Festival Frustrations: Coachella Attendees Speak Out on Grueling 12-Hour Wait Times

Liam James5 days agoLast Updated: 11 April 2025

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Getting to Coachella this year has proven to be more challenging than usual, as festival-goers are taking to social media to express their frustrations over hours-long lines to reach the car camping area on the festival grounds.

Traffic jams en route to the festival are not a new phenomenon, but reports indicate that this year has been particularly difficult. The Desert Sun highlighted that attendees are experiencing “massive” wait times, with some campers claiming they have waited up to 12 hours without access to bathroom facilities.

Local station KESQ-TV referred to the traffic situation as “carmageddon,” quoting festival-goers who expressed their disbelief: “This is absurd, why are we spending this money to spend eight hours in a car when we aren’t even inside yet?” Another attendee shared, “I’ve seen people pass out from heat exhaustion; it’s been chaos.”

A TikTok user shared a detailed rant from her car on Thursday, revealing that she and her group had been stuck for 10 hours after arriving at 3 a.m. She described the backup as “a complete shit show.”

“It’s almost 1 p.m. right now. We still haven’t even gone through security. It’s 100 degrees outside. People’s cars are overheating,” she explained. “They’re running out of gas. There are no bathrooms anywhere. People are literally using the bathroom behind bushes like animals, and they paid over $600 to be here. This whole experience has been so disappointing and extremely dehumanizing. People are pissed.”

On X, some complaints mirrored those heard elsewhere. “This is going to be my 12th Coachella, and I’ve never dealt with such a long line for the campgrounds,” one user noted. Another added, “Eight hours in line for Coachella camping and still nowhere close. This is beyond unacceptable. You charge thousands and can’t even manage basic logistics?”

A staff member on the ground reported waiting four hours to enter a campground—considerably shorter than the waits experienced by others—but attendees are still saying that this year’s delays are longer than usual.

It remains uncertain what factors have contributed to the increased wait times this year, as a representative for the festival has not yet responded to requests for comment. Coachella is set to kick off Friday afternoon and will continue over the following weekend. Headliners include Lady Gaga, Green Day, and Post Malone, along with notable acts such as Travis Scott, Missy Elliot, Charli XCX, and Megan Thee Stallion.

Additionally, Ed Sheeran and Weezer were announced as part of the lineup last weekend, with Weezer performing during the first weekend and Sheeran joining for the second. Weezer is scheduled to perform on Saturday, just days after bassist Scott Shriner’s wife, Jillian Lauren, was shot by police while authorities were pursuing suspects in a hit-and-run.

Stay tuned for more updates from HiCelebNews, your go-to source for captivating stories in the music scene.