Your Official Guide to Spring/Summer 2007 Music Festivals

April showers bring...music festivals. With all the killer line-ups, scenic venues, and $5 hot dogs to choose from among this year's options, it can be difficult to decide just where exactly to pitch your tent and go mad for your favorite acts. It's a good thing we broke the must-see festivals down for you, with everything you need to know -- from lineups to the price of bottled water -- before you pack your cooler. Better get moving, Coachella is in a few weeks and the lineup is overwhelming!

Coachella

History: Active since 1999, Coachella has become known for its ability to reunite cult faves and penchant for booking surprise appearances by high-profile guests. Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Iggy Pop and the Stooges and the Pixies have all delivered mythic performances at Coachella.

Where: Indio, California

Dates: April 27^th -- 29^th

Lineup: Bjork, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Amy Winehouse, Arcade Fire, The Good, The Bad and The Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, The Kooks, LCD Soundsystem and more

Tickets: 3-Day passes: $249, limited single day passes: $85 Buy Tickets

Crowd: 100,000

Transportation Free onsite parking is available. Carpooling is strongly encouraged due to traffic. There are Greyhound and Amtrak stations in Indio from which you can take a cab to the festival site. The Palm Springs airport is 23 miles away, which has shuttle buses and cabs that will take you to the festival. Grade: B

Where To Stay Onsite camping is available for $45 for all four nights- perhaps the best option since the festival is on a giant grassy polo field and it's a way to be close to the action. Hotels in the range from Indio Motel 6 or Budget Inn at $55 a night to more upscale Spa Central Palm Springs hotels (about 20 minutes away) which start around $80 a night. House and condo rentals in the area are $700-$2400 a week. All of the above get booked very far in advance, so better move quickly. Grade: A

Getting Around All of the stages and tents are within a 10 minute walk from one another. Grade: B

Food $2 bottled water. No outside food and beverage are allowed. Grade: C

Facilities Unlike some other festivals, Coachella is all grass, so none of that muddy, dusty festival scene and you can actually lie out on the grass during shows. Port-a-potties with sinks and water fountains are stationed throughout the festival. But be warned, Coachella is in the desert which means temperatures over 100 degrees during the day so staying hydrated is a must to avoid heat stroke. Also, winds get pretty intense, so much that one year during a Beastie Boys performance a record actually blew off of the turntables and the show had to be interrupted. Grade: B

X-Factor: This year's festival will feature a Rage Against the Machine reunion (and presumably a performance that will serve to voice the band's opposition to the Bush administration, among other political sentiments). In general, Coachella tends to have that reunion draw that makes long-split bands come together for yet another go. This is your best bet if you're holding out for a surprise Pavement gig.