4 Best Performing Arts Venues in Palm Springs and the Desert Resorts, California

The annual multiday festival draws hundreds of thousands of rock, EDM, and hip-hop fans to the Empire Polo Club grounds each April for two weekends of live music, DJ sets, Ferris wheel rides, large-scale art installations, and field dinners prepared by top chefs. Headliners have included acts such as Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Beyonce, Arcade Fire, Beastie Boys, and Radiohead. Attendees can shuttle in or camp on-site in their car, in tents, or in prefab safari studios.

New in 2022, this 300,000-plus-square-foot entertainment and sports venue has an 11,000-person capacity; an adjoining community ice skating facility; and multiple bars, restaurants, and portable food carts including Pizza by Giada De Laurentiis and Shaq’s Big Chicken. In its inaugural year, it hosted concerts by the likes of Sting, Luis Miguel, Stevie Nicks, and Dierks Bentley, as well as Cirque du Soleil performances. It's also the home of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, an American Hockey League team affiliated with the Seattle Kraken. Other events held here have included WWE matches, monster-truck rallies, and preseason NBA games.

This tri-level theater hosts productions—a mix of Broadway plays, concerts, classical revues, and comedy shows—from late fall through spring.

In mid-January, this 12-day festival brings campaigning Oscar hopefuls and nearly 200 feature films from several dozen countries, plus panel discussions and documentaries, to various venues around town. The weeklong ShortFest, North America's largest short film fest and market, takes place in June. The Film Society that sponsors it also hosts one-off cinematic events throughout the year.