The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will wrap up Sunday, with Kendrick Lamar sending record crowds home happy despite triple-digit heat and frustrating traffic jams.
The rapper and Compton native, fresh off the release of his latest album “Damn,” closed out the first festival weekend strong and will look to repeat that on the main stage Sunday night.
Others looking to repeat strong first weekend performances include Lorde, who emerged from a nearly three-year performing and recording hiatus with new material for the desert crowds and composer Hans Zimmer, who delighted audiences with some of his most popular works from film, and was joined by Pharrell Williams, who collaborated with Zimmer for the film “Hidden Figures.”
Searing temperatures, record crowds and heavy traffic didn’t seem to put a damper on festivalgoers’ enthusiasm.
Temperatures Saturday edged to the 100-degree mark, and Sunday’s high was expected to be “only” into the mid-90s.
An estimated 110,000 people attended the festival each day through the first weekend, according to police, though up to 125,000 are allowed through the gates, thanks to the Indio City Council’s unanimous decision to expand the festival’s attendance cap from 99,000 to 125,000. This year’s event is expected to be the best-attended Coachella festival in history.
Drivers headed to and from the festival were urged to look out for heavy traffic Sunday afternoon through Monday night and advised to map out alternate routes just in case, including state Route 62 and state Route 74.
In addition, the northbound 15 Freeway at Duncan Canyon in Fontana was closed down starting at 11 p.m. Friday and will remain so until 6 a.m. Monday, possibly forcing drivers to take alternate routes nearby and exacerbating traffic in the area.
Locally, Indio police will be handling numerous traffic closures surrounding the venue.
Road closures will be at:
— Avenue 49, between Hjorth and Monroe streets;
— Avenue 50, between Madison and Jackson streets;
— Hjorth Street, between Avenue 49 and Avenue 50; and
— Madison Street, between Avenue 49 and Avenue 52.
In addition, no pedestrians or pedestrian festival access will be allowed on Monroe Street between Avenue 49 and Avenue 52 or Madison Street between Avenue 50 and Avenue 52.
Pedestrians can enter the polo grounds at the corner of Avenue 49 and Monroe Street and the corner of Avenue 52 and Madison Street.
–City News Service