Coachella 2022 live: Billie Eilish brings out Paramore’s Hayley Williams as special guest
California festival is in full swing, with headline sets from Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia
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Your support makes all the difference.After a two-year absence, Coachella has made its highly anticipated return.
Located in Indio, California, the desert festival has gained popularity over the years for its glitzy Instagram-worthy dress code and major celebrity guest sightings.
The festival began its second weekend on Friday (22 April), following a lively first three days a week ago.
Harry Styles headlined on Friday night, delighting fans as he brought out Lizzo for his special guest (after duetting with Shania Twain last week). The singer and rapper joined him for a rendition of the One Direction song “What Makes You Beautiful”, as well as Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”.
Saturday’s (23 April) show was all about Billie Eilish, who teamed up with Hayley Williams for an acoustic version of Paramore’s “Misery Business”. However, soon after Williams left the stage, Eilish tripped over and fell flat on her face. “You guys, I seriously ate s***,” she told the crowd. “Seriously. It was pitch black.”
Read more:
- Harry Styles review: Cheesy chat, One Direction hits and a cameo from country queen Shania Twain
- Coachella 2022 Day 2 talking points: From a surprise Gorillaz appearance to The Simpsons theme, live!
- Maneskin Q&A: ‘Our new single was inspired by Ukraine – we wanted to raise our voice for something meaningful’
- The Weeknd sparks speculation over mystery voice note played during Sunday headliner set
- Teenage fan invited on stage to perform with Dave revealed to be the son of ‘Notting Hill’ director Richard Curtis
Find all the updates from this year’s festival below
Baby Keem review – Rapper proves he has far more to offer than just family ties
Baby Keem, 21, arrives on Coachella’s Sahara Stage late on Friday night, fresh from winning the Grammy for Best Rap Performance for “family ties” – a collaboration with his cousin Kendrick Lamar.
While the festival rumour mill suggested Lamar might join his relative onstage, in the end his buoyant set simply serves to prove that the Las Vegas-based artist has no need to rely on nepotism.
His set, largely but not solely drawn from 2021 debut album The Melodic Blue, alternates between laidback swagger and snarling fight songs.
For the former, there’s the bouncing “trademark usa”, which leads Keem to announce “It’s a motherf***ing party tonight innit?”, 2019’s “Honest”, which he deems “old s***”, and a breezy “orange soda”.
For the latter, there’s the appropriately named “hooligan”, a relentless “moshpit” which lives up to its name, and punchy Kanye collab “Praise God”.
In the end, the only collaborator Keem welcomes onstage is Maryland-born singer Brent Faiyaz, who comes on to sing the hook for “lost souls”.
The truth is, he doesn’t need anybody else. A triumphant closing version of “family ties” proves he’s a star on his own terms.
Lil Baby at Coachella review – Rising rap star delivers powerful BLM statement
Since bursting onto the Atlanta rap scene in 2017 with debut mixtape Perfect Timing, Lil Baby has – despite the diminutive name – only grown in stature, maturing into one of modern rap’s most compelling artists.
From the moment the 27-year-old strode onto Coachella’s Main Stage on Friday (15 April) night, he set about delivering an imposing, high-energy set, joined by frequent collaborator Gunna and flanked by a troupe of gyrating, twerking backing dancers.
Read Kevin E G Perry’s review of Lil Baby’s “emotive” Coachella performance here.
Lil Baby delivers powerful BLM statement during Coachella show - review
A key figure in the Atlanta protests which erupted after the murder of George Floyd, Lil Baby’s Coachella performance on Friday (15 April) ended with a powerful statement against police brutality in the US
Justin Bieber springs ‘Peaches’ surprise during Daniel Caesar set
Of course, golden boy Justin Bieber has joined Daniel Caesar on the Coachella Stage for their extremely smooth single “Peaches”. And, like Lil Baby and Slowthai today, he’s simply refusing to wear a shirt.
Well, it is hot out there.
Coachella, land of the $25 vegan burger
Phoebe Bridgers at Coachella review – A glorious gothic fantasy
Most folk musicians don’t enter a festival stage to the pounding sounds of heavy metal, but Phoebe Bridgers isn’t most folk musicians.
Brandishing a custom black battle axe of a guitar and wearing a glamourous, diamanté version of her trademark skeleton outfit – which tonight is more gothic high fashion label Vampire’s Wife than trick-or-treater – the Los Angeles singer-songwriter has managed to create a world that’s entirely her own.
Read Leonie Cooper’s review of Bridgers’s immersive, visually stunning performance, or ‘en masse therapy session’ here:
Phoebe Bridgers’ Coachella show was a glorious gothic fantasy – review
Bridgers’ performs new song ‘Sidelines’ during visually stunning, cathartic Coachella set or ‘en masse therapy session’
Watch: Arlo Parks joins Phoebe Bridgers onstage for ‘Graceland too’
During her set at Coachella tonight, Phoebe Bridgers brought “my friend Arlo Parks” out onstage as the duo performed an “incredible” rendition of Bridgers’s “Graceland Too”, which she called a “love song”.
Confirmed: Coachella at night is quite pretty
Arcade Fire’s last-minute set was cathartic and intimate - review
Given that they headlined the closing night of Coachella in 2014, it was a double surprise when Canadian indie rock titans Arcade Fire were announced as a last minute addition to the bill for the Mojave Tent on Thursday (14 April) – a day before the California music festival kicked off.
A double-whammy, there was, firstly, shock that they were playing at all, and second that they would be appearing in a relatively intimate setting.
Arcade Fire’s performance delivered both profound joy and healing - read Kevin E G Perry’s review of their show here.
Catharsis and anthems at Arcade Fire’s intimate Coachella show – review
After headlining the festival in 2014, Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire returned to Coachella this year for a surprise performance, which delivered both profound joy and healing
Idles at Coachella review – Bristol rock band’s guitarist pays homage to Kurt Cobain
There’s something rather gothic about Idles by moonlight.
Tonight, the Bristol rock band enter the Mojave stage under sinister red lights and there’s an ominous feeling on the warm breeze. Frontman Joe Talbot seizes the intensity, belting out 2018 single “Colossus”– a heavy duty diatribe about the sins of the father – with equal amounts of rage and pent-up excitement.
They are, of course, happy to be here – even if Talbot is digging into some deep personal trauma. Guitar player Mark Bowen seems outwardly chirpier, doing his best Kurt Cobain tribute in a lacy white dress that brings to mind the kind of mumsy frocks the Nirvana frontman would wear onstage in the Nineties.
While they’re capable of headlining festivals back home in the UK, the US crowd is dedicated but definitely smaller – the tent is nowhere near as rammed as it was for Arcade Fire’s surprise set an hour earlier.
The Idles faithful though are in raptures, as Talbot’s impressive howl clatters into the night, before he shakes his hips to the driving pulse of “Mr Motivator“ like a punk rock disco diva.
Slowthai at Coachella review – Fiery, furious fun from the UK rapper
“Coachella right, this is the first f***** day, right,” insists Northampton rapper Slowthai, to the sweaty, bouncing Californian crowd. “Is that the lit-est you can be?” Turns out it most definitely isn’t, especially when Slowthai – real name Tyron Frampton – leads them in a jaunty, extremely NSFW call and response chant. With a huge smirk on his face, he’s as endearing as he is enjoyably sweary.
A new ‘do, Slowthai’s peppiest song yet, and a dance party set to Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl” – Leonie Cooper reviews the British rapper’s “enormously fun” Coachella set for The Independent.
Read it here.
Slowthai’s fiery Coachella performance ends with ‘Barbie Girl’ dance party – review
British rapper Slowthai unleashes a new hairdo, ‘perfectly perky’ new song, and Nineties nostalgia on Coachella attendees
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