INDIO, CA. - “Coachella! Coachella! Coachella!” The chant rings out like a song across the California desert as thousands of music junkies anxiously await the start of one of America’s great annual festivals.

Laughter fills the air and fans — young and old — mingle, dance and play guitar on the Empire Polo Club grounds, located just outside this sleepy California town where the epic three-day Coachella music and arts festival happens each year.

As I and my travelling troop sit in our car waiting to gain entrance to the sprawling site, I become overwhelmed with emotion. I can’t believe we’ve finally arrived after a grueling four-day drive from Toronto. My body stiffens with excitement as we crank up the volume on Porter Robinson’s live set from Marquee that is booming on our radio.

Let Coachella begin!

For lovers of rock, hip-hop, indie and electronic music, Coachella is their mecca. There is simply no bigger music festival in the world — tickets are sold out well in advance and an A-list of performers line up to play here each year.

Coachella is the ultimate drug for music lovers and the guard sees I’m on a natural high when we roll up to the inspection booth; security at Coachella is very strict.

“Y’all ready for this!” says the grinning guard, who slaps a camping sticker on our windscreen and waves us through.

Despite the frenzy surrounding us, we’re able to find and reunite with friends who arrived earlier. We struggle through the excitement to set up our tents. With 12 of us camping on a 10 by 30-foot lot, there’s hardly any space to move.

Daylight is quickly fading so we decide to turn in early and rest up for the long days and nights ahead.

“WOOOOOO!” We’re awoken the next morning at 6:30 by the loud scream of excitement.

I’m lying in a pool of sweat — the torrid desert sun has turned our tent into a convection oven. The blistering heat is making it difficult for me to breathe. I stick my head outside seeking air and see a sea of people mingling about.

Curious by the commotion around us, we quickly get ready and venture off to explore. As we walk through the gates to the main event, my heart begins to beat faster and faster with enthusiasm. I am captivated by an addictive ambience; record-breaking heats, desert sands, scenic mountains, rows of beautiful palm trees, chains of balloons floating in the sky, melodies flowing through the hot breeze and thousands of intoxicating people all around me.

“This is a fantasy world,” I whisper to myself. A place this unique had only existed in my imagination.

Cheers from all angles catch my attention. I’m surrounded by people of different age, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality and sexual orientation. I’ve never been to a place so versatile and accepting. I’m addicted.

Noon strikes and we make our way to the Sahara Tent for our first concert — Coachella-LA Riots!

The music starts. Lights begin to flash. Everyone starts dancing under the blazing sun. Beads of sweat start to form on my forehead, but I’m having too much fun to care about my appearance.

Above: People come from all over the world to attend music festivals.

Just as I’m about to take a break, “Feel So Close” by my favourite artist, Calvin Harris, starts to play. We dance around each other with a carefree happiness completely lost in the song. A sense of amity radiates from the stage, and flows through the audience. My heart is full of so much love it feels like it might explode.

This feeling continues concert after concert. Just when I think it can’t get any better, the sun begins to set. A luminous orange light bursts through the mountain ridges, perfectly shaping the palm trees along the horizon. The light sculpts the crowd as if we were one. My fellow Coachella attendees and I begin to dance until night turns into morning.

The utopian environment exists as the festival slips into Saturday night when more of our favourite performers take the stage. The entire festival grounds are lit up with mesmerizing lights of neon pinks, yellows, greens and purples. A massive radiant Ferris Wheel surrounded by palm trees and framed by string balloons is the centre of the event.

I stand in the crowd hypnotized by Harris’ music. My body sways to the rhythms of “You Used to Hold Me” — boom, boom, boom — the bass on this track is so powerful I can feel the beat pulsating through my body. I’m at one with the music.

Memories of good times with friends and happiness flood my mind. I tilt my head back and close my eyes. I feel the perfect desert breeze sweep across my body. The hair rises on the back of my neck and arms. I take in a huge breath of air, carefully taking in my surroundings, and slowly exhale.

When I open my eyes, right in front of me is the man himself — Calvin Harris. Each of my five senses come alive. Punched with energy, I throw my hands in the air and dance with a vigour I’ve never experienced before.

Above: Love is in the air at music festivals and the party lasts well into the morning.

Later, we electronic music lovers decide to engage ourselves in a new genre of music — Radiohead is performing on the main stage tonight — so we find a perfect plot of grass with an extraordinary view of the stage. I lie down, close my eyes and am immediately taken away by the unparalleled voice of Thom Yorke. I’m getting drunk on Yorke’s words and then the band breaks into their most popular song, ‘Karma Police.’ As he passionately sings the lyrics, “and for a minute there I lost myself,” I can’t help but get lost in the moment myself. My eyes well with tears and I pray this magic lasts for just a minute longer.

Moments like this continue time and again at Coachella. After witnessing artists such as The Black Keys, The Sheepdogs, Afrojack, Kaskade, Calvin Harris, Gotye, Florence and the Machine, Avicii, Swedish House Mafia, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and the infamous Tupac hologram, I’m at my happiest. The talent is astounding.

As the final night of the festival draws to a close, I can’t help but get emotional. As I’m walking back to the camp grounds I reflect on the weekend I’ve just experienced. Before arriving at Coachella I had been told that it was a place of controlled weirdness and uncontrolled happiness. It was all that and more.

But to me and the thousands who attend Coachella every year, this is a place to be oneself — where you can experience the lessons of humanity surrounded by a wonderland of scenery, ambience and talent.

It is a reminder of the magnificence of the human connection when it’s embraced through the sounds of music.