10 Things to Know Heading Into Coachella Weekend 2

This past weekend, I went to Coachella for the first time. When I was a little younger, I was obsessed with careful planning. I attempted to map out festival experiences like Governors Ball with thoughtful precision. After experiencing the beautiful whirlwind of SXSW for the first time this past March, I decided to approach Coachella with the attitude that served me well in Austin: embrace chaos. Ready for the three days ahead, I drove out to the desert with an open mind, some Coachella veterans, and my sights aimed at a few key performances that I knew I couldn't skip. I balanced that with an understanding that I would undoubtedly miss some things, but would also discover unexpected sights, sounds, and people.

If you're heading to Coachella for weekend two, I recommend you approach the festival in the same way that this wide-eyed wanderer did: open to the magic of the desert.

If you want to start on an extremely positive note, see Lil B on Friday. The Based God feels like the perfect ambassador for a beautiful weekend in the desert, one of positive energy and fun. “There's gon' be no fights here today, right?” he asked the crowd last weekend. "We're at Coachella, where you'll hear some rare Lil B production that you'll never hear anywhere else." During his set, he flipped O.T. Genasis’ ubiquitous “CoCo” into "I'm in love with the Based God." He rapped in a sweater in 95-degree weather, and generally radiated the aura of unbridled joy that fans have come to know and love from one of music's most singular personalities.

The desert can get hot. While misting stations and shaded areas tend to be pretty overrun, the Heineken House set-up is a great place to cool down for the 21+ crowd. It’s separated from the stage crowds and has its own lineup of DJs and performers playing smaller, more intimate sets than anywhere else on the grounds. If you’ve never seen A-Trak do his thing in person, it’s an opportunity to watch one of the world’s pioneering DJs go in. Questlove, Rome Fortune, DJ Vice, Peanut Butter Wolf, and Nick Catchdubs all took to the stage as well. Time-saving tip: Avoid the two ID check stations when you first walk through general admission. There are tons throughout the festival grounds with shorter lines.

In the middle of the festival grounds, a three-story glass, mock-office building houses a collection of men dressed in business suits wearing hippo masks. I'm not sure exactly what the point of this promotion is, but if it’s an attempt to strike festival-goers with abject terror, it has been a great success.

Without dipping too far into hyperbole, I'm not sure that words can fully capture the Flying Lotus experience on Friday night. Hypnotic lights, the Grim Reaper, Thundercat, and Captain Murphy (in the form of a ghostly LED overlay that appeared in front of Fly Lo's perch above the stage) combine for utter sensory overload as the mad producer's skittering beats and booming bass fill the desert air. As one of my housemates put it, “Flying Lotus was borderline too much to handle.” Amen.

As a fan of both El-P and Killer Mike for over a decade each, the rise of Run the Jewels over the past two years (three if you count Mike's El-P-produced R.A.P. Music as the genesis of rap's best current dynamic duo) has felt like a glorious, demented twist on the classic underdog story—two of rap's great fringe players teaming up for arguably the best output of their careers and the deserving notoriety that accompanies it. Their set on Saturday felt like a sort of victory lap. They came out to Queen's “We Are The Champions.” They brought out super friends Zach De La Rocha, Travis Barker, and Gangsta Boo—all to great fanfare. They launched their all-out rap assault with a sense of purpose and diabolical glee that few artists could match.

My taste in electronic music skews a bit more toward ambient and experimental than straight-ahead, four-on-the-floor club bangers. By most logical measures, I should have avoided the Sahara Tent. Even if fist-pumping EDM isn't your thing, the Sahara Tent (one of Coachella's two dedicated EDM hubs) after dark makes one of the most divisive genres in modern music feel almost religious, with an LED shrine bringing thousands of people together to worship with their hands in the air. The Sahara Tent might not make you buy all of Axwell ^ Ingrosso's back catalog, but seeing Cedric Gervais after dark and watching the pure joy running through the crowd gave me a new appreciation for music that I'd otherwise never listen to.

It's pretty easy to discover an act that you've never seen with a lineup as diverse as Coachella's, but it can be easy to stick to your taste or the schedule that you hastily cobbled together before the weekend. Embrace the chaos, let friends dictate at times, and make sure to see something that might not otherwise be on your radar. On day one, a friend told me to meet her at Sylvan Esso. I'd heard the name, but never any music. I was also under the impression that Sylvan Esso was one person from Sweden, not a duo from North Carolina. I arrived at the stage and was blown away by something I otherwise would have skipped without looking twice. Even if you're not in love with the lineup, giving yourself over to a bit of festival serendipity will show you just how much great music exists, which you may be missing out on.

Coachella is a pretty magical place. I'm a cynical New Yorker who generally likes to stay inside and lounge on my couch. Coachella isn't going to solve all of your problems or, really, any of the world's problems (unless they involve buying overpriced food and beverages and listening to deep house in a tent), but it will make you forget that the outside world exists, even if just for a few moments. To embrace the full effect of the oasis, wander alone. Twice in my first two days, I found myself friendless, walking from the Sahara Tent toward the main stage. The sun had just set, the lights had come on, and the crowds were little more than moving silhouettes as I bounced from one stage to another, hearing echoes of Cedric Gervais, Glass Animals, and Alt-J.

This one should be pretty self-explanatory. It's tempting, but resist the urge.

Remember to eat some good food, see the sunset, explore the grounds, talk to strangers, try to sneak into VIP areas, and push your limits. It's about the people and about escaping from your day-to-day—not just the music. Get lost for a bit and experience some great soundtracks to your weekend.