Supplemental #5 - Cailin O'Brien

This past weekend I made my way to Palm Springs on a last minute whim to make it into Coachella. Now as a bisexual woman I hate to say I enjoyed a music festival put on by a billionaire male who funds anti-LGBT movements but I couldn’t resist the lineup of musical acts (maybe I wouldn’t feel the same way if I had paid $700 for a ticket). Even just by saying “I couldn’t resist the musical acts” I am showing how warped the power is that is held by our system of stars and celebrities. Countless people I have talked to are disgusted by this mans political and social views but continue to pay $700 plus some for the Coachella experience each year. Maybe it is because they don’t actually care what this man is doing with his money, but it also may just be due to the hold that celebrities such as Beyonce have over society. While I did not pay that same absurd number (anything for that matter) for a ticket into the festival, I can understand why people did. An ensemble of musical acts and art instillations unlike many other experiences you are able to have with a group of close loved ones in the desert. There is a magic to these festivals and the charm is hard to resist. It is shocking to think that a festival can be run by such a man while festival goers come from all different races, ethnicities, sexualities, etc. As if the man could not get worse sends out money (probably from everyone’s Coachella tickets) to anti-marijuana efforts in a hypocritical effort to put an end to what 90% of festivalgoers are doing at his event.

I feel like I cannot write about my Coachella experience without addressing what was one of the most jaw dropping performance I think I have ever seen live in my lifetime. While many of the artists who performed put on beautifully produced visual performances, I do not think that anyone could disagree when I say no one’s performance was as powerful as Beyoncé’s.  While I am definitely a Beyoncé fan, let’s be real who isn’t, she was not the performance I was itching to see once I made my way into the festival grounds.  From the beginning to the end she had the entirety of Coachella wrapped around her finger and for good reason.

Every stage went silent as people stormed to the last performance of the night and I couldn’t help but think that this may be a bit over the top. I could not have been more wrong. While many artists have decided to resort to psychedelic visuals for the towering screens surrounding them, Beyoncé and her 100 man band made up the visuals that almost seemed to pop out across the massive audience. It was not just the spectacular production that made this performance historic, but the meaning behind each and every action taken throughout. I was surprised at how empowered I felt to be a woman standing in the crowd that night. In addition to her re-enactments of aspects of African American history and fight for black empowerment, her song choice, word choice, and movements also oozed with feminist stride. If I didn’t walk into the spectacle praising Beyonce as queen of the very grounds I was standing on at that moment, I walked out knowing this to be true.