Coachella: Music Festival at sea

As a stark contrast to the sun-parched South California desert setting of premier American rock festival Coachella, a special edition will be taking to the ocean waves this December. It’s all aboard the good ship Celebrity Silhouette, which can carry up to 2800 guests and has a purpose-built concert hall. The cruise sets sail from Florida’s Fort Lauderdale on December 16, Bahamas-bound. Then on December 19 it sets off for Jamaica. Both cruises will take around three days and the same line up will play both trips. And what a line-up: highlights include UK art-rockers Pulp, along with Hot Chip, !!!, James Murphy of LCD Sound System (DJ Set), DJ Harvey and many more.

Despite the sea-borne setting, organizers will spread a blanket of grass on deck because, as they say, “It couldn’t be a Coachella concert without a meadow”. One of the nicest things about being on board with some of your favorite bands is, apart from spotting them hanging out by the pool or taking in part in some of the workshops, is that at sea there are less restrictions on the timing of performances and other rules that grate on land.

Pierfrancesco Pacoda