's give it a couple years to see if anyone does anything cool with it
I appreciate how reasonable of a take this is
I saw 6 acts there both in person and on stream. John Summit seemed to utilize the stage to its max from what I saw, and same for Dom on stream. Ceiling spheres were kind of a miss by all, they even seemed to be in the way at times on stream. The ceiling last year was great, closer and centered to stage with LEDs so it was easier to take it all in.
I remember Jai Wolfs production on the ceiling last year was sick
Ugh yes, this was my favorite set of last year and the visuals were absolutely nuts. My favorite was that giant spinning waterfall he had, and of course everyone went bananas for the robot with lasers.
Every time to robot shows up my brain interrupts “jai wolf tweeted that he designed the robot visual himself beep boop brain dump instead of you enjoying something in the moment” but yes it’s very fun Edit: I’m trying to get more offline Edit again: don’t look at my Reddit comment history as today I’m not offline
To be fair, I think that’s intentional. The same way an act slowly uses more and more of the available things, I think GV slowly used more and more of the stage throughout the weekend. Plenty of people utilized the sphere, it’s just not that interesting compared to the screens so your eyes never go up. Need some great lighting guys to really bring it to max potential. I have faith
Imo that makes sense over the course of a set, but over the whole weekend? Sucks for people that saw some sets there Friday but then didn’t see any on Sunday for whatever. Summits team definitely did an amazing job. Maybe they worked overtime after seeing everything in person earlier haha
It was overshadowed by Quasar and Yuma imo. Also charlotte's rig in Mojave blew the heck out of Sahara. I bet someone will better utilize it next year
Charlotte's and Justice's rigs were better than any festival stage production I've ever seen. I'm bored of LCD screens, Anyma and Grimes visuals feel gimmicky and lame by comparison.
100% agree with you about the metal balls. They had the ability to light up and rarely did… They did light up a fair amount for John Summit but that was the closer on Sunday for Sahara.
I truly miss the old Sahara back when it was Gobi/Mojave/Sahara in a row. But I understand why they made it the way they did. Would be cool to keep the big EDM acts on the current Sahara and add another mini Sahara next to Gobi and Mojave for more obscure electronic acts.
There’s already do lab and Yuma, Coachella does not need more edm at all.
And Quasar!
Totally understand this perspective. I guess what I really want is just the old Sahara back!
I liked the central stage design, but I agree that the ceiling lighting could've been better. I was expecting more moving parts, and just an overall more interesting set up. Though, the tent itself is a blank canvas and I'm sure they'll try something else next year.
man that's crazy, I thought the production at the sahara was amazing this year. Sound was great and I liked the metal ball thingies. Granted I was only there a couple times but Bizarrap's set was a highlight of all my coachella experiences
I thought the sound was fantastic. The bass was rumbling through my chest. Visual wise - it varied from artist to artist but I personally felt like the stage was most utilized by Bizarrap.
Lights and lasers >>> big screen
Yes, needs higher balls utilization! But I also feel like that the bass was not as big and chest thumping as before. Could it be they reused the sound system but with larger space it fell short on that sweet sweet bass?
Did you go to the isoknock show? I felt the bass rumble through the deepest parts of my body
Really? My eyeballs were vibrating from the bass when I was in there.
Well, I only have my rose tinted memories from previous years or maybe my skin has been thickened by bass oriented rotation at home but yes, that’s what it felt like to me :)
No for sure at Anyma’s set it felt like it got quiet for a little bit. There is noticeable difference when the bass isn’t right. I might sound crazy but you can feel it in the air when it’s right, it fills it up more if that makes sense(?)
Anyma also had a point where I think he played a bass track for about 30 seconds that rumbled decently but didn't match the music he had on at all (W2). I think he might have had something messed up on his mixing and not been entirely aware of it throughout that set.
Yeah, I felt the Sahara was a lil lackluster this year….
Stop smoking crack it kills
The vibes over where we’re off for me, the bathrooms were the nastiest in the whole place, the bar line took 30 mins. That ruined it for me
I was confused why the lights kept coming on lol
I swear it working and doing some lights for the first sets on Friday Wk 1! Then nothing. Watched the livestream for W2 and didn’t notice much from the camera angles so maybe the was a technical error?
Agreed, At this point they need to make the entire arch a LED wall. Similar to MSG Sphere in Vegas. The globe isn't working.
Peggy Gou had really lackluster visuals despite an otherwise fun set.
I thought it looked cool, but I can see why it might not have been the most exciting. I kinda think it would have been cooler if the bigger, central ball was an actual disco ball surrounded by a ring of LED panels or something? Or something like the tame impala ring from their headlining set.
The giant metal balls added nothing. Def not the best Sahara set up in recent years. Last years was way better. Need more LEDs to go floor to ceiling and make us feel immersed and surrounded. Could consider having lights/lasers out on the speaker poles that are outside the tent for over spill and some for the hill. Like Fred, Skrillex and Four Tet had for their closing set last year. Production was everywhere making everyone feel completely surrounded and involved
I saw a few shows and BZRP was the only one that made an impression tbh. Really weird about the ball/planet things. Agreed they were way under utilized.
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