After two years of waiting, more than 100,000 music fans and over 150 musicians flooded Indio and Palm Springs, Calif. for the first weekend of Coachella 2022.
The Coachella lineup is always stellar and eclectic, with opportunities to see massive pop stars and discover new favorites from across genres and the globe. While it's nearly impossible to see everyone you want at the event — which boasts eight stages spread across Empire Polo Club — you're guaranteed to see great sets with stunning visuals, often sprinkled with guest appearances, new music debuts and other surprises.
Read on to learn what went down in the desert during seven captivating non-headline sets. Don your desert fest best to catch them IRL during weekend two, or tune into the livestream for groovy vibes.
Chela ♥️ pic.twitter.com/0W7qZgvZnn
— Black Coffee (@RealBlackCoffee) April 16, 2022
Black Coffee Took Us Dancing Around The World
South African DJ/producer and 2022 Best Dance/Electronic Music Album GRAMMY winner Black Coffee is such a fun DJ to catch, because he always adapts his tunes for the vibe, setting and crowd. His pulsing grooves, grounded in Afro-house and deep house, are a consistent set feature.
After the sun had set, Black Coffee's sound and presence filled the Sahara stage, guiding the massive crowd to shake off their worries together. He opened his stellar set by flying us out to Ibiza, effortlessly mixing a joyful selection of dance classics like Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You," "Show Me Love" by Robin S, and Daft Punk's "Around The World." He turned up the joy with a touch of soulful pop, remixing Seal's "Crazy" and Lou Rawls' 1976 classic "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine."
City Girls Bring Miami Club On A Friday Energy
The Sahara tent was packed and vibing hard all Friday, and Miami rap duo City Girls kept the crowd at a fever pitch with an intoxicating set that overflowed with swag, energy and female empowerment.
Yung Miami and JT turned the typically-EDM-leaning stage into a Magic City strip club, with the DJ booth set up like a bar, an amazing crew of dancers, stripper poles, and dollar bills. The Girls rocked orange sequined looks with matching thigh-high boots, while their dancers matched their vibrancy in lime green bikinis. They performed all their booty shaking, party-ready hits, including "Twerk," "Do It," "Act Up" and Drake's "In My Feelings" — their standout feature on the track was a breakout moment for them in 2018.
If there was any doubt that City Girls had every "City On Lock," the crowd fully going off and shouting along to "Act Up" will set the record straight.
L'Impératrice Led A Funky French Disco Dance Party
On Saturday afternoon, Parisian six-piece L'Impératrice took the international-showcasing Gobi tent to the discothèque for an exuberant, funk-filled dance party. They opened things up in an adorable fashion, standing in a row while the plastic hearts attached to their chests glowed in sync to the sound of a heartbeat. Upping the cute factor, the band wore coordinating dark orange and brown earth tone Pierre Cardin outfits, with singer Flore Benguigui rocking a short pink bob and leading everyone in a bouncy dance party.
The crowd was packed and living for their upbeat French psych rock/dance pop. L'Impératrice delivered songs from throughout their discography, including 2021's Tako Tsubo, as well as an unrecorded instrumental jam. Before "Peur des filles" (scared of girls), Benguigui dedicated the song to “all the men afraid of their own femininity!”
Nilüfer Yanya Channeled '90s Alt-Rock Gods & Goddesses
Rising British alt-rock songstress Nilüfer Yanya may have been born in 1995, but her enchanting, emotive music sounds like it could've sat next to CDs from Kate Bush, Radiohead and Fiona Apple at your local Tower Records. In the dark haze of the indoor Sonora tent, she perfectly channeled the '90s aesthetic in a black tank dress, boots and gold hoops, her curly brown hair let loose, captivating the crowd with her warm voice.
With her electric guitar and backing band consisting of two women and one man, Yanya's gorgeous Saturday afternoon set included fan favorites from her 2022 album, PAINLESS, and her first two LPs. She closed with the soul piercing "In Your Head" from Miss Universe.
Flume Shared His Palace With All His Friends
GRAMMY-winning Australian dance producer Flume has worked with many talented vocalists over his decade-long career, and for his Saturday night mainstage set, he did his best to bring them all on stage with him.
He brought out Vince Staples and KUČKA (she came back out for "Hyperreal") for “Smoke & Retribution”; Tove Lo got sultry for “Say It” and MAY-A appeared for "Never Be Like You" and "Say Nothing"; Caroline Polachek made a cameo during “Sirens”; Flume closed his set with Beck for a rendition of "Tiny Cities."
Flume also debuted two new songs from his upcoming album, Palaces, and of course brought out the singers: Oklou helped him share "Highest Building,” and Laurel sang "I Can't Tell." The set was filled with extra flourishes of his breaky beats, which were enhanced by trippy, colorful visuals across the stage's massive screens, as Flume performed under a large archway that nodded to his new album title.
Caroline Polachek Transported Us To A Mystical Planet
Before ethereal queen Caroline Polacheck joined Flume's set, she took the Gobi stage to another planet, looking like a goth fairy in a black leotard with a flowing tulle tail and sounding like an angel.
With plenty of dramatic poses, Polacheck took the crowd into the emotions of "Pang," Door, "You're So Hot It's Hurting My Feelings" and "Hit Me Where It Hurts" from her 2019 album, Pang, along with newer singles, "Bunny Is A Rider" and "Billions." She also debuted her predicted "future hit": "Sunset," a gorgeous number featuring her exquisite ooohs, Spanish guitar and flamenco handclaps. She also performed an enchanting cover of Shania Twain's "Breathless," which Polacheck originally recorded in 2020.
Megan Thee Stallion Ran Things & Debuted A New Song
GRAMMY-winning Houston rap queen Megan Thee Stallion brought total hot girl energy to the main stage Saturday night. She also stunned in two different looks: First, a silver space-age getup, then a figure skating-esque rainbow-sequined number, with her dancers also changing to coordinate.
With her and her dancers going hard, Megan Thee Stallion performed all her hits, including "WAP," "Girls in the Hood," "Savage," "Thot Sh*t," "Cry Baby" and her new Dua Lipa collab, "Sweetest Pie." She also debuted a new track for "whom the f*** it may concern," and dedicated "Cash Sh*t" "to all the hotties that been with me since day one."
As the full moon shined above, she closed with "Hot Girl Summer," leaving the crowd ready for the seasons to change and wanting more of Megan's heat.
