Things are happening at Coachella. The opening of the gigantic musical event in the middle of the Californian desert was eventful this weekend. Tyler, The Creator burst onto a burning stage inside a camper van parked in a mountainous desert setting. His set was enriched by guests like Kali Uchis, Childish Gambino and A$AP Rocky.
A scent of indie-rock nostalgia spread over the famous festival with the return to stage of No Doubt, reformed for the first time in fifteen years. Without forgetting the performance of Blur, the legendary English rock group of the 1990s. Stars in spades, revivals musical and settling scores… We summarize this first weekend of the festival for you.
Taylor Swift attracts all eyes
During the Bleachers set, Taylor Swift appeared as a spectator, singing and twirling on the arm of her companion, American football player Travis Kelce. She came to see Jack Antonoff, who co-wrote and produced several of her albums, on stage. The star’s presence was immortalized in videos from fans on social networks, who also surprised him in the VIP section at Bronx rapper Ice Spice’s show. The emergence of the American pop mega-star, on break from his tour “The Eras Tour”, eclipsed the headliners of the festival.
The Palestinian Saint Levant awakens the Festival
The rapper Saint Levant, of Palestinian, French, Algerian and Serbian origin, managed to fill the “Gobi” tent of the festival. The 23-year-old artist’s performance coincided with No Doubt’s return. He performed his hits and new songs in front of a crowd of fans, many of whom waved Palestinian flags and wore keffiyehs. “Coachella, my name is Saint Levant, I was born in Jerusalem and I grew up in Gaza,” said the artist, to cheers. “As I hope you all know, the people of Gaza have been suffering a brutal genocide for six months. And the people of Palestine have been subjected to brutal occupation for seventy-five years,” he added. “It’s not just me on stage – it’s the whole Arab world on stage.” Saint Levant, whose real name is Marwan Abdelhamid, spent his childhood in Gaza before his family was forced to flee to Jordan. He now lives in the United States, in Los Angeles.
Grimes’ failed performance
A desaster. Singer Grimes experienced the worst nightmare of Coachella artists, having a series of technical problems and miserably missing her concert. According to her, the problems were related to the programming of the songs on her mixing board. She screamed and screamed into the microphone as technical glitches repeated several times, described Variety. Grimes addressed to the public this Sunday on to apologize and explain the reasons for this fiasco. For the first time, she delegated a number of tasks, like organizing tracks on the SD card, to someone else to save time, she says. She promised not to make this mistake again and to deliver a perfect performance for her next concert next week at Coachella.
The Fugees reunion
Clearly, the 1990s were in the spotlight this edition. YG Marley, who was performing on the festival’s main stage, gave up part of his concert to a parade of hip-hop stars. After 15 minutes of show, the singer let in his illustrious mother, Lauryn Hill, ex-singer of the Fugees, to perform some of his classics like Ex-Factor And Lost Ones. She welcomed Wyclef Jean to sing the hit Killing me softlyin the absence of Pras, third founding member of the cult group.
Kesha takes on P. Diddy
Kesha invited herself to the Renée Rapp stage on Sunday afternoon. The singer changed the lyrics of her famous song TikTok, in reference to the accusations against P. Diddy. His song which originally began with “Wake up in the mornin’feelin’like P. Diddy” [Je me lève le matin en me sentant comme P. Diddy]became “Wake up in the morning like fuck P. Diddy” [Je me lève le matin comme putain de P. Diddy], accompanied by a middle finger. The rapper has been the target of several accusations of rape and sexual exploitation in recent months, first by his ex-partner, singer Cassie, in mid-November. In a civil complaint, she accuses him of rape in 2018 and denounces a decade of “violent behavior” and “deviant demands”. Since then, three other women have filed complaints, including one who claims to have been gang raped by the rapper and two other men when she was 17 years old. In November, Kesha removed all references to the rapper from her song.