Photo by Christa Connelly Daily Titan Photo Editor. The party rages around ‘Successful House Plants,' an art installment by Michael Christian of Oakland, Calif. This is the artist's sixth year as part of the festival.

Walking around in the desert heat, the smell of marijuana and body odor coming from the guy in front of you as you walk around searching for the band you want to see, ah, Coachella.

The 11th annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival took place April 16-18, and attracted thousands of people from all over the world for the three-day festival to celebrate their favorite acts with other music aficionados.

Despite no longer selling one-day passes and a line-up that some considered to be upsetting, Coachella attracted 75,000 people from all over the globe, selling out the event and making it the biggest Coachella thus far.

The growth was definitely noticeable to regular Coachella attendees, including Mark Casas of La Mirada, who has attended Coachella every year since 2005.

"Every other time I've been to Coachella, I had been able to wander around and randomly see bands at different stages without a set plan. It seemed this year, you had to carefully plan out exactly where and when you needed to be. There was never a time I went into a tent to see a band where the crowd wasn't pouring out of the sides" he said, adding that this setback would not prevent him from attending the festival in the future.

"Overall, I think performance-wise, this was the best Coachella yet. Every artist I saw, except for MGMT, put on a great show," Casas said.

Photo by Christa Connelly Daily Titan Photo Editor. Swedish twee-pop band Camera Obscura performs to a crowd in the Mojave tent on Saturday, April 17. They were one of over 120 bands performing over the three-day festival.

The festival did see some setbacks. The volcanic activity in Iceland caused some foreign acts to cancel, including The Cribs, Frightened Rabbit and Gary Neuman. However, as a whole, the festival was a success, with great performances by more than 100 artists; including up-and coming acts like Frank Turner, La Roux and Local Natives, DJ sets from David Guetta and 2ManyDJ's, old favorites like Devo and a reunited Pavement, and headlining performances from Muse, Gorrillaz, Thom Yorke ????, The Dead Weather and Jay-Z, the first hip-hop artist ever to headline the festival.

The event also included new attractions, including a giant Ferris wheel at its entrance and various pieces of art, most of which were interactive.

Artists from all over the globe performed at the event. British folk-punk rocker Frank Turner, who opened the festival Saturday afternoon, was one of the artists fortunate enough to make the trek to Indio. His first time playing at an American music festival, it was also the first time that he played a show on the West Coast with his full band in tow.

Turner said that his experience at Coachella was quite different from any festival he had been to or played at in Europe.

"Friends of mine happily regailed to me stories about Coachella," Turner said. "Glastonbury looks and feels like a humanitarian disaster, with some bands playing," he laughed, adding that American festivals are much cleaner than European ones.

"European festivals are fun to go to because they are absolute chaos," he said, "but to play at them is an absolute headache. Everyone who's supposed to help you are off their fucking minds on drugs."

Turner added that he enjoyed playing smaller live gigs better, however, he enjoyed Coachella because it gave him the opportunity to meet new people, and gave people an opportunity to listen to his music who might not have listened to it otherwise.

Photo by Christa Connelly Daily Titan Photo Editor. British folk-punk singer Frank Turner was the first to perform in the Gobi Tent on Saturday.

Artists weren't the only one's to come from across the pond to attend Coachella. Friends James Faiers and Matthew Mchugh of Hackley, and Luke Mchugh of Essex came to the States to attend the festival.

They all agreed that the line-up, and what they had heard about Southern California weather, initially attracted them to the festival.

The friends were impressed with Coachella, and said they enjoyed the performances of Jay-Z, Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit and The XX, among others.

"The only problem is the drinking, you have to sort of sit in a corner if you want to drink and you can't just walk around and see bands," they said, joking that "if they changed it, we'd definitely come back."

The one thing about Coachella is that those in attendance can expect surprises from the artists performing, and this year was no different. Beyonce made a surprise appearance during Jay-Z's performance on Friday, and characters from Yo Gabba Gabba were present during Lance Rock's set the same day.

By giving the opportunity to see hundreds of bands you may or may not have heard before, and the chance for people from various backgrounds to come together to celebrate a common love for music, Coachella is quite possibly one of the greatest events for music lovers, especially those in Southern California, to attend. It is a difficult experience to describe, as each person who attends has the chance to make their own of it. A modern Woodstock by day, and arguably one of Southern California's biggest parties by night, Coachella is one event that music fans of all ages should attend at least once in their lifetime.

"Once you go one time, it's hard to stop," Casas said. "Coachella is basically a giant party in the desert with great bands and great people … I can't wait for the next one."