Coachella 2024 weekend two, day two round-up: Redemption arcs and the end of Blur
The second weekend of Coachella is well underway. Friday saw a standout second round from Lana Del Rey, movie moments from Sabrina Carpenter and an expansive crowd for Chappell Roan. As temperatures got higher and higher, Saturday had the tough task of trying to ensure the vibes did the same.
Weekend two is proving to be a scorcher. Temperatures on Saturday hit 94 degrees Fahrenheit, leaving the festival desperately trying to keep everyone safe and happy. Hydration stations were set up to hand out chilled lemonade to festivalgoers. I also can’t imagine anything better in the heat than someone spraying me with cold mist.
It seems like the tech issues that plagued weekend one of the festivals have all been ironed out. The audience issues feel improved, too, as the crowds on the livestream look more engaged. This is likely thanks to the clearing out of the celebrities and the influencers who flock to weekend one but don’t tend to make the second trip down. Letting the place be busier and more concentrated with actual music fans, the artists seem relieved.
For day two of weekend two, the same stellar lineup returned for a second go around. No Doubt, Tyler The Creator, Jungle and Ice Spice were the big acts of the day. However, the day has been coloured by redemption. After flopping or failing last weekend, Blur and Grimes were on a mission to make up for weak weekend one set.
From health and safety hazards to solid gold shows, here are the highlights, lowlights and everything in between from weekend two, day two at Coachella.
Blur’s final curtain
Last weekend, Blur made the news after their limp performance. “It’s a weird one, Coachella, when it comes to audience. It’s hard to know,” Albarn said before their first show, claiming that the crowd are “on their own planet.” Whether he proved prophetic or whether his pessimism translated to his crowd, their weekend one set was met with a still crowd that refused to engage. In the end, Blur hit out, “You’re never seeing us again.” That threat would have had legs if they didn’t have to return the next weekend.
So tensions were high at the band’s second go around. I can’t say that the quality of the set was any better, with the band still refusing to play mega hits like ‘Parklife’ or ‘Country House’, which seems like a strange and isolating move for casual festival fans. However, he did manage to get the singalong that he was refused at weekend one as the crowd seemed to get more involved.
But it still clearly wasn’t enough to keep the band going. “This is probably our last gig,” Albarn said with no further clarification. Whether that simply means the end of this era and specific comeback, or the actual and final end of Blur – only time will tell.
Raye celebrates 4/20
As weekend two, day two, fell on the well-known date of 4/20, Raye was feeling festive. As her second on the Mojave stage got underway at 4:10pm, she timed her set list to perfection. Right as the clock hit 4:20pm, she started up her track, ‘Mary Jane’.
The entirety of Raye’s set proved to be a highlight, with a bustling, busy crowd packing out the tent. As she performed hits like ‘Escapism’ and ‘Prada’, she wasn’t shy about proving the skill and versatility in her voice, performing some incredible vocal acrobatics.
No Doubt break the risk assessment
Watching No Doubt’s performance, you could feel the health and safety co-ordinator sweating. Towards the end of their career-spanning setlist, as Gwen Stefani proved she still has pop-punk power, they played their mega-hit ‘I’m Just A Girl’. Naturally, the crowd went wild for the track. At one point, Stefani interrupted the track for a bit of crowd participation from the huge late-night audience. She directed the men in the crowd to sing, “I’m just a girl”. Then, when it came to hearing the girls sing it, she decided she wanted a better view.
As Stefani scaled the scaffolding on the side of the stage, the risk assessment of the event was on rocky territory. But luckily, there were no slips or falls. Instead, the crowd screamed their part and the set roared on as a success.
Grimes’ redemption arc
Grimes was another artist with something to prove after a disastrous first weekend. To explain in short, her set last time out was a mess. Something happened with her hard drive of tracks that was clearly prepared by someone else, as she was then faced with music that was out of sync and in different BPMs, forcing her to try and remix everything in the moment. There was a lot of screaming involved, but from the artist, not the crowd.
But for weekend two, she promised it was all under control. “Whose ready for Coachella weekend 2?” she wrote online. “I will cap the disarray at a maximum ten seconds per song – idk if there’s ever been a more rehearsed or fine tuned grimes set.”
In a typically silly Grimes fashion, she kicked off her set with a good dose of self-deprecating humour as she played breaking news-style clips of her earlier disaster. But as her set got underway, she followed through on the promise that her redemption performance would be “flawless.”
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