During two weekends in April, the Southern California hype revolves around the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Annually the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California is rushed by tourists spending the weekend at Coachella sponsored concerts.

A number of Granite Bay High School students and alumni have visited SoCal for the event, but one doesn’t have to go far to find such entertainment.

On a smaller scale, Life in Color has become a celebrated event for GBHS locals ages 18 and up.

GBHS junior Natalie Colosimo went to the Life in Color, also known as the “paint party” on March 7.

“I thought it was really fun, cool and the music was good,” Colosimo said. “I liked the lights and the crazy people.”

This popular trend of attending music festivals has allowed the music and art industries to grow rapidly. The question has been raised as to why these events have become so attractive to people from all over.

After Coachella nearly shut down in 1999 with an attendance of 10,000 people, the festival made a comeback.  Coachella 2014 attracted 80,000 people a day for both weekends, the tickets selling out within less than an hour of the release time.

The increasing popularity of Coachella and other similar atmospheres has led to the topic sweeping social media, allowing the event to expand even more so through networking.

The Coachella buzz has amplified so much over the past years, the event has been named by Pollstar votes as “The Festival of the Year” 11 times.

GBHS 2014 graduate Kenzie Brito attended “The Festival of the Year” in 2014 with her friends.

“We looked into it, did some research and decided we could do it financially,” Brito said. “It’s so unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.”

One of the major differences Brito noticed was the atmosphere around her.

“You’re immersed in this desert land for five days,” Brito said.  “Everyone is running around and screaming and having a great time.”

The performances at Coachella 2014 were big hit for Brito, who adds the stage set up was so much more intricate than any normal concert.

Traveling to the SoCal desert isn’t the only way to enjoy one of these proclaimed music festivals. The Outside Lands of San Francisco has established a reputation as the music festival hub of Northern California.

Since 2008, the Golden Gate Park has hosted the event.  The opening weekend attracted 40,000, and the crowds continued to fill the festival grounds at the last edition.

GBHS junior Jordan Vujovich attended the Outside Lands in August 2014.

“The atmosphere was awesome,” Vujovich said. “It was just a bunch of people looking to enjoy good music and have a great time.”

The festival atmosphere is relatively new to the decade, yet continues to grow in masses as more events appear throughout California and in chains around the nation.

The addition of yet another music festival to California will make the industry even more competitive.  Including such an event closer to GBHS than in San Francisco begs the question if convenience would come over popularity.

California currently holds 20 large music festivals according to Music Festival Junkies’ records, including BottleRock in Napa, SnowGlobe in South Lake Tahoe, and Wanderlust in Olympic Valley.

Whether it’s making the journey to SoCal, the Bay Area, the Sierras or staying local, the ability to experience life at a music festival is becoming more and more opportune.