I guess I should begin with when I yelled “bullshit!” at Neil from Fasterlouder when he called me to say I had won the trip to Coachella.  We all know about entering competitions and not winning don’t we? I don’t think I’ve ever won anything in my life, particularly not on this scale! Me and a mate going to America to see Nine Inch Nails, (my favourite band in the world) plus accommodation, VIP concert tickets and two amazing digital cameras! Yeh, right. Once I realised it was no bullshit, I think I started crying and shaking all at once, it was such an Oprah Winfrey moment. Then there was the bit where I had about 10 minutes to decide who to take so they could book the tickets. My best friend Zoe didn’t even recognise my voice when I called her yelling down the phone like some crazy woman “Do you have a passport?”  No, she didn’t have one. Next came the boyfriend, nope his was expired. Now we could’ve done the two day order thing but there was a public holiday involved and I didn’t want to risk having to go alone, so my lucky friend Clinton was the winner! And “winners are grinners” which was our motto throughout the trip.  I can tell you now my cheeks are sore from all the grinning I’ve done!  From meeting Clinton on a street corner to go to the airport, flying to NZ to meet Monika and Neil, landing in L.A, renting a very rock star van complete with tinted windows and arriving at our spacious hotel in Bel Air. It was all a little too surreal and funny for this Melbourne gal.That night we went for a stroll down the infamous Sunset Strip, past the Viper Room, Whiskey Au Go Go and had a snack in Mel’s Diner of American Graffiti fame. Back to the hotel for a restless, jet lagged and excitement laden sleep.The next morning we headed off to the La Quinta Resort, about four hours drive from Hollywood and boy, oh boy, what a hotel! This joint was unbelievable! It had 42 pools, a maze of apartments and houses, huge tennis court, restaurants, bars, golf courses and more.When we were shown to our room we just laughed hysterically for about 10 minutes!  It was gorgeous, from the antique wooden cupboards, to the huge bathroom, to the comfiest bed I have ever slept on. We made ourselves a beverage of the alcoholic variety, opened some nuts, and went and sat by the pool and spa, taking it all in… wow…Next morning we were up and dressed by noon and ready to hit the festival. Two hours later the Converse bus finally arrived, new shoes and Heineken for all! Heading straight through the VIP entrance and to the bar where we commenced drinking for the next hour or so. Not dissimilar to the Big Day Out type of setting except for the huge palm trees dotting the pathways. Oh and talk about spot the celebrity, we saw the painful Paris Hilton pass us by on a golf buggy, the still flamboyant Perry Farrell, and I do believe the boys from the Murderdolls, but it could have been any other band in which a guy spends an hour on his hair really.5pm hits and I take off solo to the Sahara tent to catch the legendary DJ Tiga tear it up.  I saw this guy on new years day but he seemed in finer form this time round, maybe it was his track selection ‘cause his mixing skills were fantastic as usual.  He really got the crowd going and my smile growing.Next up was UNKLE, aka James Lavelle who played a lot of his own stuff as well as some familiar funky tracks, however, I couldn’t get over his ego and constant in the air hand clapping and ‘come onnnn’s’, so I left and headed over to the Gobi tent to catch the end of Swayzak’s set.  Wish I’d gotten there earlier. He had two laptops set up with a live drummer accompanying his fine funky minimal techno set.  Finally, I felt at home in this smaller crowd of musical geeks. But it was over all too soon.All danced out, I found my program guide and saw I had an hour to kill before Bauhaus so I made my way back to the VIP area to get some more beer. On my way I passed by Weezer and actually enjoyed walking along to the Sweater Song and the current hit Beverley Hills (a holiday theme song Clinton and I kept singing at each other all weekend).Which brings me to Bauhaus, dear god, I never would have thought I’d be seeing these guys live! Let alone Pete Murphy singing Bela Lugosi’s Dead upside down!! Un-bloody-believable!  I must admit I was pretty surprised at the lack of goths in the crowd, maybe LA is too hot for them? Or maybe a lot are ex-goths like myself who no longer wear that title for obvious reasons. Anyway, Stigmata Martyr, She’s In Parties and Rosegarden Funeral of Sores were my highlights.Once I’d recovered from the reminiscing over Bauhaus, I headed off before the mass of Coldplay fans bowled me over. Not a Coldplay fan, I went and grabbed a beer but I can see why they’re so popular, the well-rehearsed catchy sing along tunes not dissimilar to U2 in style and delivery. Each to their own.I passed by The Chemical Brothers on my way to see Fantômas and they sounded great but Mike Patton was calling me. I’m glad to say he hasn’t changed much, still crazy and genius.  An onslaught of twisted, precise, planned noise hit me as soon as I entered the Mojave tent causing me to pull out my new digital camera and catch a few shots, which were taken with ease due to the masses being elsewhere. Thankful for room at a gig, I certainly appreciated these guys more this time around. Last time I saw them was in Melbourne about three years ago in an overly packed venue where you couldn’t get the full experience. Mike wins the award for cutest crazy straight man – I nearly fell over when I found out this guy wasn’t, nor had been, on drugs! Amazing.OK, so now to the bit where we were stranded at the festival, with no way back to the hotel. We walked miles to the other side of the festival and ended up at the artists’ entrance where I flagged down a car and a nice dude who had been driving the bands round all day gave us a lift back to the resort, phew! There was talk of after party schmoozing but I was exhausted and wanted to save myself for NIN the next day.Five hours sleep later found my red bleary eyes open…and stayed open. Damn you jet lag!! Damn you to hell!!!  Frazzled and underslept I got started on Bloody Mary’s for breakfast rather than ring up the room service bill, next thing I knew it was 4pm and we were heading off for festival day number two.Now, you know those moments where you forget something very important and just want to kill yourself? Yep, it happened. Just as we had parked the car and were heading off towards the festival entrance I realised I had left my ticket in the backpack I had used the day before. Sad but true. Hehe. What a dickhead!So back to the hotel we go to collect said ticket, missing Miss Kitten as a result.  By now it was about 7pm and not long ‘til New Order hit the floor, so a few vodkas and off I went. I was pretty happy during this set hearing all my old favourites and a couple of Joy Division tracks just to seal the deal.  Very nice indeed!  You could hardly tell how old (and bored) they seemed if you just closed your eyes and let the music take you away.Next up was Nine Inch Nails so I started the journey towards the stage. I never have liked pushing to the front, the evil glares people give you, the non budging punters who have probably waited longer than you, the girls who stick their elbows out to try to stop you squishing past, yet it was NIN, in America for that matter, so I pushed.  Fifth from the front was the best I could do…Suddenly the crowd begins to roar, the lights dim, and The Wretched begins… Just like in my winning entry, a tear rolls down my cheek, a tear of joy, a tear of seeing my idol and mentor so close yet so far away. A tear for winning this competition, being here with my closest friend and being thankful for all I have been given.The next hour and 15 minutes passed all too quickly, I remember hearing Burn, Head Like a Hole, Hurt, The Hand That Feeds and The Collector. There was a huge screen on either side of the stage with projected images of the band that made for some amazing photos. Unfortunately I had to keep video footage minimal due to space on the camera’s memory card running out but I did catch a few seconds here or there of my favourite songs. The new material went down a treat, eaten up greedily by starved NIN fans yet to hear the new album in its entirety. Speechless.Once I had recovered from it all I decided to go checkout a bit of The Prodigy who just didn’t cut it after NIN. Don’t get me wrong, I love these guys but I’ve seen them a few times already and not much has changed.  After they finished I headed off backstage to try to meet my idol only to be told by his personal assistant that I had missed him by 10 minutes!! She was kind enough however to take some copies of my material to pass on to him. You just never know…magic CAN happen…So then I was in the predicament of getting back to the hotel again, (where the hell are all the taxis!), so she helped me get a ride with one of the bands. Just as I am stepping into the van, lo and behold there’s Monika, Neil and Clinton walking by so I head off with them to try and find the car amidst the sea of huge American cars. Back to the resort for more drinks, a few laughs, a few tears and sleep, beautiful sleep.Next day we headed back to Hollywood for our final night and decided to go to The Roxy to checkout local band Metal Skool.  A full house for these guys and I can see why. They pisstake hair bands with their overdone teased hair and hideous lycra tights while singing covers of hits by Poison, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Warrant, etc. On the night we went the actress Lindsay Lohan was in the crowd so they got her up to sing along to Jessie’s Girl. And to no surprise, the original singer of Warrant got up to sing an old track and last but not least was the cute lead singer of AFI who also jumped up and belted out.  The security guard decided to confiscate the battery in my camera after just two shots! Maybe it had something to do with the groupie girls on stage flashing their boobs and making out with each other, yep, this was real Hollywood trash at its finest. I can see these guys going a long way; the crowd lapped them up adoringly.Finally, the last day arrived; we had a few hours to kill between returning the rental van and our flights home, so we went shopping down Melrose. What a fantastic long street of clothing goodies!! It was such a long strip you’d need two days to shop it all properly so I guess this means I have to go back sometime.And last but not least, we arrive back at the airport to say our goodbyes and board our plane bound for home. Tired and worn but the happiest and luckiest girl alive.Thank you Clinton for making it such a fun and hilarious holiday, but most of all thank you to the crew at FasterLouder, Neil and Monika for making my dream to see NIN in America a reality and I look forward to our reunion tour.