The internet’s favorite music festival – Coachella – has recently come and gone, but not without some highlights worth discussing.
If you don’t know, Coachella is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It takes place over two weekends, but this article only covers Weekend One.
The festival hit it off with a bang on Friday, April 12. Some big names were Chappell Roan, who had the whole crowd dancing to “HOT TO GO!”; Lana Del Rey, who brought out Billie Eilish to duet with on “Video Games” and “Ocean Eyes”; Sabrina Carpenter, whose “Nonsense” outro was clever as always; and Suki Waterhouse, who revealed that the baby she recently had with boyfriend Robert Pattinson is a girl.
Day 2 saw Bleachers, Ice Spice, and Tyler, The Creator among others. One of the biggest events was the reunion of No Doubt, featuring frontwoman Gwen Stefani. Their 80-minute set was electric, and just when it seemed like the crowd couldn’t get any louder, Olivia Rodrigo joined the stage to sing “Bathwater”.
With performances by Bebe Rexha, Doja Cat, and Victoria Monét, Day 3 continued with the Coachella hype. Singer, actor, and Broadway star Reneé Rapp performed a beautiful set and brought out special guest Kesha. They sang the 2010 hit “Tik Tok” with updated opening lyrics (“Wake up in the morning like f*ck P. Diddy”) as an acknowledgment of various lawsuits against him for sex trafficking, sexual assault, and abuse.
The stars weren’t only on the stage, though. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were in the audience for Ice Spice, who collaborated on a song with Swift, and Bleachers, whose member Jack Antonoff has co-written/produced over 50 of Swift’s songs. Actor Barry Keoghan was also seen in the crowd for his girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter. Other celebrities seen attending were Jeff Bezos, Rihanna, Justin and Hailey Bieber, Megan Fox, Nina Dobrev, Emma Roberts, and Heidi Klum.
Weekend Two also saw lots of exciting events, so make sure to do your research and see if your favorite celebs were there! We’ll see you next year, Coachella.
Freshman Emily Myers is a Staff Writer. Her email is emyers3@fandm.edu.