By Chiara Piacentini
Staff Writer
Coachella 2024 had a slew of ups and downs throughout its duration, which was held in two parts. The first segment went from April 12-14, and the second went the following weekend from April 19-21. Notable musicians including Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat and Sabrina Carpenter hit the Sahara Stage in the desert town of Indio, California.
Lana Del Rey headlined the first night of Coachella. It wasn’t until she started singing “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but I have it” that she took things to the next level. Throughout this track, she used a hologram of herself. Her friend and producer, Jack Antonoff, joined her as the pianist.
That same night, Tyler, the Creator made quite literally an explosive debut by emerging from an exploding trailer onto the stage. He continued to build on the high energy by featuring Childish Gambino to sing “Running Out of Time.”
Grimes managed to maintain the same level of vitality at first by entering the stage riding on a robotic spider, but multiple technical difficulties during the rest of her performance was where she fell short. Some of her songs started playing at double the speed, leaving her no choice but to take another stab at them, but not without some frustrated swearing and screaming.
On a charmingly stranger note, Doja Cat wrapped up the first weekend of the event in her typical avant-garde fashion with a bunch of Yetis surrounding her as she sang in a furry white two-piece outfit and a blonde wig that ran down to her knees.
While weekend one had its moments, like when Lana Del Rey started things off by rolling in on a motorcycle or Kesha’s surprise appearance for a rendition of “Tik Tok” with Reneé Rapp, it looked as if Grimes’ messy production had cast a shadow over the first segment.
The second weekend looked more promising in terms of a function without tech problems. Grimes was able to redeem herself with a second performance, which Far Out called “flawless.”
Kid Cudi, however, was less fortunate in his performance. While performing “Best Memories,” Cudi made a daring decision to jump off the stage. The artist did not stick the landing, and ended up breaking his ankle. His show ended right then and there as he was carried off the set by security.
The “Queen of Coachella,” Vanessa Hudgens, also disappointed fans this year by failing to make an appearance for the second time in a row. Hudgens is well into her pregnancy with her first child, so it’s understandable that for her, attending Coachella would be an “aggressive” undertaking as she put it, according to People.
Although No Doubt may not have been able to fill Hudgens’ void, they were by far one of the most popular performers of the event. Almost a decade later, the band that was known in the ‘90s for its ska punk tracks, came back together with Gwen Stefani looking ageless. During the band's performance on April 13, Olivia Rodrigo made a surprise appearance and performed “Bath Water” alongside Stefani.
In the second weekend, No Doubt doubled down on their initial success. Towards the end of their second performance, they set the crowd on fire by playing their first smash hit, “I’m Just A Girl.” Stefani took it one step further by climbing the side of the stage as she poured her heart out in the music.
As a whole, Coachella 2024 was not a raging success, but it also was not a complete flop in the slightest either. In light of this, it deserves a rating of a solid pretty good.
