Kanye, Bieber, Will Smith perform at Coachella
The second and final weekend of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival came to a close on Sunday 21 April, with Kanye West hosting an Easter “Sunday Service” and Justin Bieber making a return to the stage after a lengthy hiatus.
The 2019 edition of Goldenvoice’s Coachella (125,000-cap.) has now come to an end, following two consecutive weekends of live music and surprise appearances in the Californian desert.
Kanye West hosted a performance on the closing Sunday of the event as part of his series of Sunday Service performances – invite-only sessions in which the rapper performs alongside a gospel choir in secret locations.
Chance the Rapper, Kid Cudi and DMX joined West for the performance atop a hill, some miles away from the main festival site.
Another surprise performance came in the form of Justin Bieber, who joined Ariana Grande on stage for a rendition of his 2015 single ‘Sorry’. The Canadian singer also used the performance to hint at the release of a new album.
The 2019 edition of Coachella has come to an end, following two weekends of live music and surprise appearances in the Californian desert
Will Smith also appeared on the Coachella stage, joining his son Jaden Smith for a performance of the rapper’s song ‘Icon’.
Weekend one of the festival saw Grande break records as Coachella’s youngest-ever headliner, Childish Gambino pay tribute to Mac Miller, the debut of a state-of-the-art augmented reality experience and the introduction of Amazon lockers to the festival.
California’s Empire Polo Club has hosted Coachella since its inaugural edition which took place over two days in 1999. The festival later added its second weekend in 2012.
A 2018 lawsuit filed against Coachella’s radius clause, which forbids acts from playing other North American festivals for five months around the festival, was dismissed last month.
The dates for next year’s Coachella are yet to be announced.
Coachella 2019: weekend one round-up
The first weekend of Goldenvoice’s California-based festival took place from Friday 12 to Sunday 14 April, with headline performances from Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande.
Tickets for weekend one of the 125,00-capacity festival sold out in just forty minutes this year. Here’s what ticket holders experienced over Coachella’s opening weekend…
Performances
Ariana Grande broke records as Coachella’s youngest-ever headliner, whereas Blackpink became the first all-female K-pop group to play at the festival.
Grande appeared on stage with a host of guests including *Nsync (without Justin Timberlake), Diddy, Mase and Nicky Minaj. Technical difficulties related to microphones affected Grande’s set, along with that of other performances over the weekend.
Donald Glover, who performs as Childish Gambino, was one among several acts to pay tribute to the late rappers Nipsey Hussle and Mac Miller.
Gambino also used the festival to premier the film Guava Island, in which he stars alongside Rhianna. The film is available to stream for free via the Coachella YouTube channel and Amazon Prime for the duration of the festival.
New additions
Coachella debuted its new augmented reality (AR) experience over the weekend at its AR-enabled Sahara Tent stage, where acts including Jaden Smith, Kid Cudi, Whiz Khalifa and Diplo performed.
“We want to provide fun and cutting edge experiences for the people who attend the show”
Fans were able to access AR filters through their phones using the Coachella Camera page of the festival app, superimposing outer space-themed objects onto the festival stage and throughout the tent. Festivalgoers could also save photos and videos of the AR experience.
“We want to provide fun and cutting edge experiences for the people who attend the show,” says a Goldenvoice spokesperson. “During sets, attendees can use a number of different AR filters that react to the audio coming out of the speakers.”
Another new addition at this year’s Coachella came in the form of on-site Amazon Lockers, enabling attendees to order festival-approved items including food products, phone chargers and suncream straight to the lockers on the Empire Polo Club grounds.
Health and safety
A fire broke out in a shower block located in the festival’s campsite, causing panic and distress among festivalgoers, many of whom posted videos of the incident on social media.
Firefighters attended the scene to quench the flames, containing the blaze within half an hour. One trailer was damaged and another destroyed. No injuries were reported.
The incident follows the death of the festival’s lead rigger during set-up on Saturday 6 April.
Coachella is back for weekend two from 19 to 21 April.
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Lead rigger dies during Coachella 2019 set-up
A 20-year veteran of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has lost his life as a result of an accident during set-up on Saturday (6 April).
The man, the festival’s lead rigger, fell to his death at the festival site in Indio, California, according to the Indio police department.
He was found dead when police arrived at 9.30am local time, reports CNN.
Paying tribute to the rigger, a statement from festival promoter Goldenvoice reads: “Today, Goldenvoice lost a colleague, a friend, a family member. Our friend fell while working on a festival stage. It is with heavy hearts and tremendous difficulty that we confirm his passing.
:Today Goldenvoice lost a colleague, a friend, a family member”
“He has been with our team for 20 years in the desert and was doing what he loved. He was a hard-working and loving person that cared deeply about his team.
“As our lead rigger, he was responsible for the countless incredible shows that have been put on at the festival. We will miss him dearly.”
Coachella 2019 begins this Friday, 12 April, with weekend one running until Sunday 14th. Weekend two takes place from 19 to 21 April. Tickets for the 125,000-capacity event, headlined by Childish Gambino, Ariana Grande and Tame Impala, sold out in under 40 minutes.
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Goldenvoice announces LA-based Coachella sideshows
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival promoter, Goldenvoice, has announced a series of LA-based concerts in support of the festival.
The 6th edition of Goldenvoice Presents April will take place throughout the greater Los Angeles area from 6 to 21 April, offering fans the opportunity to see some of Coachella’s participating artists in a more intimate setting.
The 35 shows include performances from the 1975, Mac Demarco, Pusha T, Playboi Carti, Chvrches and Blood Orange.
Coachella headliner Tame Impala is scheduled to perform at the 2,000-capacity Fox Theatre on 11 April, just two days before the band’s Coachella appearance. Fellow headliners, Childish Gambino and Ariana Grande, will not be participating in the Goldenvoice Presents April series.
G O L D E N V O I C E 🌴 presents ☀️ A P R I L
See you in LA with @tameimpala, @officialjaden, @ellamai, @Bobmosesmusic, Mac Demarco + more somewhere near-ish you ✌️https://t.co/8ykZGx2RvM pic.twitter.com/xXec3xWfYX— goldenvoice (@goldenvoice) February 14, 2019
Mega-festival Coachella (125,000-cap.) returns to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, on 12 to 14 April and 19 to 21 April. General admission tickets for this year’s festival sold out in under an hour.
The Coachella 2019 line-up sees artists including Janelle Monáe, Khalid, Weezer, Aphex Twin, and Billie Eilish perform alongside headliners Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande.
A complete list of Goldenvoice Presents April 2019 performers, dates, venues and ticket information can be found here.
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Speedy sell-out for Coachella 2019
Tickets for April’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2019 went on sale at 11 am PST on Friday 4 January. General admission passes for weekend one of the mega-festival had sold out just 40 minutes later, Billboard reports.
A post on the Coachella Twitter account announced that all remaining passes for both weekends of the festival, including shuttle and VIP tickets, had sold out six hours post release.
Event promoter Goldenvoice has since declared that a limited number of additional tickets will be available for purchase by local residents of Coachella Valley, on sale in early February. Buyers must reside in one of a small number of local post codes and will be able to buy just two tickets per weekend.
“General admission passes for weekend one of the mega-festival sold out in just 40 minutes”
Despite seemingly speedy sales, figures are down in comparison with previous years. Tickets for the 2017 and 2018 editions of Coachella sold out in half the time of this year’s batch, with all passes purchased after just three hours.
The festival will take place over two consecutive three-day weekends from 12 April. General admission tickets cost US$429, whereas weekend VIP tickets set buyers back just one dollar short of $1,000.
The 2019 festival will see headliners Childish Gambino, Ariana Grande and Tame Impala perform to fans in the heat of the California desert. It is a year of firsts for the increasingly pop-orientated event, as Grande will become the youngest-ever artist to headline the festival, and the fourth woman to do so.
The subject of headliners has proved controversial this year. Kanye West is believed to have dropped out of the billing in objection to stage restrictions, while Justin Timberlake is similarly rumoured to have backed out of his festival appearance following a persistent vocal cord injury.
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Coachella announces 2019 line-up
Goldenvoice has announced the line-up for April’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2019.
Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande will headline both weekends of the 125,000-capacity mega-festival, which returns to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, on 12–14 April and 19–21 April.
Other notable performers include Janelle Monáe (pictured), the 1975, Khalid, Diplo, Weezer, Aphex Twin, Zed, Billie Eilish, Bassnectar and Christine and the Queens.
According to US gossip site TMZ (so take with a hefty pinch of salt), Kanye West pulled out at the last minute after a dispute over the size of the festival’s stages.
“It’s not the boomers’ Coachella anymore”
The 2019 line-up sees Coachella – widely regarded as marking the beginning of the international festival season – continuing the youth-focused booking philosophy demonstrated by last year’s Beyoncé-headlined event, with music industry pundit Bob Lefsetz writing in his popular Lefsetz Letter column that the bill is “an extremely accurate picture of what’s happening in music today, when it’s less about gravitas than social media presence, when the album is secondary to the single – when it’s not about history but today.”
“It’s not the boomers’ Coachella anymore, nor the Gen-Xers,” he adds.
Coachella 2019 tickets are on sale tomorrow (Friday 4 January) from Coachella.com, with single-weekend general admission passes starting at US$429.
See the full line-up below:
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