News: Coachella’s First Weekend Chock Full of Guest Stars
The festival season kicked off last weekend in Indio, Calif., and anticipation was as high as ever for one of the largest music events in the world.
Anticipation for Outkast’s return had been growing for months, and their headlining spot on the first night divided fans. Questionable guests (three songs with Future) and a seemingly disinterested Andre 3000 let some fans down, but it remained the first of 40 shows for Outkast this summer, so plenty of time remains for the duo to rid themselves of rust.
Saturday may have been the strongest of the three days at the festival, with surprise appearances all around the desert. Nas brought out former arch rival Jay Z (take a moment to revisit “Takeover” and “Ether” and it will make sense why this is still so surprising), while Pharrell’s set featured a revolving door of A-list stars. His set boasted hits mostly from his recent takeover of the music industry, but Skateboard P is not going to let you forget that his influence on pop music is not a new phenomenon—“Hot in Herre” with Nelly, “Pass the Courvoisier” with Busta Rhymes and Puffy, “Drop it Like it’s Hot,” “Beautiful” with Snoop Dogg, and “Hollaback Girl” with Gwen Stefani all served to remind us that Pharrell is nothing short of legendary.
Arcade Fire closed out weekend one of two. Definitely the biggest indie rock band in world, and possibly the biggest band period, Arcade Fire has a deceptively large number of songs that easily fill up the wasteland that is the desert of Indio. Debbie Harry also graced the crowd with her presence to help the band out with their cover of “Heart of Glass.”
Coachella continues next weekend, let us relive it all again…through our computer screens.
--Sam Kayuha, Contributor
