Closing out the opening night of the 2024 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. on April 12, headliner Lana Del Rey was joined by a trio of surprise guests: Billie Eilish, Jon Batiste and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff. All three cameo performers arrived in quick succession toward the end of Del Rey's set, which was simultaneously elaborate and meandering, blotted with a few miscues and technical snafus, but beguilingly dreamlike and meditatively-structured -- a welcome change of pace from the sweaty, hyper-synchronized spectacles that have come to dominate Coachella in recent years.
Eilish -- a Coachella headliner in 2019 -- was the most unexpected of the night's surprise guests, as the two traded duets on each others' respective breakthrough songs: Eilish's "Ocean Eyes" and Del Rey's "Video Games." Afterward, Del Rey hailed Eilish as "the voice of our generation," while Eilish addressed the crowd and offered a blunter assessment of the headliner: "(She) is the reason for half of you b---hes' existence. Including mine."
Billie Eilish joined Del Rey for duets of 'Video Games' and 'Ocean Eyes.'
Batiste played a grand piano with Del Rey atop for a loose rendition of their collaboration "Candy Necklace," which appeared on Del Rey's Grammy-nominated 2023 album Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd -- the two vamped on an extended outro, and Del Rey made an unexpected sojourn to one of the onstage stripper poles during an instrumental break. Afterward, Antonoff played piano next to a holographic projection of Del Rey for a run through the pair's "Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have -- But I Have It." (This was the first use of hologram technology at Coachella since Tupac Shakur's infamous posthumous "performance" alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre at the festival more than a decade ago.)
Entering and exiting the stage via motorcycle, Del Rey drifted languidly around the stage throughout her set, which featured highlights from throughout her career, including "West Coast," "Young and Beautiful," "Ride" and a shortened "A&W." While the set offered no sneak previews of her upcoming country album, Lasso, she did revisit her cover of Sublime's "Doin' Time" for the first time in five years, in what will presumably be the the first of two versions of the song performed at this year's festival. (The SoCal ska legends will be playing at Coachella tomorrow, featuring Jakob Nowell, son of late frontman Bradley Nowell, on guitar and vocals.)
Jon Batiste performed an extended 'Candy Necklace' with Del Rey on Friday night.
Friday's other headline performers included breakout Mexican star Peso Pluma, artsy nu metal heroes Deftones, rapper Lil Uzi Vert, French dance duo Justice and rising DJ phenom Peggy Gou. Colombian producer Bizarrap notched perhaps the day's biggest surprise when he was joined by countrywoman Shakira for a run through their 2023 hit "BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 53," with Shakira taking the opportunity to announce a 2024 world tour from the stage. (Her appearance was especially surprising considering that, per a Hits Daily Double report from January, Shakira's reps had aggressively lobbied to get the star a headlining slot at Coachella this year, only for the festival to turn her down.)
Blur is scheduled to take the Coachella stage tomorrow evening.
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Tomorrow's headliner will be Tyler, the Creator, with sets from Blur, Batiste, Ice Spice and the recently reformed No Doubt also on tap. Sunday will see performances from J Balvin, Renee Rapp and Victoria Monet, with Doja Cat bringing the first weekend to a close.
