The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a leading light among American music festivals. Launched in 1999, it set the bar for events of this type. Since then, Coachella has drawn the cream of the music crop. More Latin and electronic dance artists or DJs comprised this year’s lineup than ever before. Weekend 2 of the 2023 edition was toplined by Bad Bunny and BLACKPINK. Blink-182, a last-minute addition the prior weekend, replaced Frank Ocean who cancelled due to injury on the Coachella Stage. Skrillex, Four Tet and Fred Again closed everything out with a late-night DJ set.
Predicting which unannounced performers might show up - or return - is an essential activity at Coachella. Jose Feliciano (Bad Bunny), Sia and Zendaya (Labrinth), La Roux (Chromeo), CeeLo Greene (Tobe Nwigwe), The Weeknd (Metro Boomin) and many others were among the special guests. Another interesting way to spend downtime is people watching – especially all the EDM enthusiasts in their outlandish or “barely there” outfits.
More than 150 music acts from around the world performed in Indio on nine stages. Below is an overview of my experience.
Lewis OfMan - The French electronic musician, a collaborator on Carly Rae Jepsen’s recent hit “Move Me,” delved into house, drum and bass and Italian disco on his 2022 debut album Sonic Poems. Clad in a white jacket and partially transparent pants, Lewis OfMan proved to be quite a character while playing songs from it Friday in the Mojave Tent. The delightful, high-energy set saw him quickly switch between synth and keyboard on “Such a Good Day” (adding a snippet of Daft Punk’s “One More Time”), emerge from behind the instruments to do some pitch shifting vocals during “Dancy Girl” and then jog and shake his booty amid a festive “Las Banistas.”
Gabriels – Over at the Gobi Tent, this SoCal-based soul trio brought some spirituality to the desert. Lead singer Jacob Lusk - a top 5 American Idol finalist in 2011 - admitted to being nervous and advised people not to wear new shoes to a festival (no mention of his white suit though). Before doing a gospel song, he also urged the crowd to spread the love. Then Lusk was in full-on falsetto mode on the jazz-tinged “Professional” from Gabriels’ upcoming album and nicely segued into the Barbra Streisand-popularized “The Way We Were."
BENEE – Talk about exuberant. The young New Zealand Tik Tok star pogoed as she sang rap-inflected alt-pop tunes like “Green Honda” and “Sports Mode” with attitude aplenty at a packed Mojave.
MUNA – The LA trio prompted loud cheers from the minute they took the stage to a large Mojave crowd. Scantily dressed lead singer Katie Gavin was a riveting presence as she traversed the stage and did bump ‘n’ grind moves during scintillating synth pop tunes like “What I Want” and “Number One Fan.” The other members provided strong backing vocals during “Stay Away” (reminiscent of CHVRCHES) and a moodier “Runner’s High” even contained a NIN-style section. MUNA finished with enthusiastic hit “Silk Chiffon” with label boss Phoebe Bridgers of boygenius (pictured left) guesting.
Blondie – The influential 1970s pop/rock band fronted by a still feisty Debbie Harry, 77, drew an overflow crowd to Mojave. Launching with a supercharged “One Way or Another” - included on last year’s exceptional career spanning box set Against the Odds: 1974-1982 – the group hit all the bases on Friday night with such hits as “Rapture,” “The Tide is High,” “Call Me” and “Heart of Glass.”
After an action-packed Friday, heading back to Empire Polo Field when gates opened on Saturday was difficult, but necessary. New discoveries are often found within the undercard acts performing in the early afternoon. While walking to another stage, the exotic sounds from Israeli-born female singer Elyanna, who sings in Arabic, were enticing.
Horsegirl – This female indie rock trio from Chicago took awhile to gain momentum in the Sonora Tent, but definitely impressed with an intense, feedback-laden “Option 8” as well as some angular guitar work on “Anti-Glory.”
Snail Mail – The breezy alt-pop of Maryland’s Lindsey Jordan went down easy in the Mojave Tent. In striking contrast to her frequently frank lyrics, Jordan’s between song banter veered from giddy (obviously happy to be at Coachella) and surprising (chastising rude on-site security) to funny (getting lost trying to walk to a nearby hotel). Sometimes recalling Juliana Hatfield, the best moments in the set came from 2021’s Valentine: The synth-laden “Ben Franklin,” a more aggressive “Glory” and “Forever (Sailing),” where Jordan encouraged fans to continue tossing beach balls around and even kicked one herself.
Just before BLACKPINK performed, a dazzling 8-minute drone show by Skymagic paid tribute to past Coachella art installations.
Christine and the Queens - On Sunday evening, this European electropop act put on a totally unique and captivating performance in the Mojave Tent. Emerging with angel’s wings attached to his back, singer Chris mixed French and English vocals with some interpretive dance, spoken word and deeply personal lyrics about identity, family dynamics and romance. The Massive Attack-styled music was sparse and haunting. Set standouts included “People, I’ve Been Sad,” “Tears Can Be So Soft” and “Tilted,” which deftly incorporated Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge” – first as an acoustic guitar intro and then woven into the song’s midsection.
Blink-182 – A little over halfway through the veteran punk-pop band’s invigorating 18-song set on the Coachella Stage, singer/bassist Mark Hoppus said, “We’ve all been through so much the past few years. I found out I had cancer and now I’m here with you tonight. Music brings us all together. Thank you for being here.” Despite that bit of reality, the tenor of the band’s performance adhered to the teen/young adult angst and potty humor that first made them alt-rock superstars in the late 1990s. With singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge finally back in the fold since last fall, Coachella Weekend 1 marked his first full live gig with Blink in nine years. Bolstered by fireworks, onstage fire plumes, great backdrop visuals and solid sound, the trio’s cavalcade of hits spanned from the earliest (“Dammit,” with a Skee Lo nod) to most recent (“Edging”). In between, came such radio staples as “What’s My Age Again,” “All the Small Things,” “The Rock Show,” “Down” and “First Date,” complete with a quick Ramones intro tribute.
All photos courtesy of Coachella.
George Paul
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