Goodbye Coachella, Hello Stagecoach

The 2014 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is history, and preparations are underway Monday for next weekend's three-day Stagecoach country music festival, also being staged at Indio's Empire Polo Club.

The artists who performed Sunday on the third and final day of the Coachella Music Festival's second weekend included Arcade Fire, Lana Del Rey and Calvin Harris.

When the music ended about midnight Sunday, about 100,000 fans started making their way home, filling streets and freeways. Monday morning, traffic was backed up on northbound Monroe Street to Interstate 10, and the California Highway Patrol reported heavy traffic, at times "bumper-to-bumper," on westbound I-10 at points between Indio and Beaumont.

CHP Officer Mike Radford said officers would work hard to keep traffic flowing, in light of the traffic jam caused by people leaving the first weekend of the festival.

Indio police spokesman Ben Guitron said there were no major problems overnight or Monday morning.

Nineteen people were arrested Sunday, 39 on Saturday and 28 on Friday, Guitron said. Most of the arrests were for alcohol-related offenses, such as public drunkenness, underage drinking and drug possession, he said.

"Our (arrest) numbers are pretty good," Guitron said. "It's the size of a city."

Police said 80 people were arrested during the festival's first weekend, which was marked by tragedy when 24-year-old Kimchi Truong of Oakland collapsed at the Empire Polo Club on April 12.

Truong died five days later at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. The Riverside County Coroner's Office said it could take up to six weeks for an autopsy and toxicological tests to be completed to determine what killed her, but authorities previously indicated that she may have overdosed.

Once Coachella attendees cleared the Empire Polo Club Sunday, workers began transforming the grounds into a country-western venue for next weekend's three-day Stagecoach country music festival.

Artists will include Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Jennifer Nettles, Luke Bryan, Asleep at the Wheel, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

– City News Service.