Goldenvoice has unveiled a first look at the stage design for Head Trip.
Designed by renowned creative production company High Scream, the high-tech look will provide a distinct visual backdrop for performances by Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, and more when the influential Coachella producer’s one-time-only dance festival takes over its famous site at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, on October 10-11.
In line with the event’s “just this once” philosophy, High Scream founder Romain Pissenem—known for shaping club experiences at [UNVRS], Ushuaïa Ibiza, and Hï Ibiza, and stadium-sized spectacles at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Madison Square Garden, and the Great Pyramids of Giza—aimed “to create something that could only exist here,” according to a press release.
Using the Empire Polo Club as a starting point, Pissenem sought to make the structure feel science-fictional while belonging to the surrounding landscape, as if something had landed in the desert. Inspired by Airstream trailers he remembered from a trip to Coachella years earlier, the structure uses reflective materials to catch desert light and palm trees, folding its gauntlet of production tech into one visual system.
Overhead, lighting and lasers create what Pissenem describes as “a forest of light,” emanating from “electronic trees” that tower over the event’s sea of dancers. The goal is to place fans inside the show, from wherever they are in the crowd.
“Electronic music is based on party and celebration, putting people together, to dance together, to celebrate together, so for us it was extremely important to make sure that wherever you are, you can live the same experience,” Pissenem said in a video teaser posted to Head Trip’s Instagram yesterday.
Watch the teaser and see the stage renderings in the posts below.
Unfolding over two nights on one stage with no overlapping sets, Head Trip will feature additional performances from FISHER and Chris Lake’s “Under Construction,” Peggy Gou B2B Four Tet, Seth Troxler B2B Ben Sterling, Dom Dolla B2B KETTAMA, The Blessed Madonna, and DJ Harvey, alongside the U.S. debut of Floating Points‘ Sunflower Sound System.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit headtripindio.com.
Featured image courtesy: Goldenvoice.