Coachella's Paul Tollett recalls journey to mainstream

An Anchorage, Alaska, resident was seeking questions to entice Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett to participate in a question-and-answer session on Reddit, the social media site that allows online readers to ask celebrities "anything."

Drewski27 of California inquired about one of the most celebrated sets in the history of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

"Hey, Paul," he asked in 2014, "who was it that actually stepped in for Black Sabbath in 2012? Snoop and Dre, right?"

Tollett, a notoriously private part-time Indio resident, didn't participate in the Q&A. So the question of how Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre came to do a duet with a hologram of Tupac Shakur in 2012 wasn't definitively answered.

Billboard magazine, citing multiple industry sources, said Black Sabbath pulled out of Coachella just before the lineup was announced because its guitarist, Tony Iommi, had been diagnosed with cancer. But it said, "It's unclear which artist was added as a last-minute replacement for Coachella."

Tollett confirmed in a rare, wide-ranging interview with The Desert Sun Thursday that Snoop and Dr. Dre were indeed the last-minute substitutes for Black Sabbath. And Dre told him in advance he planned to bring the late Tupac on stage as a ghostly, 3-D image.

"We gambled on the Dr. Dre-Snoop thing," said Tollett, wearing his trademark baseball cap in his new Spanish-tiled house on a tree-laden mound on Eldorado Polo Club property. "When Black Sabbath called us on a Friday night before the Monday announcement, we gambled. They said they couldn't play. Tony Iommi had cancer. We could have grabbed somebody. There were artists available that would have confirmed instantly that were on standby on that Friday night. But we gambled for 48 hours. We were announcing Monday so we got a meeting with Dr. Dre, me and the agent at Jimmy Iovine's house on a Sunday night. I made the pitch. Told them all about it. He talked about some hologram or 3-D mapping — they didn't know exactly what they were going to plan. But they knew it was going to be expensive.

"I talked about it with Brent Smith, the agent, going into it. I said, 'We're not bargain shopping in Holmby Hills on a Sunday night. Let's get real here.' So, it was great. It happened."

Tollett, who is producing his 16th Coachella on the weekends of April 10-12 and 17-19 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, hasn't had time to fully furnish his new house, but signs of his preoccupation with Coachella are evident. A map of the Coachella layout is on his coffee table. His hallway is adorned with posters of every Coachella lineup since 1999. An east window offers a view of where the campers will be.

His roommates are Coachella's curators of art, Paul Clemente, and fine cuisine, Nic Adler, son of the co-founder of the Monterey Pop Festival, Lou Adler. Tollett is president and CEO of Goldenvoice and a board member of its partner organization, AEG Live. But he's long considered himself just part of the Big Three of Coachella. He curates the music, Skip Paige runs the business and Bill Fold directs the festival. They also help Goldenvoice run a mini-empire with 120 full-time employees in California and 1,200 entertainment bookings, including 10 U.S. music festivals.

But Clemente and Adler have earned their places in Tollet's home. This year's number of food vendors has grown to 300, including cuisine from some of L.A.'s top up-and-coming restaurants, and the art is better financed and bigger than ever.

"I get the main bedroom because music is still the (primary attraction)," says the quick-witted Tollett. "But as soon as art takes it over, I'll pack my bags. I've got my luggage because it's starting to get there."

Coachella has been criticized for its headliners since Snoop and Dr. Dre, Radiohead and the Black Keys set the bar high in 2012. The Washington Post called this year's headliners of Drake, AC/DC and Jack White "the death of Coachella." Tollett just brushes aside the criticism.

"Coachella's jumped the shark now 11 years in a row, according to the press, but not according to the people who hit me up to buy tickets," he says. "I think it's still relevant — alternative musically and artistically and if it's not someone's favorite lineup, I understand. I can't fault them for that."

But he's quick to defend AC/DC and Drake.

"Coachella's been around for 16 years now," says Tollett, 49. "We want to try some fun new things and AC/DC, no one can argue that they're one of the best bands live. So, if you're a festival promoter, you've got to try to go for the ultimate. I've been trying for a long time (to book the Australian band) and it just worked out this time.

"(Drake's) got a catalog that is deep as can be. I went and saw him at the Hollywood Bowl and loved the show. So, with all the ones we've had in that genre, it seems like he's the logical next step."

Coachella lost its decade-long ranking as the No. 1 music festival in North America in the Pollstar concert industry poll, but even its editor-in-chief says he thinks it lost to Austin City Limits for 2014 simply because the Pollstar voters were tired of crowning the same champion every year. Pollstar doesn't announce it, but he said Coachella came in second.

"I'm not sure it's anything Coachella did," editor Gary Bongiovanni said. "I don't think Coachella did anything wrong."

Tollett's not worried. Bongiovanni said Coachella made $78.3 million over its two weekends, making it the world's top-grossing festival. And that doesn't count sponsorship money from businesses such as H&M, which created a "Coachella" fashion line, Doppler Labs, which is distributing DUBS Earplugs to Coachella-goers, and Mercury Insurance, which is sponsoring a telecast of the festival in addition to YouTube's licensed live-stream.

Viagogo also named Coachella the world's second most in-demand festival after Tomorrowland in the Netherlands.

"If I could be No. 2 in every category, I'd be happy," Tollett said. "When someone will tell me Coachella is the best festival ever, I'll smile. But I translate that to, it's their favorite festival. We all have our favorites. It doesn't mean it's the best. Best could be a small festival somewhere that's way more personal. It doesn't have to be so big. It's just what your favorite is."

Empire Polo Club owner Alex Haagen III, who designs the landscaping to give Tollett the canvas on which to manifest his artistic vision, says unequivocally Coachella is the world's best music festival.

"The one in Austin is a neat one, but it's in a city park," he said. "If you go there and walk around, it doesn't come close to what we have with the food and the restrooms and the stages. ... Somebody decided they were giving (the top honor) to us too many times in a row."

Tollett praises his staff for letting him focus most of his attention on the music he needs to book. He discovers new music by reading music journalism voraciously, regularly attending concerts and festivals, and checking attendance figures at Goldenvoice venues. But he also gets regular notifications from friends and co-workers.

"I need Goldenvoice, the whole culture we're in," he said. "You feel it in the office. When everyone was buzzing about Jungle (the Coachella act that's also playing Tachevah: A Palm Springs Block Party), I'm like, 'Mental note: Jungle. Don't sleep on that one!'

"This stuff can pop up quick. This year, it's Jungle, ODESZA, Kygo, Chet Faker. A year or two ago, it wasn't really on people's radar. Now it's like dominating the radar."

Tollett listens to Sirius XM and does much of his creative thinking while driving back and forth from the AEG office in Los Angeles to his house in Indio. On a recent drive to the Coachella site, his car stereo was set to a Sirius hip-hop station.

"I don't mind the drive at all," he said. "In fact, sometimes I feel like, 'Ah, let me just get on the road.' Bright Eyes — Conor Oberst — has a song that says, 'There's nothing that the road can't cure.' I always think that. 'Get in the car, you'll think it out.' And as I listen to music, I get creative thoughts. Sometimes I feel like I'm too close when I get here. I could use another half-hour."

Tollett won't cop to disliking or prohibiting any kind of music from his festivals, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and five country music festivals. In fact, he's already talking about creating a soundproof structure that would allow "quiet" acts to be presented at Coachella without them being overwhelmed by amplified bands.

"I walked the grounds with (classical crossover singer) Josh Groban about 10 years ago," he said. "I saw him backstage and I introduced myself and we walked around. I was surprised by how many artists he knew about. I told him, 'We should have a structure at this place where someone like you could perform.' There would be people who would be into it. I know if we had him, volume (from other bands) would really be a problem. But, I think this crowd is so open-minded, it's not funny. Sometimes we're held back by the facilities that we provide."

Katy Perry, who personifies the kind of pop music that Coachella is the alternative to, comes to Coachella every year and has said she'd like to play it. Tollett doesn't reject that possibility.

"We love her," he said, speaking as an AEG partner. "We promoted her tour. In fact, we have her in Asia right now. She's waiting for Coachella. She once reminded us that she won't book a tour that's on top of Coachella because she wants to come here. That's kind of cool."

Billboard ranked Tollett as the 47th most powerful person in music in 2015, up six notches after Goldenvoice/AEG acquired the Firefly Festival in Delaware, launched the Big Barrel Country Music Festival on the same site and took a controlling interest in Alabama's Hangout Music Festival. But Tollett gets excited being around some superstars.

"Paul McCartney played in 2009," he said. "He's been back with us every single year as a fan, and he's coming back again. It's hilarious. (He likes) all types. Swedish House Mafia. Amon Tobin. Like, really? I had Amon Tobin the first year and he came back years ago and now he's doing really whacked out stuff. And there's McCartney watching him. Wow. Pretty heavy."

Coachella began as a niche festival. In 1999, Tollett and his late partner, Rick Van Santen, had the idea to take dozens of their favorite niche artists and hope they'd draw an audience big enough to make money and create something cool. They accomplished the latter, winning their first Pollstar Award, but lost huge amounts of money. After getting funding from AEG Live, they were able to afford more expensive headliners and Coachella became more mainstream.

"We're not necessarily a niche festival anymore," Tollett said. "We may have been in '99. We've evolved over the years and we have other festivals we're involved with that are more niche. But this one is not necessarily that."

Now Coachella has inspired is a circuit of music festivals that drive the music business. It's something Tollett never imagined.

"We never thought that deep," he said. "We found our pamphlet from our first year just recently and, when we made it, I was bragging that this was going to draw fans all the way from Phoenix to San Diego and L.A. I had no idea. We never thought that big. We just wanted a cool show. We just always thought like Southern California. It's exciting to see how many people come from other countries and other states."

Bruce Fessier is The Desert Sun's music and film reporter. He can be reached at Bruce.Fessier@DesertSun.com and followed on Twitter @BruceFessier

Digging deeper

What: "Do Arts and Music Festivals Matter," a discussion on the value and future of arts and music festivals, A Zócalo/James Irvine Foundation Event co-presented by The Desert Sun and KCRW, moderated by Bruce Fessier and featuring a panel including music writer and photographer Steve Appleford, Palm Springs Art Museum deputy education director Irene N. Rodríguez, and Indio Mayor Lupe Ramos Watson

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 14

Where: Sunnylands Center & Gardens, 37977 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage

Admission: Free

Information:http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/event/do-arts-and-music-festivals-matter/

Coachella 2015

Go to DesertSun.com/Coachella for the latest news about the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival as well as previous coverage and photo galleries.

Need tickets?

What: The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

When: Friday-Sunday, April 10-12 and 17-19

Where: Empire Polo Club, 81-800 Avenue 51, Indio

Tickets: General admission passes for $375 available in limited numbers to Coachella Valley residents at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 8 and 15, with lines forming at 3 p.m., at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, 78-200 Miles Ave., Indian Wells

Information:http://www.coachella.com/residents