Coachella Wk 1 Recap: Backstage Passes, Blacklist Parties, Best Memories…
Holy shit.
After the weekend we just had, there is literally no other way to start off this post other than with those two words. HOLY SHIT. The two of us just experienced what can only be described as an insult to reality–an imaginary lifestyle that even we didn’t expect to live.
Lo and behold, COACHELLA WEEKEND 1…
SATURDAY
Marwa and I had an original plan: to enjoy Coachella the right way by going TWICE IN A ROW. This way we could experience everything from the mansion parties, to the official corporate day events and after-parties in Palm Springs and adjacent towns…and then go again Weekend 2 to attend the music festival itself. You could say that we suffer from FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) so going twice would be the best way to overcome that ❤
Packing 5 of our friends into the car, we drove to Indigo on Saturday morning and headed straight to a posh house to meet up with a larger group. Together, we made our way to corporate party number 1: THE GUESS HOTEL PARTY at the Viceroy #GuessHOTEL. Again, holy shit. Of course, the party was RSVP only, with an attendance of stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Metcalfe, Josh Henderson and Jamie Chung. The guests were beautiful, food and drinks flowed endlessly, and branded items (including Guess water guns and fanny packs) were everywhere. There were moments where we looked around and thought to ourselves: I “guess” this is what it’s like to be a celebrity. Hours of debauchery later, it was time to jump over to the next event….
The LED DAY PARTY at the Hardrock Hotel was the second stop. We arrived just in time for the closing set, where we danced the afternoon away to DISCLOSURE. From there, we went on a fiesta fiasco that included the ZERO GRAVITY Warehouse Party, and then the epic highlight of the night: the H&M OFFICIAL AFTER PARTY where we experienced a private concert by none other that Major Lazer (we heart Diplo – keep reading to find out why). Can’t get better than that, right? How about surprise performances from Iggy Azalea and our favorite Dillon Francis?! The dancers were literally hanging off the roof as Alexander Wang (designer Vera Wang’s brother) partied right beside us.
So when did we crash? 6am. We then proceeded to wake up, and do it all over again.
SUNDAY
The struggle was so real. We woke up at our friends house after about an hour of sleep and for a good amount of time, we were convinced that we were “going back to LA because we needed to recover.” We then realized that idea was probably the dumbest we’d ever had, drank a red bull, and got our asses back into the car and on to the next pool party.
We met up with another larger group of friends at a hotel in Palm Springs, where we got ready for day 2 of flower-power desert couture. From there, it was a tough decision on which party to attend: either the LACOSTE DESERT POOL PARTY or the SOHO HOUSE PRIVATE PARTY. According to the LA Times, “The annual Coachella Lacoste party is usually a blast — filled with especially beautiful people, a panoply of beach balls and lots of icy drinks and heated stares…” We decided that was the place to go…until we saw the line outside (the RSVP/Guest list line!) Hell no – we sped away to the Soho house party!
Tanning with Diplo at Soho House – Coachella Weekend 1
Funny how that turned out to be the best decision of the weekend – no – our lives.
Not only did we pull up to the most picturesque desert oasis estate, but we found ourselves rubbing elbows with gorgeous, high and the mighty, unbelievably awesome Hollywood industry attendees. Never in my life have I lost my breath at the sight of such a gorgeous venue. The private estate used to belong to Wheel-of-Fortune’s Pat Sajak and had a grand lake with life-size swan boats to paddle around in, sun bathing on a luscious green, and even a real flower headband station courtesy of Cult Gaia. Katy Perry and other celebs were in attendance, but the sickest person we got to meet was actually getting his tan on at the party — DIPLO! Seeing him two days in a row? Magical.
We also got the chance to meet an amazing DJ from France…WHO HAPPENED TO HAVE EXTRA ARTIST PASSES FOR COACHELLA. But really. Let’s just say the evening took a turn for the ABSOLUTE CRAZY/BETTER from there!
Minutes later, we were in a car being transported to the music festival itself. Mind you, we were not planning on actually going to the concert last weekend (saving that for this next weekend, remember?!) So “HOLY SHIT” was the thought crossing our minds as we were escorted backstage at THE DO LAB. Free food/drinks and an exclusive chance to meet the other performers. Insane. Wild. Lucky.
From there, we ran around and watched some of our favorite artists spin sets including: Calvin Harris, Lana del Rey, Adventure Club (who was absolutely amazing amazing amazing), Duck Sauce, and ended out the night with Disclosure. We had a lot of friends who were there at the festival, but it was a nightmare to try and find them…especially when our phones died. Luckily, we were able to leave our iPhones to charge at the refuel tents while we raged at the SAHARA TENT, and later used them to find our friends at the final set of the night. What else helped? Oh yeah, the fact that Reem found a florescent sorcerer’s septor/light stick. Not kidding, that’s the only way to describe this light-saber-with-a-crystal-ball-attached-to-it. It helped us find everyone, and was a huge hit the entire night. Totally reunited with friends from 3 separate groups because of it.
When the concert ended around 11pm, we died a little. It took us about an hour to walk to the car, and mucho time to figure out where we were going, but we finally got to the mansion after-party we were looking for. We partied until 330am – and begrudgingly decided we were ready to head back to LA. Two hours of miserable driving later, we were back home and a short time later, Reem was back at work.
Let’s just say that the struggle was REAL on Monday. SO much to share with everyone, but no idea where to start. It was a Haute Mafioso epic weekend…and we’re ready to do it again!
Tomorrow, April 17th, we are driving back to the Indigo to attend Coachella Weekend 2! We are actually working at the festival, so we have all-access passes to areas and stages the general and even VIP badges don’t…for 3 days this time. Check back for an update that will most likely blow your and our own minds.
Haute Mafioso ❤ Coachella.
