Google Home’s new action helps music fans prepare for Coachella festival

Music festival season is fast approaching, and here to help you get ready is Google Home. The smart home hub has debuted a new Coachella action — all you need to say is, “Hey Google, talk to Coachella,” and you’ll be placed on the fast track to discovering music from artists, playing festival trivia, getting answers to your most pressing festival-related questions, and more. And once Coachella actually kicks off (it runs from April 13 to 22), you’ll be able to watch the live-stream on YouTube, as well as listen to backstage interviews with performers.

Regardless of whether you own a Google Home, Mini, Max, or just a Google Assistant-enabled phone, you’ll be able to make use of the new action. The discovery function helps users familiarize themselves with newer acts in the lineup, and provides exclusive playlists to help get everyone up to speed on what to expect.

You can also use the action to create your festival schedule — as soon as artists’ set times are made public, Google Assistant will be able to tell you what times you should mark on your calendar in order to catch the latest action. You can also add these times directly to the Coachooser app (because of course, Coachella has its own dedicated mobile app).

As for frequently asked questions, you can ask Assistant about performance times, travel information, what you can and can’t bring into the festival, and similar questions that you may not want to ask a real person, but feel fine asking a virtual assistant. And whether you’re lucky enough to be attending Coachella in person or just tuning in from afar, Google Home will provide you with backstage interviews with popular artists.

For those who aren’t headed to the desert in a few days, you can tune into Coachella’s YouTube channel from April 13 to 15. There, you’ll be able to find live-streamed performances from folks like Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Odesza, Post Malone, The War on Drugs, Kygo, Chromeo, Alan Walker, Børns, alt-J, and many more. For an even more immersive experience, you can check out the VR180 live-stream (also on Coachella’s YouTube channel) using Google Cardboard and Daydream View.