In the middle of an intensely crowded open air music festival sits an intimate, indoor stage that provides a venue-like experience.
Since 2017, Coachella has been hosting up-and-coming rock bands, heavy metal/hardcore groups, emerging hip-hop acts and other unique artists inside the Sonora, a fully enclosed tent that trades the festival vibes for a club show experience, complete with a lounging section.
“We just wanted to have an intimate space for guitar bands to play the show,” said Rene Contreras, the curator of the Sonora tent, during a recent interview. “I feel like it’s important to incorporate all styles of music.”
Since 2013, Contreras has been hosting Viva! Pomona, a music festival held at the Glass House. He grew from arranging backyard shows into curating at a big festival thanks to a connection with Paul Tollett, president/CEO of Goldenvoice, at the Glass House.
“I was in college one day, and Paul Tollett just called me over to the office,” Contreras said. “I met with him, and he was like, ‘Hey, I want to do a cool stage with rock bands.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, would you want to help me out with that?’ We’ve been at it ever since.”
The Sonora stage has brought an element of the synergy and camaraderie of Southern California’s music scene to Coachella. In the past few years, the stage has featured a number of SoCal bands, such as the Red Pears, The Garden, TV Girl, and The Linda Lindas.
“Paul goes to Viva! Pomona almost every year, and he walks around and sees the bands—and also sees the bands when they stop playing and walk around and check out the other bands,” Contreras said. “He a fan of the synergy Viva! Pomona brings. Viva! Pomona is a very small music festival that we produce together with the Glass House, and the idea of that is to help local bands get their bearings into playing shows. A lot of the bands, they’re advancing for the first time; they’re building their rider for the first time, or a stage plot for the first time.”
The Sonora lineup also shares the worldwide aspect of Viva! Pomona, booking artists like Bratty (from Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico), Los Bitchos (London), PUP (Toronto) and Viagra Boys (Stockholm, Sweeden).
“If a band or an artist is from Mexico, or Europe, or Japan, they can, and they want, to experience something local,” Contreras said. “Everyone’s very like-minded and excited to do Viva! Pomona.”
Coachella has always booked artists on the verge of growth. For example, Tame Impala played the festival in 2011, Childish Gambino in 2012, and Doja Cat in 2020; the bands were all in small print on the poster then, but have since returned to headline. Even though the festival has this track record, Contreras said he remains amazed by the growth of Sonora tent artists.
“I was most shocked when I was driving out from L.A., and seeing all the billboards,” he said. “Eyedress has a billboard; I saw The Marías’ billboard. It was really surreal seeing friends who I’ve seen their careers grow.”
The wild nature of the Sonora stage was on full display this year. I had a chance to see SPEED, an Australian hardcore band, ignite the mosh pits and engage in stage-diving, and then see Los Mirlos, a Peruvian psychedelic cumbia band, spur nonstop dancing. Some of the best and most unique acts I’ve ever seen at Coachella have been inside the Sonora.
Sonora has also been the stage where artists from the Coachella Valley have performed, including Ocho Ojos in 2019, Giselle Woo and the Night Owls in 2022, and DannyLux in 2023. Unfortunately, desert bands have been absent from the fest in the past two years. Despite this, Contreras said he’s dedicated to including and assisting worthy bands from all parts of Southern California.
“Being so involved in the local music community out in Southern California, I do my best to nurture and help artists find ways to elevate themselves, career-wise,” Contreras said. “We also book other venues out in L.A., like the Roxy, El Rey, the Fonda, the Shrine. It’s cool that we have the opportunity to help them find opening slots out there, and then we could grow them, and hopefully get artists and bands to a point where, if they want to make music their careers, they can, and it’s sustainable for them.”
