Chris Lake’s Coachella campground dance party boosts morale of road-weary festgoers on Day Zero
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Chris Lake isn’t one to plan.
Minutes before he’s set to perform at Coachella’s campgrounds, the British DJ sat in the front seat of a Jeep Wagoneer, uploading music to several USBs. He spent the day mulling over which direction he wanted to take this first-of-its-kind Coachella set. Before the festival gates officially open on Friday, Lake’s Thursday night performance marked the first year a musician played the campground for “Day Zero” festivities.
“If I go up and it’s s—, then it’s my own fault,” Lake joked. “I literally don’t know what I’m walking into out there. There are so many different ways it can go. I like to eyeball the crowd and then decide what to do.”
Previously, “Day Zero” has always been an extra day for campers to get settled and get a head start on partying. But when Lake was announced to perform on the new Desert Sky stage, the festival’s pregame became a bit more official.
Under the circus-like tent, trains of fist-pumping fans began to congregate in the circular space. Inflatable flamingos and waving flags whizzed by and clouds of marijuana smoke thickened. Within the crowd, some seized the opportunity to debut their first festival look — wearing trendy, crochet tops and headscarves. Others had taken a more casual, camping approach, dressed in what seemed to be pajamas. In the middle of the camping hub (that consisted of a general store and several lounge spaces), there were even some listeners, hair wet from the communal showers and toiletries in hand, who stopped by to hear Lake’s blend of heavy bass and pop music.
Beyond the dust, a palpable sense of excitement filled the air. Longtime Lake fan James Guerrero was not shocked to see the “Beggin’” DJ make an appearance at the festival.
“I’ve gone to the last five [Coachellas], and he always seems to show up. Whatever sounds Chris Lake wants to give me, I’ll accept. He’s a pioneer in what he does. He’s like LeBron [James],” said Guerrero. “ It’s going to be an absolutely phenomenal time.”
Before getting into the campgrounds that morning, many festival-goers were faced with prolonged wait times. While waiting for the DJ to start spinning, many campers shared similar stories of waiting between six and eight total hours before getting into the grounds. Many of them had also taken to social media to express their complaints — commenting “We’ve been in line to get in for 8+ freaking hours, this is outrageous!!” and “This is the absolute WORST I’ve ever seen this line in all my years of camping. This is terrible to have people on the streets for hours with no access to bathrooms. Extremely unsafe conditions,” on Coachella’s Instagram.
Liz Hernandez, who has camped eight times, arrived late Wednesday night in hopes of getting an optimal camping spot. In the past, she was able to get into the campgrounds in three or four hours, but this year she had to wait over 12 hours to get into the area.
“We were so prepared to wait, but this time around it was excessive. I literally told [my partner] in the car, ‘Tomorrow, this won’t matter. We’re going to get in there and we’re going to forget about it,’” said Hernandez. “And we did.”
It also took Guerrero, who was coming from Orange County, around six hours to get into the campsite. He shares a similar sentiment, “That doesn’t take away from this. That’s in the past. We’re about to see the G.O.A.T. and we’re living in the present now. It’s all right.”
With every bass drop Lake offered to the crowd, he was met with a sea of synchronized hand movements. From the people crowded around the barricade to those in the far back, almost everyone raised their arms up and down to coincide with the fluctuating beat. Lake says he was prepared for this level of enthusiasm from the camper-only crowd.
“At the end of the day, if you’re camping, you’re fully submitting to the complete experience of the festival. I can already tell, just by driving around, how much energy there is amongst the people,” said Lake. “These are the type of people that you want to be playing for.”
Settling into an electronic sweet spot — where he debuted music from his upcoming album “Chemistry” and mixed tracks like “Messy” by Lola Young and Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” — Lake had ignited a new sense of energy in the Coachella campsite. And it wasn’t even Day 1 yet.
“There’s a huge part of me that’s selfish, and I would like this to be the best part of everyone’s weekend,” said Lake. “By the end of the weekend, they’re absolutely exhausted and I plan to contribute to that heavily.”
