“We are excited to announce Coachella 2013 will again be held over two consecutive weekends. Advance passes go on sale beginning this Thursday, May 17th, 2012 10:00 am PDT through the following Thursday, May 24th, 2012 10:00 pm PDT. This advance sale will be the only opportunity to take advantage of the Coachella Purchase Plan. New for 2013, the price you see is what you pay — prices reflect all fees included. The general on sale will happen early next year. “

You may ask, why put tickets on sale a year in advance? One potential reason is that thousands travel to the U.S. for this annual event. So, allowing foreigners to lock in tickets now enables them book transportation etc. The advance on-sale also gives the festival organizers the cash it needs to secure top notch talent. Coachella has become far too large and important a festival to do anything last minute.

General Info

• Festival passes are valid for the entire weekend that you purchased.
• Festival passes are only valid for the weekend you purchased.
• The festival itself is all ages; children age 5 & under are free.
• Festival passes are limited to 2 per billing address.
• You must purchase a festival pass in order to purchase a car or tent camping pass.
• Everyone camping onsite must have a festival pass.
• Onsite camping is 18 + unless accompanied by parent or legal guardian.
• Tent/Car camping passes are limited to 1 per order.
• Companion camping parking passes are limited to 1 per order.
• Camping passes are NON transferable and will ONLY work with the festival passes they were purchased with (first one in).
• DO NOT BUY passes from a 3rd party/Scalper. We can not service, authenticate or support passes purchased from a third party or scalper.
• No Refunds / No Exchanges.
• Day parking during the festival is free (9am-2am, no overnight parking)
• NO RV/Motorhome camping or parking.

GENERAL PAYMENT PLAN INFO

• Advance sale/payment plan orders are handled through Front Gate ticketing.
• 20% down payment minimum required for purchase.
• 7 additional monthly payments will be automatically deducted in the beginning of each month through January 2013 (unless you chose to pay in full).
• No refunds / Cancellations or exchanges.
• Default on payments will result in cancellation of your order, loss of deposit and all payments made prior to default. No exceptions. If your payment does not go through you will be granted a 10 day window to reply to inquiry or submit updated payment info. Front Gate will attempt to contact you with in the first week of a missed payment. You may also contact them to inquire about your order. Please check your bank statements monthly. This is your responsibility.
• Travel package plans available exclusively through Valley Music Travel

TYPES OF PASSES AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

• GA – Allows entrance into the venue, parking lots & camping areas.
  $349 Domestic, additional charge for international shipping
• GA/Shuttle combo – Allows entrance into the venue, parking lots & camping areas and comes with a shuttle pass to the venue from the Tennis Garden. You will be able to change shuttle lines at a later date through the end of December 2012.
  $399 Domestic (+ additional charge for international shipping)
• VIP – There are a limited number of VIP passes available for purchase. A VIP festival pass allows access to the VIP areas. The main VIP area is located adjacent to the main stage (under white peaked tents) and consists of shaded areas, picnic tables, couches, extra restrooms, food & beverage vendors and a full cash bar. The second VIP area is located directly next to the Sahara tent in the beautiful Rose Garden complete with seating, extra restrooms, food & beverage vendors, full cash bar, a spectacular view and thousands of roses. VIP Parking is sold separately.
  $799 Domestic (+ additional charge for international shipping)
• Car Camping – Camp next to your car in a 10×30 spot. This pass is for your car/spot. Everyone camping in your spot will need a festival pass. A car is required to be in your spot. This pass is NON transferable and will only be valid when used with the festival pass it was purchased with. Example: If John Doe purchased the passes and car camping, John Doe will be required to show ID when checking in.
  $85
• Tent Camping – Camp on a 10×15 spot. Everyone camping in your spot will need a festival pass. This pass allows for 1 car to be parked overnight for the weekend in an adjacent lot. This pass is NON transferable and will only be valid when used with the festival pass it was purchased with. Example: If John Doe purchased the passes and car camping, John Doe will be required to show ID when checking in.
  $85

Get more info at Coachella.com.

On the Coachella homepage, a mysterious message is emblazoned across a picture of the festival. The message reads “Monday 10am PST in the picture” and “pssssst……. pass it on” underneath. Most likely, Coachella promoters will not be announcing the bands, but probably have the dates on lock down.

Earlier in the year it was announced that Goldenvoice purchased the 280 acres surrounding Coachella’s stages–meaning that the promoters will have a lot more room to play. Essentially, anything within financial and legal reason can happen now. A whole month of Coachella? Unlikely, but possible.

President of AEG Live, Randy Philips, even said in an interview that Goldenvoice and AEG Live could “probably have added two more Coachella weekends.” Tickets for Coachella 2012 sold out almost immediately despite no line-up being announced for the controversial dual weekends.

The Los Angeles Times reports that “Coachella in 2012 drew about 80,000 paying customers per weekend. When passes went on sale last summer, they were priced at $269 (plus service fees), and the non-pre-sale wristbands were priced at $285 (plus service fees). Goldenvoice unveiled its 2012 dates for Coachella last year on May 31.”

If dates for Coachella 2013 are released on Monday, Coachella will be announcing things even earlier this year and, perhaps, are making even more huge changes to the way the festival is run.

Pssssssst… pass it on. instagr.am/p/Kft54VksiA/—
Coachella (@coachella) May 11, 2012

–Nadia Noir/CBS Radio Los Angeles

This is a one-time only viewing of the performance and interview with Stryker.

The webcast will begin Thursday at 12:00pm PT / 3:00PM ET.

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WATCH THE WEBCAST HERE
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The Hurry Up, I’m Dreaming creator who played to a packed tent both weekends of Coachella 2012 apparently saw Perry dancing at his first set. The Teenage Dream pop star tweeted later the definitive statement of “M83 ONLY.”

Later on, Gonzalez wrote on his Facebook wall, ”I think I saw Katy Perry dancing on ‘Midnight City’ yesterday night. Katy, let me write your next album:).”

Perry returned the following weekend to watch M83 again, this time with new boyfriend Robert Ackroyd, a 22 year-old French model.

M83 ONLY.—
Katy Perry (@katyperry) April 14, 2012

In an interview with MTV, Katy Perry divulged that she’s been listening to M83 and that she was planning on seeing Gonzalez at Coachella.

“I’ve been listening to, well, I guess it would have to be M83′s last record, this past record,” she said. “I think I’m going to see him at Coachella. Oh man, I’m so there. I love it so much.”

As can be heard in Gonzalez’s  music, his sonic taste is all over the board so writing a smash-hit Katy Perry album wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for him.

“I grew up with posters of Iron Maiden hanging on my walls,” Gonzalez told KROQ’s Kat Corbett.  ”I just wanted to have fun on this album…and play with all my toys.”

So after all the hard work the last two weeks, lead singer and front man Thom Yorke (and his fashionably questionable pony tail) did what any normal human being would do on a ridiculously hot day in the desert — hit up the pool parties and crash a friend’s DJ set.

Friday afternoon, Yorke — donning a very un-Radiohead pair of Converse sneakers, tank top and shorts — threw down a DJ set at the swanky ACE Hotel in downtown Palm Springs.

The surprise set at the Brainfeeder party wasn’t all random — Yorke is good friends with the record label’s mastermind, a performer who killed at Coachella, Flying Lotus. Yorke popped up unannounced last year at Low End Theory in downtown Los Angeles.

(That dog is so unamused.)

After spinning some dance tunes poolside (no word on how good his cannonball is), Yorke put icing on his Coachella cake back at the Polo Grounds by closing out the Mojave Tent with German dance duo Modeselektor. The three performed their recent collaboration, “Shipwreck.”

Between those two videos and the now viral “Thom Coachella Dance” GIF floating around the internet, Thom’s feet have got to be sore. Take a load off, sir, you’ve earned it.

During an interview with KROQ’s Kat Corbett, the band made reference to the fact that they might start dressing more casually; minutes later, lead singer Michael Fitzpatrick played the show in tight red jeans and an asymmetrical striped shirt and Noelle Scaggs wore an adorable retro-looking baby onesie.

Fitzpatrick did wear a jacket onstage during his Coachella performance. “I wore my jacket in solidarity,” he said, but eventually shed that same jacket while the band broke into songs like “Chains Of Love,” “L.O.V.,” “Moneygrabber,” “Rich Girls,” and “Don’t Got To Work It Out.”

“We played here last weekend and it was quite a blessing,” said Fitzpatrick sincerely thanking the audience for people “real people and real music lovers” who are “spreading the world.”

“If it wasn’t for people spreading the world,” continued Fitzpatrick, “we wouldn’t be on stage right now.”

Two musical highlights of the set included when Fitz and the Tantrums broke into a new song called “The End” which is on a record they’ve been working on for the last two months and when they did a cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” originated by the Eurythmics.

“When we say keep your head up, what do you say Coachella?,” said Fitzpatrick to the audience. “When we say hold your head up, what you gonna say?”

The answer was ‘moving on,’ something the Fitz and the Tantrums audience didn’t want to do when the show was over.

–Nadia Noir, CBS Radio Los Angeles

All the players on the stage were wearing outfits in different shades of green and blue and, at one point, Santogold took a diva break to change into another outfit.

Santigold played songs like “Lights Out,” “Get It Up,” “Creator,” “Say Aha,” “L.E.S. Artistes,” “Freak Like Me,” “Disparate Youth, “Shove It,” and her latest hit, “Big Mouth.”

Her stage presence was impeccable with choreographed dances and quips with the audience that highlighted Santigold’s comfortability, even in such a huge environment.

“You guys are awesome,” said Santigold in a motherly way to her massive audience. “We need like 320,000 of these water sprayers.”

“You drinking water?,” Santigold said with a laugh. “You drinking alcohol? Why are humans so stupid?”

Later on in the set, when she invited about thirty-something people up on stage to dance, Santigold laughed at what activity her fans chose to partake in while up there.

“That’s the most people we ever had onstage,” said Santigold with a giggle that would become her signature throughout her set. “Y’all are funny; y’all didn’t come up and dance. You came up to take pictures.”

“Whats going on?,” said Santigold. “Live first, then capture it.” Which is exactly what Santigold has managed to perfectly capture in her music; the essence of living in a pure, unadulterated fun state.

–Nadia Noir, CBS Radio Los Angeles

And decked out in their usual punk-formal attire—sweat-drenched black-and-white tuxedos— the Hives played the Coachella Main Stage for the second time in a week.

After prancing around, jumping on amplifiers, and getting the audience to sing along, Almqvist said to the audience. “Hello Coachella, we meet again and this time we will not take it easy on you. ‘Cuz we are here to prove what Hollywood can’t prove: That the sequel is always better.”

The band played songs like “Square One Here I Come,” “Try It Again,” “Walk Idiot Walk,” “Main Offender,” “No Pun Intended,” “Wait A Minute,” “Because I Wanna,” and their hit “Hate To Say I Told You So.”

The best part of the Hives’ show was when Almqvist, with his usual tongue-in-cheek dark humor, told the audience that he knows that feeling that they are going through,  that combo of “post-orgasmic thrill” and “being run over by a train,” and that the Hives have mutual “love and admiration” for their audience.

“Some bands say that they love you,” laughed Almqvist. “They’re lying. They don’t. We do.”

–Nadia Noir, CBS Radio Los Angeles