Coachella 2022 Recap
From Harry Styles and Shania Twain’s iconic performance to Travis Scott’s unexpected appearance, here’s all of the highlights of Coachella 2022.
After two years of no Coachella due to the pandemic, it finally came back full of new music and electrifying performances. Source: anna-m. via Pexels https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-enjoying-the-concert-1047442/
Coachella, the biggest music festival in the world, returned on April 15 for the first time since 2019. The festival was split into two weekends, the first April 15-17 and the second April 22-24. Headliners for the double-weekend festival included Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and The Weeknd with Swedish House Mafia, who replaced Kanye as a headliner following his departure from the festival just 11 days before the event.
Starting off strong, one of the best moments of the festival was the iconic Harry Styles/Shania Twain performance during weekend one. Before performing two of Shania Twain’s iconic hits, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “You’re Still the One,” Harry threw his arm around Shania and told the crowd that she taught him to sing while listening to her music in the car with his mother as a child. He also aptly shared that she taught him a very important lesson – “men are trash.”
During weekend two, Harry brought out Lizzo to perform One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” and Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 hit, “I Will Survive.” Donned in matching, floor-length feather coats, Harry and Lizzo put on an extravagant performance that drove fans into a frenzy.
Another one of the best moments was Billie Eilish’s ever-rotating list of guest performers. First, Billie brought Khalid on stage, followed by her brother Finneas and finally, the guests with the most shock-value, Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn and Posdnuos of De La Soul for an electrifying performance of “Feel Good Inc.” Billie went on to share how important Gorillaz were to her artistry and her career.
“This man changed my life in a lot of ways,” Eilish said on stage about Albarn. “[He] changed my complete view of what music could be, and what art could be, and what creation could be. My first favorite band ever was the Good, the Bad, and the Queen when I was six years-old and Blur changed the world and Gorillaz changed the world, and this man is literally a genius, and that’s that.”
During weekend two, Eilish brought out Hayley Williams of Paramore for an acoustic performance of “Misery Business.” Paramore made the decision in 2018 to stop performing the song after some people deemed it anti-feminist.
“Wow, this is my first Coachella,” Williams said as she joined Eilish and Finneas on stage. “Thanks for sharing this with me,” she said to Eilish. “This is sick!”
Baby Keem brought the house down during his performance when he brought out his cousin, Kendrick Lamar. His guest appearance was particularly timely, as Lamar is set to drop his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers on May 13.
Hip-hop group Brockhampton performed their final set ever at this year’s festival. They began their set huddled up in a circle dressed in letterman jackets that read, “All Good Things Must Come to an End,” and worked through their set-list in chronological order. Although this was their final live performance as a group, they announced that they will release a new album before parting ways at the end of the year.
Perhaps the most complained about moment of Coachella was the disappointing Revolve Festival. Hosted by the fast-fashion website Revolve, the festival returned to Coachella with photoshoots and live performances for TikTok, YouTube and Instagram influencers. While Revolve Festival is in its fifth year, the brand severely underprepared for the amount of people that they would have to transport from the parking lot to the actual festival.
TikToks of first-hand accounts from the festival immediately began flooding the “For You” page over the weekend, resulting in some seriously bad press for Revolve and even garnering a comparison to the infamous Fyre Festival in 2017.
There were numerous first-hand accounts complaining about the lack of water and shade, absence of security and safety measures and just general disorganization of the event. Additionally, some reports claim that certain influencers were “trying to pull rank on others and cutting one another in line because they have more followers.”
Another low point was Travis Scott’s appearance at the festival. Although he wasn’t officially on the ballot for the festival, he still managed to perform a set at an after-party last week. This is one of Scott’s first public performances since the Astroworld tragedy in November of last year. Many thought that he made his appearance too soon and that the decision to allow him to perform was insensitive.
Finally, perhaps the best part of the event was all of the new music. Harry Styles gave his first performance of “Late Night Talking” off of his new album. Doja Cat performed “Vegas,” which is going to be featured in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic Elvis. Phoebe Bridgers unveiled “Sidelines,” Arcade Fire played numerous tracks from their upcoming album WE and Megan Thee Stallion performed an unreleased track that is loaded with Lil Kim’s influence.
Megan later released the track, “Plan B,” on Friday, April 22. When introducing it at Coachella, she called it very personal and dedicated it to “whom it may the f–k concern.”