The first night of Coachella was a bit of a mess… after 7 hours of traffic I got to the Festival a little late, and switched arrangements to see The Dillinger Escape Plan with, well, pretty much whomever I could find. Thus commenced a great deal of scrambling around and looking for weird sheize to frolic in. Having never been to the big C before, I stumbled around in the dark near what I would later learn is the ‘Outdoor stage’ and found myself in a land beyond sight and sound. I had passed the main stages and DJ tents. I’d reached: The Dolab.

This was a step or two above normal raver/festival-goer territory. It was someplace that looked like a cross between the Hobbit village Rivendell, and a Frank Lloyd Wright architecture exhibit. If you’ve never been to/heard of the DoLab, what you’re missing is an L.A.-based collective of performance artists, dancers, and musicians gathered beneath a bizarre collection of sculptures and architecture.

Fans and artists were on hand to spray you down, should the heat come on a little too strong. Beside some of the sculptures were cozy beds with pristine and soon-to-be-ruined white sheets. There I witnessed a pretty spectacular show, with great art, great music by a great DJ named Kraddy. It was refreshing not to have to deal with the usual techno and rave stuff; Kraddy’s set was a beast of both harder electronica noise and frantic guitar samples (industrial, remember that stuff?!). It didn’t hurt to have lots of pretty people dancing around wearing next to nothing, either. 

Words by Jeff Nau, Photos by JP Croswhite and Aaaron Gautchi