The 10 best (virtual) Coachella performances
Between acts like Billie Eilish and Harry Styles, high-profile guests, and much-anticipated reunions, the beloved festival had it all
Music Features Coachella
After being dormant for the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coachella roared back over the past two weekends, April 15-17 and April 22-24. Although there were changes from the intended 2020 lineup—headliners Rage Against The Machine, Travis Scott, and Frank Ocean were no longer playing—the acts booked in their place were marquee names. Perhaps you’ve heard of Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Swedish House Mafia, and The Weeknd—the latter replacing Kanye West, who dropped out the week before.
Unsurprisingly, these acts brought their A-game (and surprise guests) to their late-night slots. However, Coachella’s not known as a festival bar-setter for nothing; in fact, the event’s 2022 undercard was just as strong. Punk, electronica, pop, hip-hop, reggaeton, rock—you name it, Coachella 2022 had it.
Although the festival was very sold-out, it was live-streamed via YouTube during the first weekend, and select sets were also broadcast the second weekend. That means anyone, anywhere could have their own Couch-ella and enjoy the festival, only with cheaper beer and fewer sunburns.
Here are 10 of the best acts we saw (virtually) at Coachella 2022.
8 Comments
i screamed so loud. there was a high chance that 2ne1 was going to perform together and yet i was still surprised. all the members were heading to la but they all lied about what they were going to do there and we just accepted it. for a moment there was kpop peace across all fandoms. thank you to dara who made her hair taller than it has ever been in her life.
Aw, Harry can play a C chord. Isn’t that cute?
Damn, Herb, you cheap. You force your staff to move out to Cali and your miserly ass won’t spring for a Coachella ticket? Boo hiss.
Damn, I would have gone crazy when 2NE1 showed up. Judging by the response they were missed!
Ari Lennox was my favorite. She gave her all to the songs (with little/no reliance on backing tracks bc she had backup singers) and her band added so much. I loved that it was all Black women too—it was beautiful to see she had this amazing opportunity and decided to bring so many people with her.Also enjoyed Omar Apollo, Channel Tres, Emotional Oranges, and Steve Lacy. I didn’t know much of Lil Baby’s music but his set design and show was dope. I stumbled upon Grupo Firme’s performance (because Vince Staples was previously scheduled at that time) and they also had a crazy show. And yeah, Harry Styles and Anitta were fun too.
Seemed like 75% of the acts were people rapping or singing over pre-recorded tracks, snooze city. Should call it Karaokechella.
Is the point of Harry Styles’ music that it is very lame? That he sounds like Bread or some other lesser lite FM soft rock staple? Like the music is dull and the lyrics cliche and his voice is kind of blah? Like normcore but for music?I realize this all sounds really negative, but I don’t have any problem with him as a person or his popularity, I’m just trying to understand if his music is intentionally nondescript, maybe so his persona is the focus.
Perhaps you’ve heard of…Swedish House Mafia.Sigh. Nope.