“Good times, good times” will be how you recall the weekend of April 15th if you attend the 2011 Coachella Festival at Indio’s Empire Polo Club. The Coachella Festival provides three days of concert fun. This year’s Coachella Festival lineup is loaded, featuring over 175 bands! Kings of Leon is set to headline Friday night while Arcade Fire is scheduled to headline Saturday evening and Kanye West is set to close the weekend Sunday night. The Strokes, Duran Duran, Jimmy Eat World, and Cage the Elephant are just a few names which fill out the rest of the mammoth Coachella Festival lineup.  

Kings of Leon is an ideal band to cap off Coachella Festival’s first night festivities. Their hits “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire,” which I safely presume will get incorporated into the group’s set list, will turn the live crowd into a frenzy providing an appropriate foreshadowing to the weekend’s fun yet to come. Being in a sea of thousands and thousands of people as they greet the familiar opening notes to “Use Somebody” or “Sex on Fire” with an approving uproar and hearing those same people echo Caleb Followill’s vocals will give you an indescribable feeling of liveliness.

Saturday night’s Coachella Festival headliners, Arcade Fire, shares a common element with Kings of Leon, both have enjoyed great success internationally. Arcade Fire’s international accomplishments can sometimes overshadow the group’s successful milestones in the United States. These accomplishments include having their sophomore album Neon Bible reach the second spot on the Billboard 200 charts and playing Lollapalooza. Additionally, Arcade Fire has become a regular Coachella Festival act.

Arcade Fire combines musical elements from different genres to produce their own unique sound. These musical collaborations pair together instruments you wouldn’t traditionally expect to blend together, for instance a banjo and electric guitar, and somehow gives birth to harmonious music. Watching Arcade Fire’s innovative music coming to life live on stage serves as an enjoyable experience for anyone who can appreciate instrumental compositions.                  

Like Arcade Fire, Sunday night’s headliner Kanye West proves no stranger to musical innovations. West’s creativeness started shining when he began producing music for other artists. His creativeness became more evident when he started releasing his own music. Shortly Kanye West became known as one of the most, if not the most, flamboyant names in the entire music industry. Along with the flamboyancy comes a large ego. The hip hop artist, in one memorable instance, posed as Jesus Christ for the February 9th 2006 cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Whether you enjoy Kanye West or find his personality annoying, you can’t deny the artist thrills live audiences with his performances. West exhibits astounding energy in concert. He constantly moves across the stage, capturing the entire crowd’s attention. He uses hand and arm motions to add animation to his performance. Most importantly, Kanye engages his crowd, albeit encouraging his fans to jump or throw their arms up in the air. The hip hop artist is a great selection to be the climax act for this year’s Coachella Festival.

Sunday has the potential to be the most memorable day of the 2011 Coachella Festival. The Strokes, Duran Duran, and Jimmy Eat World are amongst the many names in addition to Kanye West which will perform April 17th. Cage the Elephant, another notable artist mentioned earlier performs the previous day on Saturday, April 16th. Beyond the opportunity to see some of your favorite artists, the Coachella Festival will likely introduce you to some new enjoyable bands. Considering the Coachella Festival lineup contains over 175 acts, you would pretty much have to hibernate in the restroom area to avoid finding new music to like.

The Coachella Festival serves as an event true music enthusiasts will want to experience at least once in their lives. However, don’t just take my word for it. KROQ says on their website “There’s nothing like Coachella, plain and simple. Experiencing Coachella is one of the responsibilities you have as a music lover to fulfill at some point in your life.”

Getting your opportunity to fulfill this responsibility in 2011 won’t be easy. Coachella Festival passes, which gives you access to all three days of the festival, are no longer available. If you haven’t already purchased your passes, seek contests for winning the tickets or look for someone selling their passes. KROQ currently has a contest going which gives you the opportunity to enter a drawing to win admissions into the festival. If you look to purchase tickets from someone like your friend, your neighbor or your friend’s neighbor, remain cautious. Any paper tickets indicate a scam. Passes only come in the form of wrist bands. No wrist bands have been distributed yet either. Passes will get sent out as the Coachella Festival gets closer.     

The 2011 Coachella Festival will be one event this year you will be glad you attended. In three days you will see headliners Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, and Kanye West along with Cage the Elephant, Jimmy Eats World, the Strokes, and Duran Duran amongst many, many others. Each day from Friday, April 15th to Sunday, April 17th Indio’s Empire Polo Club will open their doors at 11:00am. The live music will resonate through the afternoon and evening to around 12:30am. The Coachella Festival will wrap up Sunday, April 17th but your memories of the event will likely linger on.