Coachella 2023 Day 2 round-up: Boygenius and Jai Paul shine
Deep in the heart of the Colorado Desert, festival-goers are enjoying three days of live music and DJs at the annual Coachella Festival. Since its inception in 1999, the iconic American event has welcomed some of contemporary music’s biggest stars, from Daft Punk to Amy Winehouse and Kanye West.
Coachella kicked off on Friday (April 14th) with performances from Blondie, a reunited Blink-182, Wet Leg, and Gorillaz, with the latter joined by guests such as Thundercat and Slowthai. There were also appearances from the underrated genius Yves Tumor, floor-fillers The Chemical Brothers, and indie pop act MUNA, who were joined by Boygenius. The night ended with an energetic headline set by rapper Bad Bunny.
However, yesterday (April 15th), festival-goers (and those watching from home) were treated to another glorious line-up of artists, ranging from ’90s icons The Breeders and Underworld to current indie and pop heroes Charli XCX and Ethel Cain.
Snail Mail delivered a cheerful afternoon set of indie rock tunes on the Mojave Stage before Swedish rapper Yung Lean changed the tone with his following set. Over on the Sonora stage, rising star Ethel Cain, who has recently built up a dedicated fanbase since releasing her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, gave an incredible performance.
There were plenty of other showstopping performances throughout the day.
Charli XCX hypes up the crowd with a late afternoon set:
Shortly after, Charli XCX took to the Coachella Stage to perform an electric performance of pop hits, spanning her early tunes like ‘I Love It’ to the fan-favourite ‘Vroom Vroom’ and recent release ‘Welcome to My Island’. Complete with backup dancers, Charli performed with her usual enthusiasm, even incorporating the Macarena into one of her routines.
For her performance of ‘1999’, she ibrought out collaborator Troye Sivan as they lyrically reflected on ’90s pop culture nostalgia, much to the delight of fans. She ended her set with her Tik-Tok famous tracks ‘Unlock It’ and ‘Good Ones’.
Boygenius demonstrate their talents:
Later in the evening, the indie supergroup Boygenius, comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, performed a 13-song setlist. The band have recently released their critically acclaimed debut studio album, The Record, following a 2018 EP. For many fans in the crowd, this was their first chance to see Boygenius, and their performance seemed to go down a treat.
Wearing matching suits, they performed fan-favourites such as ‘Me and My Dog’ as well as newer tracks like ‘Emily I’m Sorry’ and ‘Not Strong Enough’.
’90s heroes The Breeders deliver:
On the Sonora stage, ex-Pixies bassist turned The Breeders frontwoman Kim Deal treated fans to a healthy dose of ’90s nostalgia with hits such as ‘No Aloha’, ‘Doe’ and ‘Cannonball’. However, the band found time to slip in a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’. They even ended the set with a rendition of the iconic Pixies track ‘Gigantic’.
Later in the night, British electronic outfit Underworld, known for their club classic ‘Born Slippy NUXX’ performed an intense set that allowed festival-goers to dance the night away.
Labrinth brings out Billie Eilish:
After a successful career in the United Kingdom, which included collaborations with rapper Tinie Tempah on classic British 2010s hits such as ‘Pass Out’, Labrinth broke into America after he worked on the Euphoria soundtrack. He bagged a late-night set on the Mojave Stage, where he performed his old classics like ‘Earthquake’ and ‘Beneath Your Beautiful’ alongside tracks from Euphoria like ‘Mount Everest’.
Yet the biggest surprise came when he brought out alternative pop icon Billie Eilish to duet ‘I’ve Never Felt So Alone’, welcoming the crazed screams of fans.
Jai Paul performs his first-ever gig:
You’d expect an artist to tell you they performed their first-ever gig in a dingy pub or small venue – not at Coachella. But Jai Paul, the influential underground British artist and producer, made his live debut on the Mojave Stage, shortly before Underworld and Labrinth.
He performed his popular track ‘BTSTU’, which has been sampled by Drake and Beyonce. He also played other songs such as ‘He’ and ‘100,000’, ending the 11-song setlist with ‘Str8 Outta Mumbai’.
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