Coachella Day 2 recap: Drake, The Weeknd, Bon Iver
INDIO, Calif. — Coachella festgoers settled in Saturday for Day 2 of what has become a destination event that must be experienced over three days.
The third day begins Sunday with rapper Kendrick Lamar headlining the massive festival at Empire Polo Club.
Drake, who headlined Coachella in 2015, created the first buzz of the night when he sat in with rapper Future, with whom he has collaborated on such hits as Jumpman and Where Ya At. Future also welcomed appearances by rappers Ty Dolla Sign and Migos. The Weeknd surprised concertgoers when he performed with Nav.
Migos also jumped onstage with DJ Snake and Gucci Mane.
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Coachella's size remained a topic of conversation among the record crowd of 125,000 people, who flocked for names like headliner Lady Gaga. The addition of 20 acres and the development of The Terrace region on the south side of the grounds, featuring a mix of music and non-music activities, has made a trip to Coachella analogous to a vacation to Disneyland and California Adventure, and not everybody likes that.
"I'm not here to see that," said Aimee Ryerson of Los Angeles, attending her first Coachella since 2005, when it was a two-day gathering headlined by Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails. "I'm here for the music. I would like to have a flashback to 2005."
She said she misses the old days when “the stages weren’t so spread out.”
For a new generation of festival-goers, all of the activities are dazzling.
“It’s been amazing” said Sara Snyder of New York, making her first trip to Coachella, “and it’s only Day 2. I love all the art installations. It feels like another world.”
Bob Forrest, who played the first Coachella in 1999 as a member of the band Bicycle Thief, said he was bringing his kids to enjoy Coachella.
One result of the bigger space and the addition of 25,000 more people is that celebrities seem more invisible. Kylie and Kendall Jenner were seen walking the fields, with Kylie’s hair a bright purple, and pals James Franco and Jonah Hill were spotted backstage, as was philanthropist Harold Matzner.
Celebrity performers still made drop-in appearances, a tradition since Beck entered a tent with DJ-Trip to the sounds of “two turntables and a microphone” in 2002. Michael McDonald of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers fame made the first surprise guest appearance of the day with singer/multi-instrumentalist Thundercat to sing a song they recorded with Kenny Loggins called Show You the Way.
Rappers A$AP Rocky and Tyler the Creator sat in for a later set with fellow hip-hop star ScHoolboy Q. Interpol frontman Paul Banks and and Wu-Tang Clan member RZA offered incendiary rap on political songs like Giant and Love + War.
The big crowds came out later in the day for groups like the Head and the Heart, who sang the popular acoustic Lost In My Mind and All We Ever Knew, and Bastille, who performed Pompeii and Bad Blood to an overflow crowd.
Another highlight was Car Seat Headrest, featuring Seattle transplant Will Toledo. Wearing a sky blue suit and a buttoned-to-the-top black shirt with shades over his nose and bangs over his eyes, Toledo showed why he’s an up-and-coming rocker on engaging songs like Destroyed By Hippie Power and Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales, which had the crowd joining in for one of the big sing-alongs of the festival.
Bon Iver, the band led by former folk rocker Justin Vernon, made a return to Coachella after a well-received appearance at the 2009 festival with a totally different sound. The band performed “folktronica” songs from its critically-acclaimed, if challenging 22, A Million LP, featuring Vernon’s voice obscured by Auto-Tune singing often undecipherable lyrics. Bon Iver drew a large crowd and presented compelling visual images on three giant screens.
The La Quinta-based group Yip Yops performed for well over 200 people with frontman Ison Van Winkle effectively playing to the crowd with songs offering emotional depth. Festival-goers were seen shaking their head in amazement that they had just hear a "local" band.