A theological perspective on Coachella 2012.
In light of Richard Dawkins and Cardinal Pell’s recent discussion on the nature of existence, and whether or not Heaven and Hell indeed factor into it, I’ve decided the perfect embodiment of such an argument is Coachella 2012. Here’s why.
Firstly, I’ve never been, so like heaven it carries the mystery of the unknown.
I’ve also only heard accounts of those who have seen it, and who describe it as heavenly – in a not so biblical way.
Finally, heaven is a place where all the beautiful things can coexist. Well, the same thing could be said for a place where Tom York shares a restroom with Anthony Gonzalez.
If punters at Coachella are in heaven, then those that are unaware of it’s existence (festival agnostics) are in purgatory. According to many religious opinions, those who are agnostic can’t go to heaven as they don’t know it exists.
Which brings me to the people that are well aware of Coachella’s amazingness, but just can’t get there. And this is irrefutably the most concrete part of the analogy – because those people are most certainly in hell. Just like myself on the weekend.
Streaming the sets of all my favourite artists, from the crippling comfort of my bedroom. Rather than make me feel heavenly, the live stream made me depressed. Like being married to a ghost. I could see it, but I couldn’t feel it. The songs weren’t played for me. I was a voyeur. A pervert. A pathetic wannabe punter who would really like to go to Coachella next year. I’m praying.
