The first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held in 1999.
The inaugural Coachella took place on October 9 and 10, 1999, at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Goldenvoice organized the event, which was founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen. Its location in the Coachella Valley later gave the festival its familiar name.
The site had already hosted a notable 1993 Pearl Jam concert, held there because the band was challenging Ticketmaster-controlled venues. That event demonstrated that the polo grounds could support a large concert, helping inspire the creation of a wider music and arts festival.
The first lineup included Beck, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, the Chemical Brothers, Morrissey, Underworld, and A Perfect Circle. Coachella did not take place in 2000, then returned in 2001 as a one-day event. It expanded to two days in 2002, three days in 2007, and two consecutive weekends in 2012. The modern festival is therefore much larger than the two-day 1999 original.