Friday night of weekend two of the Coachella Valley Music Festival ended with impressive performances from Gorillaz who brought out a handful of special guests, British indie band Wet Leg, Kaytranada, and of course, Bad Bunny. Saturday is sure to have just as many surprises, more dancing, and plenty of fun in the desert. Today’s acts include the world-famous K-pop group, Blackpink, Scottish mega-DJ, Calvin Harris, and much more!
AG Club
The first set of the day was hip-hop group, AG Club. From the bay area, AG Club bring an infectious energy similar to the now-defunct boyband, Brockhampton, with their in-your-face instrumentals and introspective bars. Their discography consists of high-energy bangers like “MEMPHIS” and “COLUMBIA” that make for an early Coachella set the equivalent of a large cup of coffee. AG Club showed up and showed out at the Mojave stage, dancing around on tables and keeping the crowd hyped for their entire set. With the way the crowd interacted with the boys on stage, AG Club is destined to snag a main stage spot in a couple of years.
Marc Rebillet
The first main stage performance of the day was by Marc Rebillet, also known as Loop Daddy, who had a funky and fun improvised set getting the people in the party mood early. He played a song where he was repeating the refrain “I want to touch you” for like 15 minutes and the crowd was absolutely feeling it. His stage setup consisted of a replica of his New York apartment living room with art pieces on the wall, mimicking one of his YouTube live streams that put his name on the map. Rebillet, performing in nothing but his boxers, came out with a ton of energy, running up and down the stage, pouring champagne down an audience member’s mouth because why not. In a silly mood, he even poked fun at the Frank Ocean situation saying he couldn’t make it this weekend because of “doctor’s order.” Towards the end of the set, he started destroying his stage decorations like a madman with his menacing but seductive facial expressions. This was a very sexy set, almost a little too sexy for an early-time placement.
His entirely improvised set creating loops, playing the keys and beautifully belting encouraging and sexy tunes captivated festival goers along with his exquisite mustache and glorious hair.
Snail Mail
Snail Mail at the Mojave stage came through with a very chill indie rock set to start the day. A lot of people at her set were sitting on the grass, or at least what’s left of it and soaking in the introspective, sad girl tunes. One thing that has been apparent about this year’s Coachella is that the Mojave stage has the best sound system, by far. Every set punches and captivates each artist’s music to its fullest potential. It was cool seeing Lindsey bust out a few subtle guitar solos.
Umi
With all the different cultures represented at Coachella this year, the one most people were excited to see is the Japanese representation at the Umi set. The Gobi tent was spilling out as people attempted to catch her summer-sounding, flowery songs that are best played on a car ride down the coast. Umi’s live vocals are beautiful, and the crowd sang along like karaoke sounding just as beautiful as her.
EARTHGANG
At the Outdoor Theatre, EARTHGANG hit the stage with their infectious flows and immaculate vibes. Immediately the crowd gave them their energy with their hands up and getting hyped for every song. Plenty of people in the crowd were blazing up which is an appropriate response to an EARTHGANG set. It only made sense catching some EARTHGANG on Earth Day of all days. The live band definitely added to the group’s instrumentation with heavy bass and chunky drums.
Kenny Beats
At the Sahara stage, everyone was turning up at the Kenny Beats DJ set. The set had a similar vibe to a house party with someone on the aux playing all the right songs at all the right times. He had a rather simple stage set up with the DJ booth on stage, but with a crowd of people surrounding him, similar to a Boiler Room set. Kenny played too many hits from “Lose Control” by Missy Elliot, and “La Mamá de La Mamá.” There was a mix between electronic, house, hip hop, and everything in between.
Although Kenny Beats is typically known for his hip-hop production for artists like Vince Staples, Denzel Curry, and Rico Nasty, his set was mostly a celebration of other artists’ work and all about giving the people a good time. Even though he had every opportunity to bring out surprise guests, he just did his thing on the 1s and 2s and let the music speak for itself. And from looking out into the crowd, everyone seemed to be very happy to have gotten down at the Sahara stage with Kenny.
Dinner Party
At the Gobi stage was supergroup consisting of legendary musicians Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder, collectively known as Dinner Party. Each respectively are incredible players of their specific instrument, but brought together, this group brings something truly magical that can only be expressed as bliss. Dinner Party come through with a fusion of jazz and hip hop with incredibly tight and layered instrumentation. Washington’s saxophone solos are tasteful, the drummer was smashing the kit, and the fattest bass sounds so far at the festival. This was a chill jazz set with complicated pieces but doesn’t dumb it down for a Coachella audience.
Hiatus Kaiyote
At the Outdoor Theatre was the funky, experimental band, Hiatus Kaiyote. Their songs are mostly bass driven with very technical progressions throughout the instrumentation. The set design was rather minimal with a pair of pink dragon figures in front of the band. Watching this performance felt like sitting in a garden under a tree and watching clouds float by. It was a calming but funky enough set to keep you intrigued and wanting more.
Charli XCX
A true performer to say the least took the main stage by storm, or by “Lightning,” Charli XCX. She opened with an electrifying performance of the track “Lightning” from her latest album Crash. She came out of the gates with energy turned up to 200%, and the crowd gave every single ounce of energy right back. With her artistically tasteful auto-tuned vocals and futuristic hyper-pop music, Charli left it all on the stage. The crowd was colorfully dancing, singing every word, and showing Charli the love she truly deserves. A few highlights from the set include the remix of Caroline Polachek’s “Welcome to My Island,” “Boys” and “Vroom Vroom.” If there is one thing that was most surprising about Charli’s set, it is how she managed to keep her sunglasses on her face while dancing around chaotically so much. But out of anyone who could possibly do it, Charli could.
Remi Wolf
Probably one of the most surprising and strongest sets of the entire festival was Remi Wolf. The eclectic and wildly colorful singer tore the house down with the most infectious grooves and insanely good vibes. With her quirky fashion sense, unmatched charisma, and euphoric personality, Remi Wolf is an absolute master at the craft of performing and holding it down. Her backing band crushed it, demonstrating immense skill with their instruments, and Remi’s vocal control was on point and loud enough almost spilling out of the Mojave stage to remind everyone why she deserves a main stage time slot. Basically this entire set was a highlight for the weekend, but some stand out moments include her funky cover of “Somebody I Used to Know,” “Sexy Villain,” and “Photo ID.” If anyone has a chance to see Remi Wolf live, they are guaranteed to have a good time.
Yaeji
Walking by, Yaeji was performing at the Gobi stage and it was impossible to not stay for a few songs. Her personality is very bubbly shining through with her silky electronic production, soft vocals, and cute dance moves. “For Granted” from her new album, With a Hammer was a fun time. She had a simple stage design with just her and a microphone singing over backing tracks and some flashing lights on the screen behind her. Although it was simple, it was incredibly effective.
Sofi Tukker
At the Outdoor Theatre, musical duo Sofi Tukker played a very colorful set which included a remix of the incredibly popular The White Lotus theme song. This track went absolutely hard as the crowd threw it back to some HBO program score. The stage decoration was reminiscent of a playground which was appropriate because this set felt like the duo having a lot of fun.
Rosalía
Back at the Coachella stage, Rosalía brought a dynamic and unforgettable performance with so much swagger and booty shaking. She had tons of attitude performing her futuristic Latin pop music, adding to the Hispanic representation for the weekend. In between songs, she would talk to the crowd in English and pointed out that this was her fourth time performing at Coachella, and understandably so why the festival keeps asking her to come back. She delivered a wide range of emotions, gorgeous vocals, all wrapped up in a lovely magic hour set. Some highlights from her set was when she performed “Linda” with Tokischa, Rosalía playing the piano and singing “HENTAI,” and a Spanish cover of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.” By the time Rosalía performs her fifth Coachella, she will definitely be headlining the entire festival.
boygenius
At the Outdoor Theatre, another supergroup, boygenius, took the stage. Consisting of three of the best songwriters currently alive, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, had one of the strongest sets of the entire night. With a walkout song like Thin Lizzy “Boys Are Back in Town,” you know the set is going to crush. The boys started their set off stage with the a capella song “With You Without Them,” eventually walking onto the stage into erupting cheers. The first song they played on stage was “$20,” and from the first song you could already tell this was going to be a brutal and heavy rock set with plenty of headbanging and tears. Baker delivered her captivating vocals, Dacus came through with her softness, and Bridgers brought her gut-wrenching lyricism collectively performing a rather cathartic and soul-cleansing set at Coachella.
One of the best parts of the boygenius set was the fact that they had an all women backing band that were brutally tight and brought so much life to the new tracks from the record. Some of the best moments of this set were the arrow to the heart of “Emily I’m Sorry,” the beautiful “Letter to an Old Poet,” and finale, “Salt in the Wound.” Essentially, this set felt like a praise and worship service but the songs were replaced with lyrics about unrequited love and existential dread. The boys’ harmonies were lovely, Julian playing every instrument at her disposal was a treat, and the crescent moon shining down on the Coachella grounds was a nice touch to the evening set.
Underworld
Back at fan favorite Mojave stage, the British electronic band Underworld transformed the area into a rave with strobe lights and pulsating tunes. The set consisted of tons of fist pumping and more glow sticks than the eyes can see, and amazing house and dance music.
Blackpink
Probably the most unpredictable but surprisingly beloved sets belonged to the all women K-pop group, Blackpink. Just like Bad Bunny made history being the first Latin artist headlining Coachella Friday night, Blackpink cemented themselves in Coachella history as the first all women Korean group to headline the festival. Their set consisted of plenty of theatrics like pyrotechnics, flashing lights, and drones, but the music itself was incredibly fun.
Even those unfamiliar with the band or K-pop genre in general had an amazing time at Blackpink’s set. The live instrumentation provided more punch, especially the drums, making every member’s rap flow pop and stick out so much more. Even with a language barrier, one can admit that Blackpink can definitely put on an amazing performance filled with aggressive rap flows, sexy dancing, and iconic stage presence. There’s a reason why Blackpink was placed as a headline spot at Coachella, and it’s because they can give the crowd an unforgettable show.
Chromeo
At the Gobi stage, Chromeo provided a funky dance party with their sensual and groovy electronic tunes. As veterans of the Coachella festival, this year being their fifth year performing, it is undeniable why they keep coming back. They are cool dudes with sunglasses, leather jackets, fun vocoded vocals, and luscious guitar tones are hard to pass up on. This set felt like a time capsule with all the hits they dished out like “Old 45’s” and “Fancy Footwork.” They brought surprise guest La Roux to perform a new single slated to be released next week called, “Replacements” as well as a Chromeo version of her smash hit, “Bulletproof.” This set was the right amount of nostalgia and exciting new jams, and the crowd loved every second.
Labrinth
A rather surprising set that could go down as one of the most epic that any Coachella has had the honor of hosting took place at the Mojave stage once again. This set was the Euphoria composer/singer, Labrinth. The stage setup consisted of multiple tiers with musicians on each playing percussion heavy songs. Last weekend, Billie Eilish came out during their set, and in hopes that another surprise guest would show up, the crowd smushed into the Mojave tent hoping to get lucky. And lucky they were because towards the end of the set, Emmy Award winning actor from Euphoria, Zendaya, came out to perform “All For Us” from the hit show. Fans erupted as she made her first appearance singing on a stage in eight years. Labrinth’s set also included a surprise appearance from Australian singer/songwriter, Sia who performed “Thunderbolts” which was released under the LSD (Labrinth, Sia, and Diplo) group project.
Calvin Harris
The last set of the night was at the Coachella stage for Calvin Harris. He opened with the massive hit “Blame” featuring John Newman to get people in the groove of things. The DJ booth was huge, the screen had wildly colorful visuals, and the music itself was a fun time no matter where you were standing in the crowd. It was almost more entertaining to watch what was happening in the crowd as the cameras weren’t showing Harris on the screen too much during his set. Despite him being rather elusive tonight, Harris still put on a good show playing tons of hits in his producer catalog such as “Feel So Close” and “Slide,” despite Frank Ocean not being at the festival this weekend. Although no guests came out to party with the Scottish DJ this weekend, fans still had a good time lighting up the desert sky in style.
The final day of the Coachella festival promises even more excitement with acts such as Björk, Blink-182, and the last minute addition of Skrillex, Four Tet, Fred again…
Photo credit: Mehreen Rizvi
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