FEST TRAIN ROLLIN'

More than 300 music fans, some of them dancing in the aisles, rode this chartered Amtrak train Thursday from Los Angeles' Union Station to the low-desert city of Indio where this weekend they will join thousands of others for one of the signature cultural experiences of 2008 -- an all-star outdoor rock festival.

As train rides go, it was definitely a trip. Fashionably scruffy L.A. music fans, many scanning their text messages more than the view out their windows, chugged Coronas, ate free ice cream and bobbed to the thumping beats of four disc jockeys set up in corners of the six-car express train. It was a decidedly 21st century remix of the classic concert road trip and, more than that, a symbol of the gathering new momentum of the festival as a pop-culture force.

Jarron Phelps, 23, had traveled from Melbourne, Australia, and was giddy. "Festivals like Coachella -- what other way could you see so many great bands in one place?" Phelps asked, dancing in his seat. "And this train, what a way to get there."

Today, Phelps and others will hear the opening chords of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which last year drew 65,000 people per day. But similar scenes will play out across North America over the next four months in unprecedented fashion. Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, but 2008 is taking that franchise's tie-dyed traditions to more fans in more places than ever before.

"It's about the music, but it's also about the experience -- for fans it's as much about the journey as it is the destination," Coachella founder Paul Tollett said as the train headed east toward the polo field where 125 acts will perform over three days. "Fans love festivals right now. It's the way they want their music. It's been amazing watching them grow."

This will be the ninth edition of Coachella, headlined by Prince, Roger Waters, Jack Johnson, Portishead, the Raconteurs and My Morning Jacket. When it began in 1999, there was considerable skepticism as to whether huge, outdoor shows modeled on European festivals could be viable in the U.S., especially after Woodstock 1999 was marred by fires and brutish behavior. Now, the Coachella model is entrenched. This year, four festivals will launch, including Summer Camp in Chillicothe, Ill., near Peoria, of all places, which has booked the Flaming Lips, the Roots and other big acts.