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The crackle and snare of revving motorcycle engines split through 10 minutes of anticipatory silence, beckoning the arrival of Coachella 2024’s sanctified, unofficial mother: Lana Del Rey.
She rolled in with her dancers en suite, heralding the beginning of the end of the festival’s second Friday. Lana had thousands under her spell that night; her bewitching melodies floated through the cool desert air; sound turned into lifelong memories for all those in attendance.
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The day was fueled by positivity. Lively sets were aplenty on the grounds, as music lovers from around the world gathered with a shared mission: to bask in sun and music, and explore all the desert has to offer.
Fiore Smeraldo, attending her second-ever Coachella, said Day 1 was “amazing.”
“The energy here is so good and the weather’s so nice and everybody performing is really good and the food’s too expensive,” Smeraldo said. “I paid $15 for fucking lemonade.”
Smeraldo wasn’t the only one who found eating and keeping hydrated came at a surprisingly high cost at the event, which hosted bars, restaurants and food and drink vendors across its grounds and the Indio Central Market food hall.
“I knew the prices of food would be really expensive; I didn’t think it would be this expensive, though,” Edwin Urias said.
Day 1 featured a full roster of artists — from Afro-Caribbean funk to chill indie to hyper J-pop — at Coachella’s eight venues sprawled across Indio’s Empire Polo Club. Temperatures peaked in the mid-90s Friday afternoon as festival-goers milled from tent to tent and stopped to pose in front of large-scale art installations, including “Balloon Chain” by Robert Bose, a thin arch of magenta balloons reaching a half-mile into the sky that swayed with the wind.
It’s difficult to put into words something as intangible as the rush of energy — the kind that reminds you you’re alive — that came with watching Peso Pluma’s Weekend 2 set.
Mexican flags bobbed through the sea of fans, swaying with the natural rhythm of the singer’s corridos and reggaeton. He riled up the crowd with back-to-back surprise guests like Jasiel Nuñez, Ryan Castro, DJ Snake and Eslabon Armado. Anitta took the stage for a particularly memorable rendition of the duo’s “BELLAKEO,” made all the more notable by the palpable chemistry between the two grinding musicians on stage.
Peso Pluma’s pride was infectious, and though he may give the impression of being tough and cool — which he most definitely is — it seemed impossible for him to contain the excitement in his ear-to-ear smile. With an orchestral introduction à la Vivaldi, images of artists like Jenni Rivera, Junior H and Chalino Sanchez flashed across the screen, La Doble P called upon Mexican musical icons of the past, present and future during his performance of “LADY GAGA,” displaying a timeline of Mexican musical influence spanning nearly 50 years.
This year’s festival is paying tribute to the music of the ’90s: Day 1 saw the Deftones rock the Outdoor Theatre. Chino Moreno couldn’t have left any more on that stage, even jumping into the crowd at one point in a scene like something straight out of a movie. As much full-body screaming took place at the Deftones set, attendees were pleasantly surprised to hear the band’s rendition of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” a slower intermission amid some of the band’s heavier tracks.
Deftones rounded out an impressively energetic set with crowd favorite “My Own Summer (Shove It),”, sending countless fans into a head-banging hypnosis till the very last note. Continuing the ’90s nostalgia, attendees can expect sets from No Doubt, Blur and Sublime Saturday and Sunday.
English singer-songwriter and actress Suki Waterhouse, a ’90s baby whose sparsely-released but consistently on-point singles and EPs have made the rounds on TikTok over the last year, remembered the ’90s herself, covering Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger” — much to her Gobi Tent crowd’s delight.
Waterhouse performed in a perfectly engineered grove of trees and flowering bushes — what she called a “magical garden where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.” She drew the audience in with popular tracks “Moves” and “Devil I Know” before wading into intimacy with “Johanna,” which she dedicated to a “woman [she] once loved,” and “Brutally,” a soft ballad about heartbreak.
Weekend 2’s opening day was sweltering hot, and it certainly felt like “199 degrees” in the Gobi Tent, where girls, gays and theys sporting pink cowgirl hats and bandanas crowded in to witness the one and only Chappell Roan in all her hot pink glory. Roan, whose theatrical stage presence reeled the audience into her “Pink Pony Club,” pranced around in a gorgeously elaborate set of butterfly wings, matching her winged, latex-clad band.
The queer pop princess led the audience in a practice round of the “HOT TO GO!” dance, which she said “even the bitches on drugs can get,” before sending the packed tent into a giddy dance and sing-along. From beginning to end, Roan ate and left positively no crumbs, wrapping the crowd around her finger as she recited the bridge to her new single, “Good Luck, Babe!”, her crimson curls blowing in the wind.
Roan’s set was a stand-out for first-time Coachella attendee Michael Whiting, who made the trek from Santa Barbara for a weekend in the desert.
“[Roan] was one of my go-to’s, and she killed it,” Whiting said. “I don’t think anyone else is going to compare the rest of the weekend, like she crushed it.”
Post-Chappell Roan, the great migration began from the Gobi Tent to the expansive Coachella Stage for Brigitte “Bardot reincarnate” — thanks, Olivia Rodrigo — Sabrina Carpenter’s performance.
Carpenter flounced around her ’50s-motel-inspired set above a field full of enthusiastic, dancing fans, noting that performing at Coachella was “such a surreal feeling.” Between hits, including “Espresso” and “Feather,” retro-style commercials and makeup tutorials featuring Carpenter played on the massive screens flanking the stage. Carpenter brought out surprise guest and beloved modern jazz icon Norah Jones, who joined the starlet in a piano-backed duet of Jones’ “Don’t Know Why.”
“She’s so cute, and she’s so beautifulness,” said Smeraldo, who said Carpenter was the highlight of her Day 1.
Faye Webster hypnotized the crowd with her melodic vulnerability, sending more than a few members of the audience straight to tears with “Jonny” and “Jonny (Reprise).” Webster also brought out her middle-school bestie and fellow Atlanta native Lil Yachty for an ultra-fun performance of “Lego Ring.” Elizabeth Mendoza’s favorite set was Faye Webster.
“I was screaming my heart out for her, and I loved all the songs,” said Mendoza, who plunged into Coachella for the first time in her life. “It was worth it.”
After an energetic, impeccably choreographed set by R&B songstress Tinashe that had fans getting down in the Mojave Tent pit, attendees were blessed by the hard-rock-infused power pop of YOASOBI. A sea of pass-holders flocked to the tent to catch the band’s slamming riffs and impressive vocals, and YOASOBI did not disappoint.
Amber Mary Bain, professionally known as The Japanese House, dazzled at the Mojave Tent, delivering ethereal vocals and dreamy synth-backed tracks both new and classic. The crowd swayed to atmospheric beats on “Saw You In a Dream,” cheered when Bain asked whether there were “any gay people in the audience” — the artist was pleased to hear affirmative yelps — and danced in a collaborative arm wave to the crowd favorite “Sunshine Baby,” which closed out the set.
The early afternoon was jam-packed with lively performances. Cimafunk brought a whole lotta Havana to the Gobi tent, from the can’t-help-but-make-you-move rhythm of his funk to the community he was able to build with it. late night drive home had the Sonora tent swaying to the tune of its moody indie rock.
The Beths’ set consisted of a particularly special guest off their “Expert In A Dying Field” album cover: a giant inflatable fish. The Kiwis killed it, and fans couldn’t help but hop around to the tune of “When You Know You Know.”
It was impossible not to dance along with L’Impératrice and its all-consuming technicolor-disco-funkadelic world. Synchronized choreography and coordinated light-up outfits transported the audience into the glittering wonders of the group’s futuristic space-age fantasy.
Del Rey’s headlining set at Coachella Stage closed out the night, which buzzed with energy and light from the enormous outdoor stage and the waxing moon. The songstress, glowing in the spotlight and projected in black and white for the masses to see, chronicled her 16-year-long career through song. Del Rey kept longtime fans fed with callbacks to Lizzy Grant, and ended the night with a jubilant plea against oblivion — “The Great Gatsby” (2013)’s “Young and Beautiful” — with a champagne popping and firework display to boot.
Ana Cahmje, who was resting on a patch of grass following Del Rey’s explosive yet meditative set, said she saw the singer perform a decade ago. A certified stan — an American flag featuring a saluting Del Rey wrapped around her shoulders — Cahmje knew she had to come out to see her idol again this year.
“I love her so much,” Cahmje said. “She’s the reason why I came to Coachella.”
At the end of a day well spent — aches, pains, blisters and all — attendees left the grounds grateful for all that they bore witness to, ready to knock out, only to wake up and do it all again the next day.
