Although the easiest way to justify spending $400 (or more) on a Coachella wristband is the world-class musical lineup at the festival every year, there are plenty of other reasons people make the long drive out to the “Other Desert Cities” sign on the 10.
Whether you got roped into going with friends (you couldn’t escape the “You have to go once!” argument) or you’re just not into the artists performing this year, here are 50 reasons why you should still go to Coachella — and not just because it’s an “arts” festival too.
50. Your friend/family/therapist keeps telling you to surround yourself with positive vibes.
49. It’s all over your social media feeds anyway.
48. The Urban Outfitters “festival” collection was just too cute to pass up this year.
47. No one really understands the art installations, but you can pretend like you do.
46. That white sticker is going to look so good on your car/laptop/beer pong table.
45. You can tell your grandparents you visited their favorite vacation spot: Palm Springs.
44. Once you’ve done Coachella, every other festival/crowd/event seems small.
43. Everyone’s dressed for a bizarrely costumed pool party, but there’s no pool.
42. Because $20 pizza tastes better in the desert.
41. You can fart pretty much anywhere at any time and no one notices.
40. The neon nail polish you bought is actually way too bright to wear out on a normal night.
39. You’ll soon be able to fondly remember when Coachella was only two three-day weekends.
38. There wasn’t anything worth going to on Groupon.
37. The air conditioned tents and areas alone will suddenly seem worth the price of admission.
36. Where else can you hang out with 124,999 of your closest friends?
35. Going back to work with just a regular hangover is for amateurs.
34. Much like Disneyland, it’s a logistical wonder how everything runs so smoothly.
33. It’s basically a life-size version of a kid dumping all of their action figures into a sandbox.
32. You never know if someone’s actually just a hologram.
31. Those two hot yoga classes already taught you how to replenish the gallons of lost sweat.
30. Because music festivals aren’t draining enough unless it’s over 100 degrees outside.
29. No one judges you for being the hot mess who lost a shoe and puked in a trash can.
28. What better excuse to use the Snap Spectacles you only wore once after waiting hours for?
27. There’s a truck from Cupcake Vineyards selling cups of wine with popsicles in them.
26. If North Korea nukes LA, Coachella is far enough away to be fine.
25. You can jealously wonder who’s hanging out backstage from mere feet away.
24. The “super bloom” was perfectly timed for your flower crown.
23. Free drugs. Lots of free drugs.
22. You’ll burn off all the calories from your $12 teriyaki bowl just walking from tent to tent.
21. After paying for a ticket, the merch will all seem pretty reasonably priced.
20. It’s the closest to a zombie apocalypse scenario many of us will ever see.
19. The little plastic clip on your wristband is entertaining to play with until you tighten it too much.
18. You already cut the legs off of your third-favorite pair of jeans.
17. Because your Instagram needs a filter-worthy sunset photo of a giant ferris wheel.
16. If you meet someone and your relationship survives the weekend, you’re pretty much married.
15. The $70 shuttle ride from LAX is cheaper than your Uber receipts for a regular weekend out.
14. It’s the only time a sinus infection is a badge of honor.
13. Coachella is basically just Westworld without the robots… yet.
12. Technological displays like the Antarctic dome will blow your (drug-altered) mind.
11. The beer is worth its weight in gold (and slightly cheaper than silver).
10. You can show you’re woke AF just by not wearing a culturally-insensitive outfit.
9. There are enough ridiculous food options to live out your Man v. Food fantasies.
8. That new pair of shoes you bought just for the weekend looks better caked in dirt anyway.
7. In two weeks, you’ll be on Facebook unfriending the “BFF” you made in the porta potty line.
6. You’ll get that first sunburn of the summer out of the way before everyone else.
5. If you “network” while there, that $400 ticket could be a work expense.
4. As a kid, you wore a dozen different wristbands for fun anyway.
3. Your mom might see the back of your sweaty head on a livestream.
2. It’s actually a really fun time that you can’t experience anywhere else.
1. So you can tell people you went to Coachella. Duh.
Josh Chesler used to play baseball for some pretty cool teams, but now he just writes about awesome stuff like tattoos, music, MMA and sneakers. He enjoys injuring himself by skateboarding, training for fights, and playing musical instruments in his off time.