As Stone Temple Pilots once said, so much depends on the weather.

On Friday in the Mojave Desert, roughly 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas, Rise festival learned this the hard way, which is to say the weather did not cooperate. High winds and attendant dust forced Rise organizers to open the gates almost three hours late, with the night’s set times subsequently shuffled and the evening’s centerpiece event — the release of thousands of paper lanterns into the sky — canceled entirely.

Meanwhile, reports of hourslong wait times for attendees arriving from the Vegas Strip by shuttle, plus sparse food options, were posted on social media by many incensed pass holders in the time during and after night 1.

The internet pile-on was swift and harsh, and the vibe on the grounds Friday night was, i

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