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The land has gotten too crowded to contain America’s hunger for music festivals.
As some of you may recall, Coachella confirmed this July that it would be taking its act on the high seas, while also potentially expanding to five festivals a year. Before December drew to a close, the S.S. Coachella took to the waters of the Bahamas and Jamaica with a jam packed line up that boasted El-P, Killer Mike, Simian Mobile Disco, Grimes, Cloud Nothings, Pulp, James Murphy, Yeasayer, Sleigh Bells, Girl Talk, Gaslamp Killer, and many others, in addition to serving up gambling, wine bars, lounges, clubs, spas, fitness centers, shops, yoga, and even a Persian Garden (which is, apparently, “This is a great place to relax and sweat out your toxins (especially after a ship bar crawl)” for the not so modest fee of $119/person or $199/couple).
In short, S.S. Coachella continued the evolution of the festival as full body experience, catering to your ears (and dancing shoes), but also making sure your touch, taste, and sight are in good, if expensive, company.
As high definition streaming and screens the size of walls threaten to melt us into our couches permanently, festivals like Outside Lands, Governor’s Ball, and S.S. Coachella purport to up the ante by providing sensory overload at every turn. Time will tell if such expensive, expansive options will morph the festival into something greater than the tried and true “show up, drink beer, watch bands for 12 hours” formula, or if people really do just want to listen to their damn music, amenities be damned.
