Coachella is like the united states: a bunch of bright lights to attend an overpriced tax zone. The markup prices are real.
I've been a few times and most of that shyt is accurate more or less. VIP made it much less hassle (like the parking issue) but that was more expensive and the prices for everything anyways is the same as general admission.
Great memories and again, food lines weren't long if you had VIP (pretty much most of the same restaurants as general admission) but again, all the merchandise lines were ridiculous and the merchandise itself is marked up af.
I think it's peak glory days are over - they aligned more with Beyonce's prime. That shyt went to the next level when Beyonce and Jay showed up to random sets and be in the crowd, Rihanna randomly walked around the festival, etc. The hype hasn't been the same ever since Beyonce headlined and pretty much brought that era to a close.
Additionally, the real VIP VIP sections (basically all the artists' people and executives friends/families) do take up a large part of the very front of the stage. All those people there act like the crowd is there to see them and you can tell are clout chasing on some "look at me we're w/ the artists" but problem is they ain't getting into the show like that which kills some hype.
Rolling Loud looks like it's starting to run with the trophy: top headliners, appeals to a younger crowd, more diverse, bigger cities, the VIP packages include much more, etc.