By: Haley Bosselman By: Haley Bosselman | April 24, 2023 | Culture, Feature,
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival returned for weekend two from April 21 to 23, bringing a new lineup to the main stage, fresh special guests and more. Read on for the most memorable moments.
Kaytranada set the bar high during weekend one by sharing the stage with Aminé for the live debut of their new project, Kaytraminé. And although his counterpart did not make it back out to the desert, Kaytranada brought a whole new slate of special guests for weekend two. He eased into the second half of his set with an appearance from H.E.R. for “Intimidated,” which was followed by Tinashe coming out for “The Worst in Me.” Then, just before his final two songs, Kaytranada shared the stage with Anderson .Paak for “Twin Flame” and “Glowed Up.”
Labrinth brought the wow factor to weekend one when he brought out Billie Eilish, who headlined the festival last year, to perform their collab track “Never Felt So Alone.” Leveling up the surprise for weekend two, Labrinth—who scored Euphoria— welcomed Zendaya to the Mojave tent stage for her first live performance in seven years. The duo performed “I’m Tired” and “All For Us,” which were in season 2 of the HBO series.
There are endless reasons why Beyoncé’s Coachella performance will go down in music history as one of the best live performances of all time, but one to note is her expert selection of special guests (Destiny’s Child, J Balvin, sister Solange Knowles, etc.). For Friday’s set, it appears Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn took a note out of Queen Bey’s playbook with how many surprise artists joined him on stage.The 17-song set featured Bad Bunny, Thundercat, Beck, Yasiin Bey, Bootie Brown, Little Simz, Del the Funky Homosapien and De La Soul.
See also: Inside Coachella With Bella Thorne
The Weeknd surely seems to love Coachella. After headlining in 2018, he replaced Kanye West’s featured spot alongside Swedish House Mafia in 2022. The Canadian artist then returned again for the 2023 festival to help close out Metro Boomin’s set. For weekend two, The Weeknd kickstarted the set by appearing the second song in, making his way through six tracks, including “Faith,” “Heartless” and “Double Fantasy.” Metro Boomin was also joined by Future, Don Toliver and Offset.
After Frank Ocean dropped out of the festival due to a leg injury, Blink-182 was bumped up from the Sahara stage to the headlining spot for Sunday. The pop-punk trio whipped through an 18-song set full of nostalgic hits like “I Miss You” and “What’s My Age Again” and played “Stay Together For The Kids” and “Always” for the first time since 2018 and 2017, respectively.
In light of Frank Ocean stepping down from the festival, Coachella made up for it with a Sunday night blow out. After Blink-182 brought a much needed rock flair to the festival, Skrillex, Four Tet and Fred again… kept the party going and put dance music front and center for an hour and fifteen minutes.
Coachella may officially be over, but festival season is only beginning.
See also: Coachella 2023 Weekend One: Most Memorable Moments
Photography by: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images