page_title: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
section_title: 2006–2008
hierarchical_section_title: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival / History / 2006–2008
caption_attribution_description: Robot Rock, Coachella 2006
context_page_description: The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Presents. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures. Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music.
  The festival's origins trace back to a 1993 concert that Pearl Jam performed at the Empire Polo Club while boycotting venues controlled by Ticketmaster. The show validated the site's viability for hosting large events, leading to the inaugural Coachella Festival being held over the course of two days in October 1999, three months after Woodstock '99. After no event was held in 2000, Coachella returned on an annual basis beginning in April 2001 as a single-day event. In 2002, the festival reverted to a two-day format.
context_section_description: The 2006 event featured headliners Depeche Mode and Tool. Two of the most popular performances were Madonna, who played in an overflowing dance tent, and Daft Punk, whose show featuring a pyramid-shaped stage is cited as one of the most memorable performances in Coachella history. Around 120,000 concertgoers attended the event over two days, garnering Goldenvoice a gross of $9 million.
  In 2007, Goldenvoice inaugurated the Stagecoach Festival, an annual country music festival that also takes place at the Empire Polo Club the weekend following Coachella. The new event helped avert complications with organizing Coachella; the polo club's owner Alex Haagen III had been planning to redevelop the land unless a new profitable event could be created to make a long-term lease with Goldenvoice financially feasible. Along with the new festival's addition, Coachella was permanently extended to three days in 2007. The headlining acts were Red Hot Chili Peppers, the reunited Rage Against the Machine, and Björk, all of whom headlined for the second time. The festival compiled a three-day aggregate attendance of over 186,000, a new best, and grossed $16.3 million.
  In 2008, Coachella did not sell out for the first time since 2003. It featured headliners Prince, Roger Waters, and Jack Johnson. Waters' inflatable prop pig flew away during his set. The 2008 festival drew an attendance of 151,666 and grossed $13.8 million, but lost money, due to tickets not selling out and high booking fees paid for Prince and Roger Waters.
caption: Daft Punk's performance at Coachella 2006 is frequently cited as one of the most memorable in the festival's history.
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