Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Hans Zimmer among Coachella's weekend highlights
Here are highlights of the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.:
Radiohead, playing as the headliner for the third time, had to exit the stage twice within the first seven songs of their set on Friday while technicians tried to fix the speakers that first buzzed and then went out entirely. After the second time, frontman Thom Yorke said "Can you actually hear me now?"
The crowd tried to be encouraging but could never get fully entranced as Radiohead crowds often do. They played all the way until 12:52 a.m., more than two hours total.
Friday afternoon, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which is supposedly preserving a style of trad jazz popularized in the red light district of New Orleans around the start of the 20th century, featured an electric pianist.
A new air-conditioned tent, called the Sonora, featured compelling punk and Latino acts, such as the female-led Paranoyds and Diamante Electrico. Canadian multi-instrumentalist MacDeMarco gave a powerhouse performance on the Outdoor Theatre at twilight.
The first major surprise guest came on around 3 p.m. when the Lemon Twigs, a pop-rock band from Long Island, was joined on the Gobi stage for their last song, Couldn't I just Tell You, by legendary producer and recording artist Todd Rundgren.
Day 2
On Saturday night, Lady Gaga took the stage at 11:29 in a black police hat and leather trench coat, and opened with Schiebe off her Born This Way album. Gaga also surprised fans by performing a new song, The Cure, about 45 minutes into the set.
“You cure me every time with your love,” she said during the song, telling her fans she loved them and they helped sustain her during difficult times. Gaga closed off her performance with Poker Face and Bad Romance in a sheer black body suit covered in sequins with black underwear beneath.
Also on Saturday, Drake sat in on the Coachella stage with rapper Future. Future also welcomed appearances by rappers Ty Dolla Sign and Migos. Migos also jumped onstage with DJ Snake and Gucci Mane.
The Weeknd surprised concertgoers in the Gobi tent when he performed with Nav. Rappers A$AP Rocky and Tyler the Creator sat in for a later set with fellow hip-hop star ScHoolboy Q on the Outdoor Theatre stage. Bastille performed numerous hits, including Pompeii and Bad Blood to an overflow crowd on the Outdoor Theatre.
Day 3
Kendrick Lamar got help from some friends to close out the first weekend of the festival. The Sunday headliner brought out ScHoolboy Q, Future and Travis Scott on stage throughout his show — all three also performing at the festival. Lamar hit the stage at 10:37 p.m. with the song DNA.
Just two hours before Lamar’s set, a crowd as big as Saturday’s star-studded hip-hop shows gathered for a combination of classical and electronic music by the Oscar-winning composer, Hans Zimmer.
Zimmer, who has won two Grammys and an Oscar for his music to The Lion King, brought a full orchestra to the Outdoor Theatre stage because, as he said, “Somebody had to.”
The crowd devoured everything, even as Zimmer said the orchestra was going to perform a cello concerto, which the audience recognized as music from Pirates of the Caribbean. The festival-goers became just as excited by music from Lion King and a surprise appearance by Pharrell Williams, who collaborated with Zimmer on the music to Hidden Figures.
Grouplove had their substantial audience at the Coachella stage singing along to hits such as Tongue Tied and Ways to Go. The electro-pop-rock band Future Islands attracted a moderate-sized crowd on the Outdoor stage with a hit-laden set including Ran and Seasons (Waiting On You).
Other Sunday highlights included an enthusiastic response to Lorde, who closed her well-attended performance on the Coachella stage number with a passionate rendition of her recent hit, Green Light.