Festival-goers stuck in “horrendous” 12-hour traffic jam ahead of Coachella 2025

12 April, 2025

Coachella

Coachella 2025 kicked off to a rocky start, with attendees reportedly stuck in 12-hour traffic jams before entering the festival.

This year’s edition of the Californian festival is well underway, with Friday’s headliner Lady Gaga wrapping up her headline set in the early hours this morning (April 12). Despite being hailed by fans as the “best Coachella show of all time”, many were beset by travel issues before getting through the gates.

Fans in attendance have taken to social media to complain about hours-long lines to get to the car camping area on festival grounds, with some comparing it to the disastrous Fyre Festival.

Though some traffic is expected as revellers pile into the event, local media have reported some campers were stuck in their cars for hours on end, without access to bathrooms, water or gas, with one Palm Springs-based station dubbing the gridlock “carmageddon”.

Festival news account FestiveOwl shared a text from one attendee, who described conditions as “horrendous”, and went on to say there had been “no guidance or directions” from any Coachella organisers.

One TikTok user also shared her experience of a 10 hour wait, calling the huge backlog of cars “a complete shit show.” “We still haven’t even gone through security. It’s 100 degrees outside. People’s cars are overheating,” she said in the video.

“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 it’s been extremely dehumanizing. People are pissed.”

@notliss

It’s giving Fyre Fest… & yes i look terrible bc ive been up for 30+ hours 🫠 #coachella2025 #coachellacamping #coachella

♬ original sound – liss

Billboard reported that sources close to the festival have pointed to two likely culprits for the extensive queues, the first being that the campgrounds began letting people in on Thursday (April 10) at 9 am this year, which is later than in previous years and may have contributed to the backlog.

The second was the festival have launched a preferred campsite program for the campground closest to the festival entrance. Sources claimed the new system, which replaced the traditional first-come, first-served one took more time per camper to manage than originally anticipated.

The first wave of artists confirmed for this year’s edition was shared back in November, when it was revealed that Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott would be headlining. Other artists on the bill include Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, solo performances from BLACKPINK‘s Lisa and Jennie, Benson Boone, the original Misfits, Zedd, The Prodigy, Beabadoobee, Clairo, Enhypen and more.

Since then, more acts have been gradually added to the line-up, with the most recent of which being Ed Sheeran and Weezer – while FKA Twigs was forced to pull out due to US visa issues.

Check back here to see the latest Coachella updates.

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