California’s ultimate music festival experience, Coachella, has wrapped. According to Billboard, 2024 marked the lowest ticket sales of any modern Coachella lineup with around 200,000 tickets sold. However, that’s still hundreds of thousands of people from across the country and around the world, buying tickets to see their favorite artists, DJ’s, and bands live in concert.
This year’s headliners were Tyler, The Creator, Lana Del Rey, and Doja Cat, artists who are all coming off 2023 music releases and have defined recent music culture. While the undercard had plenty to be desired, I was still looking forward to going to my second Coachella in 2024, and it didn’t disappoint either.
On Friday, we went early and visited the “Record Safari” and also knocked merch out of the way first in order to avoid having to make any trips back later. One thing I appreciate about the record store is the vast selection they carried in such a small tent, and flipping through the vinyl records with the air conditioning blowing in my face was always a pleasant break from the action.
The first act we watched was in the Sonora tent, where we saw Up Chuck perform — a small punk band who were an energetic introduction to our day. Following that we headed to the Gobi stage to switch things up with Kokoroko, who played soothing jazz and were incredible instrumentalists. It is often surreal to go from set to set and see two completely different expressions of music within a matter of minutes, yet have them both hit the mark and leave me equally enthralled. From there, we saw artists The Japanese House, Faye Webster, Deftones, Lil Uzi Vert, Clown Core, Justice, and of course the headliner to close the show, Lana Del Rey. Faye Webster and Lana Del Rey stole the first day for me, with both not only mixing in creative stage design, but top of the line vocal performances.
Saturday followed suit and we visited Erika De Casier and Young Fathers at the Gobi. Young Fathers ended up being one of the more underrated acts and they switched up what is expected from a band by displaying multiple singers and not having any defining sound or genre they fit into. Then we went to Destroy Lonely in the Sahara and moshed, before hustling over to Kevin Abstract, who performed some of my favorite songs, and even brought out Lil Nas X to perform their unreleased song.
With my legs already dragging, we stood at the main Coachella stage for the rest of the day, where we saw Sublime who brought back memories of being a kid listening to my dad’s music in the backseat; Blur playing possibly their last show ever with a much more enthusiastic crowd weekend two. No Doubt and Gwen Stefani haven’t lost a step and performed with the same energy they brought in the 1990s and 2000s. Tyler, The Creator ended things off with a classic set of his hits and humor to cap off an overall incredible day.
After staying for curfew both nights previously, and having little to no breaks in between, Sunday ended up being the most laid back day of the weekend. We only saw five acts and only stood for three of them. Coming from Spain, BB Trickz brought great flows and she performed well in the Sonora early on. Our next set, YG Marley, left me speechless as he brought out his mom, Lauryn Hill, to perform some of her biggest songs, along with some of Bob Marley’s songs.. We also sat on a hill across from the Sahara and watched Kid Cudi, which was unfortunately cut short when he broke his foot trying to jump down from the stage. From there we tried to stay in the shade due to the heat and even tried the Ferris wheel, which was mildly fun at best. To end our weekend, we witnessed Lil Yachty play his newer rock inspired music mixed in with his rap hits, and then saw possibly the best headliner in Doja Cat, who sent Coachella off into the night with electric performances and stage design.
For three days, I arrived at opening and stayed until curfew, and for a brief time period, it felt like I lived at Coachella. Escaping my daily stresses and being consumed by the music, the artists, the heat, the thousands of steps, and the thousands of crazy people passing by at any moment, was needed. The absurdity of it all doesn’t hit you until you are back in your daily routine, back living your own regular life, and awaiting next April.
