The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, or simply the Coachella, sold 198,000 tickets and grossed $84.3 million in 2015, both of which are world records. So what makes this particular gathering of music lovers so wildly popular? The annual music and arts festival held in the surreally scenic Coachella Valley in California, is an encompassing sort of event featuring diverse genres of music, including rock, hip hop and indie headlin­ing acts. Camping facilities are plentiful and live music is performed on several stages across the grounds. Emerging and reunited groups are as much a part of the schedule as new and upcoming artistes, while the stars shine too (marquee names in the past have included AC/DC, Amy Wine­house, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Kanye West and Eminem). Interactive visual art installations and critically acclaimed sculptures are another huge draw and, over the years, have only grown in both originality and outrageousness with improved funding for them (coachella.com).