Two ways to look at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, in Indio, Calif., which begins its 12th edition on Friday:

1. It sold out in less than a week — faster than ever before, according to Rolling Stone — when tickets went on sale in January. (Attendance is expected to hover around 75,000 for each of the festival’s three days.)
2. When I tell friends I’m going to Coachella, they look skeptical and disapproving. “What are you looking forward to?” they ask, and they’re not just making conversation.