Leaving his first-ever three years ago, Aidan Martinez was fed up. He’d gone to the festival hoping to catch his favorite acts, and was left sorely disappointed. The reason? The group he came with.
“It was a lot of drama and nobody could agree on anything,” Martinez said.
In spite of his experience, Martinez decided he wouldn’t call it quits on the festival. Last year, he went alone.
“When I was by myself, I was on my own time,” Martinez said. “I got here when I wanted to, I got to see who I wanted to, where I wanted to. It was on my own terms.”
This year, he did it again, tackling an almost-10-hour drive from Albuquerque, NM, by himself to get to the festival grounds. He said it’s all worth it – and he isn’t alone in that thought.
Dubbed ‘Solochella,’ the idea of skipping the painstaking process of trying to plan the trip to Indio with others, agree on a schedule and come out on the other side as friends is gaining traction on social media.
In a now-viral TikTok, user @jordan_19977 documented his Day 3 of Weekend 1 this year going solo, which shows him going through his day, listening to music and hanging out at his camping spot. The video has racked up over 290,000 likes and 2.9 million views.
Still having fun, while were young☀️🪴.
“I completely fell in love with the meaning of Coachella and what it means to be by yourself,” Martinez said while reflecting on last year’s experience of being alone, “and to not be scared of being alone in a big place like this.”
Being alone gave Martinez the freedom to really enjoy the music, and not feel pressured to skip sets to appease others, he said. He admits that he might have taken it a bit “too seriously” last year, noting that he had a whole schedule for himself.
This year, he said he aims to meet new people.
That seems to be a common goal for Solochellaists: There are over 300 comments on this year’s r/Coachella subreddit section reserved for meetup arrangements, many of which are solo-goers.
Most post a brief blurb about themselves, including their age, where they’re coming from and where they plan to stay. Some include the sets they’d like to see with others. Almost all are looking to meet each other.
There are other ways to meet, too. Speaking about his upcoming Solochella trip prior to Weekend 2, tiktok user @mattiasblanco relayed that he’d been added to an Instagram group chat for solo campers.
your sign to not wait on others to live your life bbs lets get ittt more updates to come
Speaking on Day 3, Martinez relayed that he’d been successful in his endeavor to meet new people, adding that there are even a few that he thinks he’ll keep in touch with after the festival ends.
“It’s been my favorite Coachella out of the three that I’ve been to,” Martinez said. “The energy was so much better than I’ve seen it before, and of course, I’m here on my own, having the best time, and living fearlessly, honestly.”
