The 30 greatest Coachella performances of all time, ranked
From Prince's tantalizing covers to Madonna's disco-charged surprise to Daft Punk's LED spectacle, these unforgettable sets had a seismic impact on pop culture
Music Lists Snoop Dogg
Clockwise from left: Peter Murphy of Bauhaus suspended upside down during “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” April 2005 (Photo: Wendy Redfern/Redferns); Daft Punk at Coachella on April 29, 2006 (Photo: Karl Walter/Getty Images); Madonna at Coachella in April 2006 (Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage); Prince at Coachella on April 26, 2008. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Graphic: The A.V. Club
Coachella invented the modern music festival, drafting the blueprint for genre-hopping lineups that place equal emphasis on fads and classics. Ever since the inaugural two-day celebration in 1999, Coachella has been imitated, expanded, and replicated, all to various degrees of success. Why did the Southern Californian festival have such an impact? It’s combination of desert destination and clever curation has kept Coachella at the epicenter of pop culture for over two decades. With the 2023 iteration of the festival under way—this year headlined by Bad Bunny, Blackpink, and Frank Ocean, er, Blink-182—it’s a good time to look back at the sets that defined Coachella in the public imagination.
31 Comments
I was at coachella 2004 and was excited to see the flaming lips (saw them at a small theater in 2003 and they were amazing) but they were pretty lousy. They only played like 3 songs at coachella because wayne coyne opened with some substance-less “fuck george bush, man” screed (election year), then spent 15 mins in the hamster ball
Yess coming here to say the same thing, I was hoping to hear various tracks from the Soft Bulletin, they barely squeezed Race for the Prize on there, and that singing puppet nun too. him getting on that ball took up alot of time. and the anti-Bush stuff, totally forgot about that !!! That was my first Coachella!
According to the setlist, they played four songs. All my friends asked about when I got home was that hamster ball though, so I still have good memories of the show.
Hey, I was there for the Tupac hologram!
I was luck to say I was at alot of these. I regret just walking by the Gobi and seeing Amy do a couple of songs ( didn’t know who she was at the time) and now just learning that was the Dap-Kings behind her. same for Daft Punk, the tent was just too fucking full, but was mesmerized by the reworking of their songs. Prince was the best , he also threw in a cover of Santana’s Soul-Sacrifice , which was a bonding moment as my Parents would watch the Woodstock Movie constantly and they loved Santana so means a lot Prince would play that song at Coachella.
Prince is well,, PRINCE😄😅😍😘😇🙂🤗😋😁😀😊😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎🤗🤗🤗🤗and what an absolutely MESMERIZING Artist
I almost missed Daft Punk as they were touring a not all that great record at the time and we had no idea what to expect. But that year I took my girlfriend and she really wanted to see Daft Punk and she had indulged me in coming to all the sets I wanted to see so I was like “sure, why not?” and Im so glad I did.
pay your taxes
I went to Coachella in 2010 and 2011, interesting to see a few of these acts pop up here (albeit some from a different year they performed). I was interested mostly in seeing DFA1979 reunite, but there were a surprising number of acts that I thoroughly enjoyed even if their music wasn’t my cup of tea. Arcade Fire was pretty great, LCD took forever to get started but it was worth it, and of course the place went nuts when Jay-Z brought out Beyonce. Even Muse, who I’d written off, put on a hell of a show (my friend said they were “3 dudes who sound like 9 dudes” and that was pretty apt). But Kanye absolutely laid the groundwork for what a Coachella headline act “is” now. It was just on another level entirely.Those days were fun but I have no intention of going back, even as the bands I loved in my youth inevitably return in the “elderly folk nostalgia” slot.
Insanely perhaps I was at like 25 of these.
Are you one of these people who has to tell everyone you went? LOL
pay your taxes then
So WOW! This is two bands that I have never had the opportunity to see😒🙄😣🙃😜😝😯👹👺😭😱😵😠😈👿😞🤕👽👾🤖😸😹😻😼😽🙀😿😾🙈🙉🙊👶👩⚕👩🎤👩💻👩🎨🙅👯👰🙋💆💇👼🕺💃💃💃👩❤️👨👨👩👧👨👩👧👦👪💪👈☝👆🖕👇✌✌✌✌🖖🤘🖐✊✋👌👍👋👏✍👐💅👂👃👄💋👅👀👣❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤💖💓💌💗💢💚💛💙💣💥💦💝💜👙👓👛👟👟👞👞👑👑👑👑👗👗👖👖👕👕👑👑👒👒🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩💎🎓
Once upon a time, in the late 1980s, Rick Rubin was at the peak of his career as a music producer. He had already made a name for himself as the co-founder of Def Jam Records, the legendary hip-hop label that had launched the careers of some of the biggest names in rap music.One day, Rick Rubin was sitting in his office at Def Jam, working on a new album with one of his artists, when he felt a sudden urge to pass gas. He tried to hold it in, but the pressure was too great. And then, it happened – the fartiest fart he had ever farted.The sound echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. Rubin’s artist looked up in surprise, and then burst out laughing. “Damn, Rick,” he said. “That was some serious gas.”But Rick Rubin wasn’t laughing. He was mortified. He had always been a bit of a health nut, and he prided himself on his clean-living lifestyle. He couldn’t believe he had just let out such a loud, stinky fart in front of his artist.But little did he know, that fart was about to make Def Jam history.Later that day, Rubin was in the studio with another one of his artists, recording a track for their new album. As they were finishing up, Rubin felt another fart coming on. This time, he didn’t try to hold it in. He let it rip, and the sound was even louder than before.But instead of being embarrassed, Rubin started to see the funny side. He began joking around with his artist, making fart noises with his mouth and laughing uncontrollably. And then, it hit him – why not use that fart in the song?Rubin grabbed a microphone and recorded himself making fart noises. He added them to the track, along with some funky beats and a catchy hook, and voila – the fartiest song in Def Jam history was born.The track was an instant hit. Fans loved the irreverent, tongue-in-cheek humor of the song, and Rubin became a cult hero overnight. He even started incorporating fart noises into other songs he produced, and they became his signature sound.In the end, Rick Rubin realized that sometimes, the things we’re most embarrassed about can actually be our greatest strengths. And as for that fart he let out in his office? Well, he learned to embrace it – after all, it was the fart that changed the course of his career, and made him a legend in the music industry.
You forgot Tool.
There’s no reason to call him a tool if he forgot something.
Not having Blinks show from last week is pretty odd.If was phenomenal, regardless of what you think of them as a band.
Pretty good list but omitting Mazzy Star on the Outdoor Stage in 2012 is a criminal act, it was one of the most magical concert experiences I’ve ever had at any venue.
You know what’s cooler than seeing them there?? At their actual concerts so you don’t have to be running around in the gd heat and missing bands. I saw Bauhaus before they played there in a smaller venue. Didn’t have to drive hours away, pay all that money to be around smelly drugged out people (Well, less)
Not a single one of these had a “seismic impact on pop culture”. Most were underwhelming for the attendees, and forgotten in weeks, if not days.
Thank you for not including 2013’s Vampire Weekend set. That might actually be worse than the Frank Ocean debacle….
O.K., I was there for that Flaming Lips show, and I can understand why someone looking at photos of it would think it must have been pretty cool. It was not. We waited for like half an hour while they struggled with technical difficulties with the hamster ball. No attempt to entertain us at all during that time. Was the ball cool? Yes. Was it worth them dicking around for 30 minutes? No.
‘Over a decade later, holograms have yet to take the concert industry by storm, leaving the ghostly appearance of Tupac during Dr. Dre’s headlining set a relic of a future that never came to pass.’ Abba Voyage begs to differ!
‘Over a decade later, holograms have yet to take the concert industry by storm, leaving the ghostly appearance of Tupac during Dr. Dre’s headlining set a relic of a future that never came to pass.’ Abba Voyage would beg to differ!
Prince always seems to come in second at the AVClub.
any non assholes been there?ever? im talking about the crowd.
I’ve been a couple of times, in very different ways. The first time I camped out with some friends, that year was pretty solid. Refused reunion, Jeff Mangum solo set years before the NMH reunion… Unfortunately I missed Mangum because our neighbors thought it would be funny to dose our cheese balls with ground up Vicodin.
Second time we got a house, and unfortunately missed a lot. The house had AC and a pool, so it was really hard to round people up to trek in to the festival. That year was less good – the big reunion was Stone Roses which was pretty meh.
Siouxsie’s fierce performance during the Coachella stop on their farewell tour should have been included. Also, surprised that none of Bjork’s appearances made it. Her Volta show was mind blowing.
jesus christ, daft punk over beyonce? why do you hate music?