203 arrested at Coachella

Indio police said 203 people were arrested across Coachella’s two 2026 weekends, turning the festival’s aftermath into a numbers story as much as a music one. (ktla.com) Police said 106 of those arrests came during Weekend 2, including 52 for alleged drug possession, 13 for false identification and eight for intoxication. Weekend 1 accounted for 97 arrests, including 59 for drug possession, 14 for false identification and three for intoxication. (kesq.com) Indio police also issued 85 citations during Weekend 2 for unlawful use of a disabled placard, and Sgt. Abe Plata told the Orange County Register that most of the crowd caused no trouble. The Empire Polo Club can hold about 125,000 people a day, according to KTLA’s report. (ktla.com) The arrest total was slightly lower than the 223 logged in 2025 but higher than the 193 reported in 2024, giving this year’s festival a familiar public-safety coda after two sold-out weekends. (ktla.com) At the same time, the Los Angeles Times reported that general admission passes retailed at $649 for Weekend 1 and $549 for Weekend 2, with VIP priced at roughly double. The paper said more than 60% of general-admission ticketholders used a payment plan. (yahoo.com) The Times also reported that resale prices surged before the festival, with Weekend 1 general-admission passes listed on StubHub for $4,000 to $5,000 in the days before the gates opened. Add-ons pushed totals higher, including shuttle passes at $130 to $180, camping at $150 to more than $400, and service fees of $50 to $100. (yahoo.com) Lodging widened the gap between the face value of a ticket and the real cost of attending. The Times reported that the average Indio Airbnb asked $1,200 a night during Weekend 2, a 109% premium. (yahoo.com) Food prices became part of that same conversation after videos from the grounds spread online, including a YouTube clip built around the cost of festival meals and drinks. The Los Angeles Times separately published a guide to meals at Coachella priced at $20 or less, underscoring how closely food costs were being tracked this year. (youtube.com, latimes.com) By late April, Coachella 2026 was being summed up not only by headliners and guest appearances, but by arrest logs, payment plans, resale spikes and receipt photos. The music festival still drew crowds large enough to sell out quickly; the story people kept comparing afterward was what it cost to get in and what happened once they did. (yahoo.com, ktla.com)