Sights and sounds from Day 1 of Phish Festival 8 at Empire Polo Club in Indio:

Vendor booths and installation art is all over the place. There's a lot of field to fill with only one performance stage in the northeast corner of the polo field, where the second stage was at Coachella.

But, in the hours before Phish becomes the main attraction, most of the action is taking place in The Overlook, an elevated area near the main entrance to the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals.

Every few minutes, as a new group enters the area and sees the giant Ferris wheel, the carpeted pavilion and the vast expanse of the field, a spontaneous whoop is being let out, growing in volume like an aural wave.

Comments heard among the thousands of wanderers:

“This is like a state fair times a thousand!”

“I love that this is all grass!”

“This is the greatest festival ever.”

The giant lawn with its installation art and the lit palm trees around the field inevitably draw comparisons to Coachella. But Festival 8 has its own unique personality. The vitality of the fans is similar, but the tempo is a little slower. There's a feeling of awe, but also relief. For many, the relief is there is sunshine and green grass whereas at the last Phish Festival in Coventry, Vt., there was mud.

Bruce Fessier

Clearly, I'm in a place I don't know enough about, because I'm seeing a lot of things I'm not quite understanding, like:

1. Waffles — What's the deal with the waffles? There are waffle stands everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love waffles, but I just didn't really anticipate them here.

2. The crowd starts cheering randomly, for no apparent reason. I keep expecting the band to hit the stage, but no — the crowd is just happy to be here.

3. There is a couple is getting married — RIGHT HERE at Festival 8.

Matt Wolfe

The almost-full moon is lighting up the sky to the east of the field, but it's not in competition with the light show on the stage. More of a counterpoint.

The light show on the field is a study in contrasts. The reverberating light and sound from the stage, reds and purples, and the big screens on either side, then further back a string of red lights that shed a softer glow on a series of wood sculptures. All curved shapes lit up, like a forest.

Balloons are being batted around above the crowd. Everyone is standing, listening, moving.

K Kaufmann