The Valley of Music and Arts: Coachella
Music lovers all around the world have been waiting for the weekend of April 13-15 and 20-23, one of the biggest music festivals of all the time, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The festival is not only known for it’s legendary headliners or wide range of music genres, but also for cultural transmission, art, fashion and it’s own aesthetic. It wouldn’t be wrong to describe Coachella as a way of living.
History of the Coachella:
The name of the festival comes from the City of Coachella (California), where the festival takes place. In Spanish, it means “Land of the Little Shells”, which refers to little shells found all over the area. The first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held in October of 1999, co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick van Santen. From that day to 2018, the festival was hosted every April – except for 2000, it was cancelled due to an oversaturation of music festivals in Southern California.
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As Coachella contiuned to grow, the numbers of artist that took place in the festival and the number of genres being played also grow. But if we take a look at the artists performed since 1999, we can see that electronic music dominated the festival at the early years. After the festival was recognized by more people Coachella took a new turn about the prefered music genre, especially after 2011 indie and dance/house music was mostly played by 77 artists in total. In general, the festival mostly stars indie, house and electronic music artists, introducing the audience with new music, which backs up the idea of the festival being a whole different life style.
Through the long journey of 19 years, Coachella had so many legendary headliners such as Oasis, Björk, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Radiohead, The Cure, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Rage Against the Machine, Roger Waters, Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, Weezer, Jay-Z, Muse, The Strokes, Blur, AC/DC, Jack White, Guns N’ Roses and the list goes on and on, making it a heaven for music lovers. Not to mention alternative/indie bands such as Foals, 1975, alt-J, Vampire Weekend, Artic Monkeys or successful house/dance artists such as MGMT, Broods, Daft Punk, The Chainsmokers, Zedd took place on the festival.
Lana Del Rey performing at Coachella,2014
Coachella may not always been in the limelight, but we can’t deny that it’s a huge success for music. And once again, it didn’t let down it’s audience. Coachella 2018 stormed the whole world, from social media to music industry. Even taking a look at the lineup is enough to guess the effect it had on the participants. Take a look for yourself!
Highlights of Coachella 2018:
The Queen of the Valley: Beyonce:
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As you all expected, Beyonce was the one crowd was waiting for with enthusiasm, and also as you expected she didn’t let her fans down with her unbelievable stage energy. Everything she did was flawless –we’re not surprised a bit- from her dancing to her vocals to the way she communicated with her fans. Queen B even performed ‘Crazy In Love’ with her husband Jay-Z, making the crowd go wilder, if that was possible. And if you think these were all Beyonce got planned for audience, you are wrong. She was later joined on stage by Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, making a return of Destiny’s Child. It’s the first time the trio performed together since 2015. It’s safe to say that Beyonce outdid herself with her performance on 21st of April.
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The Walmart Yodel Boy Meeting Justin Bieber:
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Walmart Yodel Boy aka Mason Ramsey became a sensation after his video of singing in the supermarket has gone viral. Even though the 11 year old boy had hard times being bullied because of his video, he was invited to Ellen DeGeneeres Show, and then he was even invited to Coachella, to perform! A shout out to the bullies, Mason definitely got the last laugh by performing at one of the most important music festivals and meeting with Justin Bieber, his favourite singer!
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Ambassadors of Indie Rock: The Neighbourhood:
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The Neighbourhood performed during the first day of Coachella, on April 13. The band has a huge audience all over the world, and they’re one of the most famous indie groups nowadays. They draw attention with cool lyrics, atmospheric melodies and dark indie aesthetic. They were the perfect choice to perform on Coachella since they harmonise perfectly with festival’s vibe. Not to mention the audience loved their stage performance, singing along to their big hits such as ‘Daddy Issues’ or ‘Prey’.
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Unstoppable: Cardi B:
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Yes, she was pregnant, but that didn’t stop her from giving all of her energy to her performance! She left the crowd in flames with her visuals, dancers, stage prop and unstoppable energy. Her 30 minute performance was filled with special guests: 21 Savage, YG, G-Eazy, Chance the Rapper and Kehlani. She performed hit songs from her album ‘Invasion of Privacy’ and the crowd didn’t leave her alone when she was doing so. It’s undeniable that Cardi B knows how to hype up the audience.
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Jamiroquai’s Comeback:
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A lot of young people were confused when they saw the name of the British electro-funk collective, since they only recognized frontman Jay Kay as ‘the mad-hatter’, because of his trademark unique hats. Jamiroquai knocked the crowd off their feet, just like they did in the mid ‘90s. The show was really impressive and kept the crowd dancing into the early morning, even after the mainstage crowd exited. It was their first concert in America since 2005, and Jay Kay apologised saying “Sorry it took so long.” Another highlight of the show was Snoop Dogg joining the band for performing ‘Gin and Juice’.
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Young & Talented : Declan McKenna:
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McKenna is only 19 years old, but that doesn’t stop him from being one of the most important artists music industry gained over a few years. His unique voice and open minded lyrics attracted music lovers all over the world, especially the ones looking for new indie music. It’s a huge success for him to take stage at a very important festival at such a young age and he deserved every minute of it. We hope to see more of him in the upcoming years.
Article by: Naz Kalemci