Coachella site crashes

DESERT STORM: Tickets for the first weekend of this year's Coachella fest sold out within 15 minutes, despite widespread issues on the official website, the L.A. Times reports. Long wait times and site crashes plagued those attempting to purchase tickets for the more-in-demand first weekend, April 12-14 weekend, but tickets continued to be purchasable up to two hours after they were said to be sold out. It's not entirely uncommon for tickets to reenter the purchase queue after an event is said to be sold out, as not everyone who places tickets in an online shopping cart will ultimately buy them, the Times notes. Tickets for the weekend of April 19-21 appear to still be available. Complaints abounded yesterday on the Coachella Facebook page, with many reporting that the festival's ticket agency Front Gate would log users out or fail to load once a user's credit card info had been entered. One user encapsulated the issues: "In cart, payment info entered, submit and then it times out and I lose the tickets in the cart." Front Gate is owned jointly by AEG Live and C3 Events, which is responsible for Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza. In response to multiple users reporting site crashes, Front Gate's official Facebook account posted, "Oh there are SO many people buying. Hang tight, try again in a minute.... THANKS for all your patience!" (1/30a)