Coachella is the epitome of cool. It’s the top destination for band reunions, unexpected celebrity appearances and the big weekend for festival fashion. Where else would you expect to see Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dancing along to Dom Dolla, Blur failing to start a sing-along of the once-popular song Girls & Boys, or Paris Hilton playing cornhole on stage with Vampire Weekend?
Live Streaming concerts are not the same as actually being there in front of the stage. However, when it comes to large pop and alternative music festivals like Coachella, I will gladly take the comfort of my house over the massive crowds and the heat of the desert in California. My top picks of the weekend were The Adicts, No Doubt, Reneé Rapp and Boy Harsher.
The Adicts
One of the most unexpected announcements for the festival was that the 70s punk band from the UK, The Adicts, was going to be one of the openers on Saturday afternoon. Luckily, they were able to fit right into Saturday’s lineup after another niche punk band, The Aquabats. This small setting of the air-conditioned Sonora stage allowed the band to play an intimate punk show in the secluded area. The band came out on stage in their traditional droog style – white dress shirts and bowler hats – to the sound of the theme song from A Clockwork Orange. Monkey, the lead singer, stood out from the rest in a black and white argyle suit and his usual clown makeup. To keep up with the joker act, Monkey threw out playing cards during the song “Joker in the Pack.” There was an active circle pit throughout the whole show, as the band kept playing hit after hit after hit. This little punk community that came to Coachella looked like they were having a blast in the Senora tent at the end of this show.
No Doubt
This ska pop punk band’s reunion was one of the most anticipated reunions to come out of Coachella in recent years. No Doubt started their energetic headliner show with “Hella Good” on the B stage and parted the crowd. To allow them to get back onto the main stage A, throwback video footage was shown on stage that introduced the band. Gwen Stefani didn’t miss a beat, as she put her all into every booming note she sang. Even though the oldest songs they performed were from their 1995 album Tragic Kingdom, they still matched the energy of their No Doubt shows in the nineties. Olivia Rodrigo came out on stage to sing “Bathwater.” Her young and youthful attitude and style seamlessly fit right in with Stefani and the rest of the band. The whole band just seemed so refreshed and happy to be on stage together. The love within the band and their love for ska pop punk could be seen as they were all dancing along, grooving with the bass lines, the fast upstrokes of the guitar and the melodic brass melodies.
Reneé Rapp
Reneé Rapp was introduced by the cast of The L Word, which is iconic since The L Word was one of the first shows to depict lesbian and bisexual relationships on television, even though some of the scenes are problematic and dated. The 24-year-old singer then proceeded to perform powerful performances of her pop and R&B-saturated hits such as “Talk Too Much,” “I Hate Boston” and “Snow Angel.” In the middle of the set, before performing the hit “Pretty Girls,” Kesha graced the stage to deliver to the audience a revamped version of “TiK ToK,” which involved dissing P. Diddy and switching out the male terms with female ones to make it more LGBT+ friendly and better represent Rapp. The musician Towa Bird, Rapp’s current partner, also accompanied Rapp on stage for “Tummy Hurts.” The cute couple shared a moment that involved them both singing the song after Bird’s striking guitar solo. I do not doubt that Reneé Rapp will become even more popular than she is now with her immaculate and impressive vocal range and her confident aura on stage.
Boy Harsher
Boy Harsher was one of the headliners for the smaller stages on Sunday night. The electronic post-punk duo from Georgia filled the Senora tent with heavy synthesizer beats and neon lights that matched the ambiance and fast-paced music. Jae Matthews’s smooth evocative voice simultaneously clashed and melted with the music that was being performed by Augustus Muller, which made Boy Harsher’s songs captivating.
