The Chaotic Return of Revolve Festival

Despite the attention seeking Instagram photos and videos, much of Revolve Festival was spent in sweltering heat and unenjoyable conditions. Source: User Thomas Hawk via Creative Commons

For the first time in two years, the 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held in California at the Empire Polo Club this month. Held over the course of two weeks, April 15 to 17 and April 22 to 24, Coachella pulled out all the stops for this year’s musical guests. Each day was headlined by pop mega stars Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Swedish House Mafia featuring The Weeknd. Other fan favorite artists who offered the most talked about performances included Daniel Caesar (he brought out Justin Bieber to sing their hit song, “Peaches”), Role Model, Megan Thee Stallion, Conan Gray, Doja Cat, FINNEAS and more. 

Coachella has always served as a breeding ground for influencers to flaunt their best, most expensive outfits, brand partnerships and iconic celebrity friendships. While many popular influencers such as Emma Chamberlain and James Charles did touch the Coachella grounds, an adjacent festival held by clothing brand Revolve seemed to attract many typical Coachella-goers. While the Revolve Festival appeared to be a much more lowkey version of Coachella with just as famous patrons and just as iconic performers, influencers on TikTok began to share their toxic experiences with the event and its showrunners. 

The Revolve Festival hosted performances by Jack Harlow and Willow Smith and collaborated with brands like Spotify and Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila. VIP Guests such as Timothée Chalamet received star treatment, but other invited influencers did not have the same experience. Some revealed that they had to wait for hours in the scalding heat for transportation to the main Coachella festival as people pushed and shoved their way onto buses. There was minimal access to food and water, and not every influencer was treated equally; many felt as though they did not belong, even though Revolve invited them with the intention of promoting their brand.

Revolve issued a statement following the festival, saying, “The safety of our guests is of the utmost importance to us and we will always make that a priority. We sincerely apologize to all the guests who were impacted. We always strive to provide a great experience and we promise to do better” (Today). Despite this public apology, some influencers posted evidence of Revolve employees ridiculing the influencers unhappy with their treatment at the event. Many likened it to the 2017 chaos of the Fyre Festival. 

Considering that the world is still suffering repercussions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is hard to believe that conditions experienced at the Revolve Festival would ever be acceptable 

again. It poses questions about what kinds of events can still exist following Covid-19 and how people and brands should be held accountable for situations like these.