Despite all the hate it gets, anyone who’s been to Coachella knows it’s a damn good time.
I attended once in 2024, where I was welcomed as a Coachella elder. The music is killer, if you can dodge all the influencers setting up ring cameras. I’d likely be right back there huffing dust in the day-glo desert if I could afford the tickets, flight, and potentially very annoying drive into the Colorado desert.
Luckily, I have a smartphone. And Coachella, which has livestreamed its sets for years, has revamped its vertical video feed to appeal to mobile users. So what better way to embrace “Couchella” than by watching only in this one format all weekend?
Coachella’s feeds got a quality boost this year, now streaming seven stages exclusively on YouTube, with 4K video and multiview options that you can swap between like they’re Olympic events. The festival’s EDM and DJ oriented Quasar stage, livestreaming on YouTube shorts all weekend, was shot exclusively on Google Pixel devices. That’s the one I’ve decided to mainline.
Vertical video is everywhere. Besides every social media service prioritizing endlessly scrollable video feeds, Disney has introduced short videos called Verts to its on Disney+ streaming platform. Bravo will soon be pushing out vertical videos hosted by the AI avatar of Andy Cohen to share “iconic scenes” from its sprawling universe of reality TV. Even the Oscars have poked fun at the trend.
In Coachella’s case, the vertical push makes sense. Like the festival itself, vertical video is the place for brands and influencers. Coachella’s primary marketing tool is FOMO, or the fear of missing out and the vertical video feed is an engine for inducing that desire. Most of the videos shot via Pixel are filmed directly next to the performer, conjuring up that sense that you’re right there in the booth with them—one of those special VIPs who gets to be onstage.
Is it the best way to experience these shows? Maybe for a little bit. Not for 18 hours over the course of a weekend, as I learn.
The rules for my personal Vertichella, assigned by my editor, were simple: Watch every moment of Coachella’s livestreamed vertical video. No 4K horizontal videos or multiple stream windows allowed.
Coachella put out a similar vertical feed last year, which got rave reviews from commenters on Reddit like, “It’s too vertical,” “I immediately switched to another channel,” and “So glad this video is squished up and limiting my view of the stage.” This time, the feed turns out to be very popular. By the end of each day, the page has thousands of likes—more than 42,000 apiece for Saturday and Sunday, according to Google’s little thumbs-up ticker at the top of the screen. In some cases, upvotes for the vertical stream surpass those on the horizontal livestreams of the same stage.
Live chat comments and emoji reactions are active, with people either hyped about the show or sharing delightful insights like “ugh, next song bro” and “I wish I was at Coachella” and “[fourteen cross emojis].” At least they’re easier to ignore than having people talk next to you through an entire set.
Two hours into the Saturday stream, I’m two weed gummies and half a rack of Coors Lights deep, dancing to Joezi on my deck. I’m soaking wet because there’s a thunderstorm, but I’m vibing. It’s Coachella, baby. Might as well lean into it.
David Guetta puts on a fun but cheesy set. Joy (Anonymous) could talk a lot less. And Fatboy Slim shows why he’s an icon. All the while, I’m able to do things like pee in a real toilet. Take a shower. Do laundry. Walk a dog. Cut up a rotisserie chicken without slicing my hand open. Make dinner. Read a book. Lay down in a real bed. Can’t do any of that while simultaneously watching the show if you’re actually on the festival grounds, now can you?
It’s not perfect. The Quasar stage is notable for its very wide, very horizontal, gigantic screens on the sides. Seeing that in clipped down vertical format on my phone does not carry the same sense of gravitas that you get by being there. You also can’t help but feel like a bit of a loser watching all these people party when you’re just sitting there on your phone.
The “no horizontal video” rule means I miss all headliners on any other stage, like Justin Bieber and Karol G. I’ve been very excited about Nine Inch Noize, as headbanging to some remixed furious noise rock sounds pretty cathartic given that real life currently feels like it’s about halfway through the narrative of NIN’s apocalyptic concept album. In a way, this limitation was actually a pretty accurate representation of how festival scheduling conflicts force you to make tough choices sometimes.
Despite the positives of watching from home—primarily being clean and less broke—I have to admit the feed is indeed triggering my FOMO. Watching online is great for people who love live music, but you can’t escape the reminder that you’re not getting the real experience. The unaffordable, wonderful, occasionally miserable one, where you trek around in the dirt with your inebriated friends and maybe witness Katy Perry and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acting like 20-year-olds. Even with the full-body exhaustion that comes with attending a music festival, I always feel sad when these things are over. Now, I cannot wait for Vertichella to end.
On Sunday, the final day of the festival, I’m walking my dog, livestreaming the music as we go. Like leaving a festival, I’m tired and overstimulated by hours and hours of music.
We get back inside as a barefoot Fatboy Slim plays some funky beats on my phone. (“Who’s this grandpa?” reads a comment.) I sit at my desk and accidentally swipe the screen up and it switches to another video. I swipe back but that doesn’t work right, so I have to close the app and reopen it. Finally, the feed pops onscreen again. The Fatboy Slim song in the video is chanting, “Eat, sleep, rave, repeat! Eat, sleep, rave, repeat!”
Ten minutes later, I am in bed. At least I can sleep knowing I don’t have to deal with eight hours of traffic to get out of the venue tomorrow.
The post I Watched 18 Hours of Coachella’s Vertical Livestream and All I Got Was This Lousy FOMO appeared first on Wired.
