One California dad decided to make a curriculum for family’s trip to Coachella.
Michael Brand’s daughter, Ava Brand, posted a video of his elaborate Coachella preparation ritual, resulting in a viral moment for the father-daughter duo.
In the video, which has racked up over 3 million views, Michael, 68, writes down notes for Coachella acts in a packed notebook. Meanwhile, music blasts from his phone. His daughter zooms in on the list of artists. “There’s no notes for Justin Bieber,” she says.
“Well, it’s Justin Bieber,” he says — no explanation needed.
The video even caught the attention of Joe Jonas. “I’m hosting a party does he wanna come?” Jonas commented.
The whole adventure began when Michael and his wife, Diane Brand, decided to take their daughters — Ava, Claire and Olivia — to the annual music festival for Claire’s 30th birthday.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival happens annually across two weekends in Indio, California, about two hours away from the Brands’ home.
“I think my dad’s always wanted to go,” Ava, who has attended the festival with her sisters, says.
For Michael, this was a way to connect with his two older daughter who live in New York. “We don’t get to see them very often and our family trips are great experiences,” he says.
Compared to their last family trip for a wedding in New Jersey, this required some extra preparation for Michael. He decided to tune in to music from all the acts booked — over 130.
He came across a Coachella playlist featuring music from all the artists. And from there, he started listening on his morning walk.
“The the initial people that caught my eye that I knew immediately: David Byrne, Iggy Pop, The Strokes and CMAT,” Michael says. “But part of the exercise was to learn about music that I don’t know.”
He invented a system for taking notes on each artist and remembering who he wanted to see.
“My intention was purely to say whether it was somebody that I would be interested in going to or not, not rating anybody, not ranking anybody, nothing like that,” he says. “So a lot of my notes are purely a yes or no or a plus or minus.”
Michael says he ended up with a list that was “way too long and very ambitious.”
Once at the festival, he says he especially enjoyed Joyce Manor, Teddy Swims, Iggy Pop and The XX at the top of his list. He was also amazed by Sabrina Carpenter’s show.
But the highlight for the family was getting to meet Joe Jonas, who was serious about his invitation in the TikTok comments.
“Aperol invited us to their little day club activation thing on Friday and the woman who was emailing me was like, ‘OK, come at 4:50 on Friday, we have a fun surprise,’’’ Ava shares.
The surprise was Jonas’ party.
“I was just purely shocked,” Ava says. “We got served a spritz from Joe Jonas, which was just really fun.
Michael describes his very first Coachella experience as one to remember.
“It was a great day. There’s a lot of walking. The key part of the outfit for my outfit was my shoes,” he says. “The whole vibe is fantastic. It’s very, very well organized, runs pretty much on time and nothing but good things to say about that.”
For Michael, the experience was “absolutely” worth it and so was studying the music beforehand. He’s already thinking of Coachella next year.
“I’ve run a marathon or two and it’s like running a marathon,” Michael says. “The deal is you don’t say you’re going to do it or not. You can give yourself some time to think about it.”
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