Nearly twenty years since its founding, Coachella has become, in some respects and at certain times, a parody of itself. In establishing itself as one of the world’s pre-eminent annual pop culture events, it has become as much a music festival as a fashion show—the Empire Polo Grounds: a collection of Instagram photo ops as well as a perfect place to stage a sonic dreamscape. With star power at times superseding pure talent, guest appearances take on as much importance as the listed acts themselves.

But any savvy festival goer can easily bypass Coachella’s “scene-ier” elements if they so choose. And attending the lower-key Weekend 2, as opposed to the popular blowout that is Weekend 1, makes that task even easier. Not that there isn’t still plenty beyond the music itself to distract and entertain all comers. There are plenty of people who get dressed up for the occasion, to ensure that their social media accounts are chock-full of carefully curated content. In some respects, though, that’s part of the atmosphere that sets Coachella apart from the rest of an ever-expanding lineup of festivals across the country and around the world.

“I was expecting something maybe more show business-oriented, and even if all the industry was there, it’s like the music industry was invisible,” legendary French electronic music producer Jean-Michel Jarre told Live For Live Music. “And it has that kind of, I would say, not the neo-hippie, peace-and-love character. You have a bit of this, but it’s beyond that. I think there’s a kind of real good vibes.”

Those vibes are the kind that can draw an international superstar like Jarre, who’s largely anonymous in the US—despite playing in front of the largest concert crowd on record to celebrate NASA’s 25th anniversary in Houston—to compete with The Weeknd for spectators. It’s the very same unique magnetism that convinced the progressive metal band X Japan to try its luck again with American audiences, this time opposite Beyoncé but with Marilyn Manson as support for Weekend 2. For Yoshiki, one of X Japan’s founding members and its long-time drummer and pianist, Coachella stands among the world’s best festivals because of “the vibe and also the magnitude of so many attendants, the bands, artists they pick.”

That vibe and those artists tend to come through more clearly among Weekend 2’s calmer climes. There tend to be fewer equipment malfunctions, following from fewer soundcheck cancellations and the trial runs of Weekend 1. There is often a sense that the wind is less treacherous Weekend 2, though the base heat can still be bad, and is often worse over Weekend 2. Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy kept his Coachella Stage crowd peppy through his sweltering Sunday afternoon set, though he admitted that, compared to his Weekend 1 performance, “This is way different. This is so much hotter.”

There is a give-and-take of sorts between the two weekends—a split that began in 2012 and has transformed Coachella into a cash cow for Goldenvoice. Both weekends draw high-profile surprise guests. Beyoncé, for one, revived Destiny’s Child, the R&B group with which her rocket ride to superstardom began, and brought out her husband Jay-Z for both weekends. Plus Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, and Skylar Grey joined Eminem on stage to close the festival on both weekend’s Sunday night.

However, the second weekend offers additional opportunities for up-and-coming artists to briefly join the fray. Among those who appeared only for Weekend 2 was Abir, a singer-songwriter with Moroccan roots who rocked out with New Jersey EDM outfit Cash Cash to perform their collaboration, “Finest Hour.” “I feel like Coachella is honestly just a place for people to be with their friends and let loose and, like, enjoy good music,” Abir said, after enjoying some “bomb tacos” and just before hopping on a plane back to New York to record her next music video.

In truth, those elements of the Coachella experience that have become stigmatized and stereotyped need not deter anyone with a voracious appetite for music of all kinds—from the femme rock of St. Vincent and the throwback jams of David Byrne, to the Zeppelinite drive of Greta Van Fleet and fun French disco of Chromeo—from swimming through the surreal sound bath that keeps even the dust particles dancing through the air. Nor is there any real reason, beyond boilerplate curmudgeonliness, to do anything but gaze agape at the art, including the towering (and semi-permanent) lights and colors of Spectra, while chowing down on delicious samplings from some of Southern California’s best restaurants at the Indio Central Market.

Coachella is and should be a wonderland whenever you go. But if you’re still concerned about the “scene” the festival has become within pop culture or you didn’t jump on the presale, Weekend 2 is the way to go.