Wake Up Call Music Festival Leaves Other So-Called Luxury Festivals in the Dust
Let's get one thing straight: Music festivals are not my jam.
Like any sane person, I don't like standing out in a dusty field for hours as my makeup melts off my face. I don't like large masses of sweaty human bodies shoving me to and fro in the audience like some sort of buoy bouncing against the tide. I don't like when my only option for a bathroom comes in the form of a questionable plastic porta-potty that has been baking in the sun. I don't like long lines, crappy carnival-grade food or sleeping in tents.
I did, however, very much enjoy Wake Up Call, the music festival—I use the phrase lightly—launched by W Hotels this past weekend in sunny Los Angeles.
Wake Up Call, a two-day festival which will also hit the high-end hotel chain's Barcelona and Bali resorts this autumn, defied all expectations of what a music festival could be: a true luxury experience. And unlike the spectacular failure of the much-memed Fyre Festival, W Hotels came through on their promise to pamper.
Amid a stellar lineup that included Betty Who, Chromeo, Phantogram and pop's golden girl Charli XCX—who drew a rambunctious, glittery crowd desperate to hear cuts off Pop 2—there was room service, champagne bars, poolside cabanas and spa treatments. While headliners performed in The Loft, world renowned DJs from Le Youth to Lady Gaga producer White Shadow spun all hours at the WET Deck, W Hollywood's chic rooftop pool, as a mix of festival-goers and hotel guests mingled comfortably under the shade of palm trees and umbrellas.
Down in the hotel lobby, Billboard's Living Room Live stage saw more emerging artists entertain—including PopCrush Presents' own Emily Vaughn and Ashe—amid a chill lounge atmosphere, complete with custom curated cocktails, culinary creations and (bless!) air conditioning. When the music got too loud, attendees headed to one of the event's many FUEL detox experiences—from relaxing yoga to high-energy workouts—or, like myself, to the BLISS spa, for an indulgence way more delicious than soggy Warped Tour cheese fries.
With a cool room, clean bed and spacious walk-in shower waiting to greet me at the end of each night, I left Wake Up Call feeling not blistered, sunburned or fatigued, but wholly refreshed and energized after a weekend of partying at my own leisure. And no, I didn't schedule an actual wake up call even once.
Tickets for Wake Up Call are only available for members of Marriott Rewards and SPG, click here to get yours for Barcelona and Bali. Below, check out photos from W Hotels' Wake Up Call Music Festival in Hollywood: