USC students turned up the heat at Coachella over the past two weekends as desert temperatures soared over 100 degrees with energy levels to match.
Charli XCX and Lady Gaga were crowd favorites, and the audience buzzed under Keinemusik’s Peace Cloud display. Now that the festival is over, USC students have plenty of takeaways.
Although the first weekend saw triple-digit temperatures, some students weren’t bothered by the extreme heat.
“I went first weekend, honestly, I was completely fine,” said Catherine Wong, a junior cinematic arts major. “I’m from California, so it was hot for me too, but it was like, totally fine for me.”
Despite the scorching conditions and Travis Scott’s technical difficulties, many Trojans did not let it spoil their weekend.
“I actually camped, so it was pretty brutal. It was like 103 on Friday and then 97 the next day,” said Matthew O’Toole, a senior studying chemical engineering. “I really enjoyed Green Day. Unfortunately, Travis Scott, I was expecting him to be my favorite, but they messed up the sound, which is pretty disappointing. But I had a blast overall,” he said.
Kate Peterson, a junior majoring in political science, agrees with O’Toole’s assessment of the best performer, saying Green Day was her rose and her feet were the thorn of her weekend. But uncomfortable shoes were not her only problem.
“We literally almost passed out. They sell out of water really quickly, so we got free cans of Coke from some pop-up and we filled them up with water,” Peterson said.
Unbearable food truck prices and blistering heat, somehow, made Justin Bieber’s inebriety a little understandable. Many audience members said they would approach the weekend differently if they could go back.
“I’d probably change the way that we did it because we missed a lot of people that we were originally going to go and see just because we showed up pretty late,” Campbell Spoor, a freshman majoring in environmental science, said.
Coachella 2025 was one for the books. Next year, we hope to see more lineup camaraderie- shoutout Billie Joe Armstrong, and Charli XCX- more surprise stars like Dave Grohl and Cynthia Erivo, and maybe even a comeback for Deadmau5. Preferably a sober one.