The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

Coachella Festival Comes to a Close

This year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, held April 15 to April 17, sold out in less than a week. Nearly 90,000 people flocked to Indio, California to catch the lineup of more than 150 artists on six stages.

The festival is well known for its celebrity attendees. Rihanna, Usher, Paris and Nicky Hilton and Danny DeVito live-tweeted from Coachella 2011.

“Coachella! Fun times,” Rihanna tweeted, adding that indie rockers Arcade Fire made her “feel like a kid again.”Arcade Fire drew a huge crowd for Saturday night’s closing set, and music critics raved about the Grammy winning band’s performance.

During the finale, more than 1,250 glowing balls dropped into the crowd from above the stage as Arcade Fire played their song”Wake Up.” The balls were rigged with LED circuit boards and changed color in unison. Most people held onto the balls as souvenirs, and at the time of publication, one of the balls was available on eBay.com for nearly $1,000.

Rapper Kanye West closed the festival with a Sunday night set that MTV’s Mary DiMeglio called “one of the most memorable performances in Coachella history.”

Kanye’s theatrical set employed a troupe of tribal dancers and fireworks, and lasted well past midnight. West played a seemingly endless torrent of his wildly popular tracks, including “Flashing Lights,” “Touch the Sky,” and “All

Falls Down.”

After wrapping up his iconic single “Gold Digger,” West told the crowd, “The hits ain’t over yet. We just keep going and going.”

Coachella ended with West taking a triumphant bow, and the 90,000 music fans poured from the Empire Polo Fields to await ticket sales for Coachella 2012.

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