After New Years, one thing I always look forward to is the Coachella lineup every year. The whole first week everyone is on their toes figuring out when they will release the lineup. Coachella officially released their lineup yesterday and when I first saw it, I was iffy about it to be completely honest. I was confident about the rumored headliners that were suggested in the article posted by "Consequence of Sound." This marks the first time the festival will not have a rock headliner. Because of this, I believe the festival will go to the Top 40 demographic since that is the majority of the festival's crowd. It i starting to become more about "likes" rather than the music.
I miss when Coachella had more rare acts or the classic rock bands that normally do not tour (AC/DC, Guns N Roses, etc.) While I do not listen to that kind of music mostly, it was still cool to think that I could catch a few minutes of a classic rock band and not pay to see them separately. I think once the festival became a two weekend thing is when it started to lose the indie feel to it.
Enough of my rant sorry haha, here is my breakdown of headliners, the undercard, acts that were missed and acts that I completely surprised me.
Headliners: I enjoy The Weeknd's music, but he has played the music fest a couple of times and I thought it would have been better to have someone new to play but that is just me. If he comes out with new music by Coachella, I will probably check out his set. If I knew then what I know now, I would not have spent the pretty penny I did to see him last year.
I am ALL IN FOR BEYONCE. Beyonce i actually one of the reasons why I snagged a pass during presale. As mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, I am a proud member of the beyhive haha. She is going to SLAY that stage and her performance will go down as one of the bet Coachella has ever seen. MARK MY WORDS. I do have a feeling a Destiny's Child reunion will happen weekend 1. It does not matter to me if she drops an album or single before, I am there front and center.
Eminem...ehh. I am a fan of his older stuff, but not his latest album. I think it is the timing. Had he headlined back when Recovery or MMLP2 came out, I would have been all in. I hope he pulls a Lady Gaga and dive a little into his new album, but not a whole lot. I do think he will being out a crap ton of guests, possibly Dr. Dre, and maybeeee a D12 reunion and a performance of "My Band" (Wishful thinking). I, still to this day, regret selling my pass to the Epicenter festival in 2010 where he headlined.
Undercard: The undercard (artists below the headliner haha) I am satisfied with. I was not shocked at all due to me constantly checking the coachella forums and subreddits. I was stoked to see St. Vincent, SZA, The War on Drugs, ODESZA, Tyler, The Creator, Vince Staples and many others, but what got to me was the billing of the artists.
I was stunned to see Cardi B, SZA and Post Malone billed so high on the poster. Cardi B has some hits and SZA had a great album, but I was expecting to be third line at most. Usually artists on the second line have a bigger discography under their belt like in previous years (Bon Iver, The XX, Lorde, etc.) That comes into play into one of the artists I think that were missed and thought would end up on the poster.
Missed Acts: I for sure thought N*E*R*D would be on the lineup this year. The fit the Coachella realm perfectly and I wouldn't have mind jamming out to "Lemon" with a guest appearance from Bad Gal Ri Ri.
I also thought Carly Rae Jepsen would've been on the lineup as well. Many people in the forums wanted her and I think she would be great on the polo fields. Emotion was pop perfection and would have translated well at Coachella.
I also thought FKJ would have been on the lineup. While he did a set last year I believe at the Do-Lab, I would have loved to have seen them on the poster.
Surprises: I was surprised to see the lack of EDM and rock acts. Compared to last year, there were a lot more EDM artists like DJ Snake, Martin Garrix and Porter Robinson and Madeon. With rock, last year had Car Seat Headrest, Radiohead and DREAMCAR.
This year has a lot of techno music including The Black Madonna, Motor City Drum Ensemble and HITO, which is a good surprise haha
Overall, the lineup is pretty sold and well diversed. As I dig more into the lineup, I like it more and more. It is enough for me to go but I think after next year (Coachella's 20th Anniversary year) I will move on to another festival. Maybe FYF, Day for Night or in another country haha.