Coachella festival rocks
Some big names fire up the lineup in the first weekend of arts and music showcase
The (Palm Springs) Desert Sun
Here are highlights of the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.:
DAY 1
Friday afternoon, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which supposedly is preserving a style popularized in the red light district of New Orleans around the start of the 20th century, featured an electric pianist.
A new air-conditioned tent, called the Sonora, featured compelling punk and Latino acts, such as the female-led Paranoyds and Diamante Eléctrico.
Canadian multi-instrumental- ist Mac DeMarco gave a powerhouse performance on the Outdoor Theatre at twilight.
The first major surprise guest came on around 3 p.m. when the Lemon Twigs, a pop-rock band from Long Island, was joined on the Gobi stage for their last song,
Couldn’t I Just Tell You, by legendary producer and recording artist Todd Rundgren.
Playing as the headliner for the third time, Radiohead had to leave the stage twice within the first seven songs of their set while technicians tried to fix the speakers that went out entirely.
The crowd tried to be encouraging but could never get fully entranced as Radiohead crowds often do. But the band played more than two hours.
DAY 2
On Saturday, Drake sat in on the Coachella stage with rapper Future. Future also welcomed appearances by rappers Ty Dolla Sign and Migos. Migos also jumped onstage with DJ Snake and Gucci Mane.
The Weeknd surprised concertgoers in the Gobi tent when he performed with Nav. Rappers A$AP Rocky and Tyler, the Creator sat in for a later set with fellow hip-hop star ScHoolboy Q on the Outdoor Theatre stage. Bastille performed numerous hits, including Pompeii and Bad Blood to an overflow crowd on the Outdoor Theatre.
Late Saturday night, Lady Gaga took the stage in a black police hat and leather trench coat, and opened with Schiebe off her Born
This Way album. Gaga also surprised fans by performing a new song, The Cure, about 45 minutes into the set.
DAY 3
Kendrick Lamar got help from some friends to close out the first weekend of the festival. The Sunday headliner brought out ScHoolboy Q, Future and Travis Scott on stage throughout his show — all three also performing at the festival. Lamar hit the stage at 10:37 with the song DNA.
Lamar faced conflicting time slots with English electro rock legends New Order, the popular French electronic duo Justice, and EDM artist Marshmello after 10.
Just two hours before Lamar’s set, a crowd as big as Saturday’s star-studded hip-hop shows gathered for a combination of classi- cal and electronic music by the Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
Zimmer, who has won two Grammys and an Oscar for his music to The Lion King, brought a full orchestra to the Outdoor Theatre stage because, as he said, “Somebody had to.” The crowd devoured everything, even as Zimmer said the orchestra was going to perform a cello concerto, which the audience recognized as music from Pirates of the Carib
bean. The festival-goers became just as excited by music from Lion
King and a surprise appearance by Pharrell Williams, who collaborated with Zimmer on the music to Hidden Figures.
Grouplove had their audience at the Coachella stage singing along to hits such as Tongue Tied and Ways to Go, and one that had particular meaning for the desert audience: Shark Attack, about wanting to be “in the hot, hot desert” and leaving “my body in a sea of people.” Co-frontman Chris- tian Zucconi called Coachella “the best festival in the world” and said they were glad to be there for the third time.
The electro-pop-rock band Future Islands attracted a moderate-size crowd on the Outdoor Theatre stage with a hit-laden set including Ran and Seasons ( Waiting On You).
Other Sunday highlights included Lorde, who closed her well-attended performance on the Coachella stage with a passionate rendition of her recent hit Green Light.