Coachella 2024 is upon us! Weekend 1 of the three-day music and art extravaganza goes down April 12 - 14 at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio (Weekend 1 is sold out; Weekend 2 tickets are still available). While nothing can quite replicate the (yes) magic of watching awesome artists under a desert sky with thousands of equally-stoked strangers, it’s not for everyone (or not an option for everyone). What is, however, is watching the fest’s live-stream on YouTube for the communal gathering that’s come to be known as Couchella.
As in past years, the fest will broadcast live from six of its stages. But this year, they’re kicking it up a notch with a new multiview experience that allows viewers to watch up to four sets at the same time while listening to the audio of their choice (that’s one up on those of us on the ground navigating conflicting set times.) It’ll also feature exclusive merchandise, behind-the-scenes content on Shorts, interviews, photos, and more. Get all the info here.
Cozy clothing? Check. Easy bathroom access? Check. Endless supply of affordable snacks and beverages? Check. (Almost) all of the same incredible performances? You betcha. So settle in with KCRW’s handy recommendation guide as you prepare to kick out the jams, Couchella style.
Friday
Chappell Roan
5:30 - 6:15 p.m.
Gobi
If you have an unhinged queer in your life (or maybe you are the unhinged queer) then you’ve probably heard of camp queen Chappell. Very apt given her name, her live sets are spiritual for sapphics. Chappell is a must-see for any pop-lovers or for a dance floor with no judgement. Expect sequins, rhinestones and glitter. We recommend wearing something pink and learning the HOTTOGO choreo! — Malorie McCall, Social Media Associate
Faye Webster
5:45 - 6:25 p.m.
Mojave
TikTok's unofficial queen, Faye Webster, steps out IRL to make her Coachella debut and showcase her signature sonic style — indie-roots-hip-hop-r&b, topped off with her observational words and endearingly offbeat twang. Revisit her recent live MBE set, where she had this to say about what's in store for the coming desert trip: "Almost everything [in the show] will be new." — Marion Hodges, Digital Producer
Deftones
6:45 - 7:35 p.m.
Outdoor
Post up for Cali’s homegrown post-metal heroes making their Coachella debut on its second-biggest stage. The fanbase has always been hardcore, but this year they’ll be playing to a new generation of heads thanks to some newfound virality on TikTok alongside the shoegaze resurgence. They don’t fit neatly into any one genre; expect a rapture all their own. Look forward to a set spanning the band’s three-plus decade career, and leaning heavily on 2000’s breakthrough masterpiece White Pony. — Andrea Domanick, Digital Editorial Manager
Brittany Howard
You know her. The singular vocalist and erstwhile Alabama Shakes frontwoman is back with a new album, What Now, and some deeply funky beats and grooves to accompany it. Come for the soul-bearing ballads you know and love, stay for the dance floor. — AD
Black Country, New Road
8:00 - 8:40 p.m.
Sonora
If you’ve been sleeping on the post-Brexit New Wave, let Black Country, New Road seize your attention. This art rock outfit has everything: Flute! Saxophone! Klezmer influences! Cacophonous post-rock breakdowns that turn on a dime into stirring harmonies! Inventive, thrilling, and vulnerable, hitch your wagon to this set for a journey into music’s uncharted frontiers. — AD
Clown C0re
9:05 - 9:55 p.m.
Sonora
This is two anonymous artists in clown masks playing avant-garde grindcore jazz electronica. Don’t ask too many questions, just watch it. — AD
Peso Pluma
Corridos tumbados at Coachella? We love to see it. YouTube’s most streamed artist of 2023, Peso Pluma, is set to play his first-ever set at the Coachella Stage! For those who missed his guest appearance during Becky G’s 2023 Coachella set, you do not want to miss the current “King of Corridos” taking over the desert.
One thing is for sure, our fingers are crossed for an appearance from Eslabon Armado during his performance of “Ella Baila Sola.” - Arielle Torrez, Social Media Manager
Justice
10:15 p.m.
Outdoor Stage
Fun fact: Justice doesn’t play live without their house crew of lighting and sound engineers. Their live show is a full-on event, less about spectacle than unleashing their music’s final form. And you’re gonna wanna witness this one: Hyperdrama — their fourth studio album and first in eight years — is due out Apr. 26, and they’ve been hard at work fusing the edges of Italo-disco, hardcore techno, and psychedelia (place your bets on a Tame Impala guest appearance) into a heavy alloy all their own. Welcome to stadium rock for the digital age. — AD
Get another fix when Justice stops by KCRW for a Guest DJ set live on Morning Becomes Eclectic on Wednesday, Apr. 17.
Lana Del Rey
You’ll be at Couchella, holdin’ the controller
Watching Lana play while in recline
If the FOMO’s hittin’, you can just stay chillin’
There are still Weekend 2 tix, you’ve got time.
— AD
Saturday
Young Fathers
3:10 - 3:50 p.m.
Gobi
Emerging from Scotland in the late-2000s (and eventually nabbing the Mercury Prize in 2014), Young Fathers instantly established themselves as a group wholly resistant to categorization. They combine dissonant guitars, oddly constructed hip-hop bars, misplaced gospel runs, and crunchy electronics all with the result of keeping listeners on edge. For their Coachella debut we expect a considerable focus on the songs of their 2023 LP Heavy Heavy, but if they dust off their sinister 2014 bop “Get Up,” let’s make a promise right here and now to do exactly that.
Feeling conflicted about scheduling here? We got you. Young Fathers return to MBE for a live performance on Tuesday, Apr. 16. — MH
The Aquabats
For the unacquainted, The Aquabats, as legend tells it, are a superhero collective formed in 1994 in Huntington Beach who sometimes moonlight as a rock band. This is one of those times. Grab a slice and buckle up. Bonus points for watching in a pool. — AD
Blur
7:40 - 8:40 p.m.
Coachella
… There’s no other way, you simply must watch the kings of Britpop as they make their smashing return to the Coachella mainstage post-2013 reunion set. P.S. Remember that time that Damon Albarn gave us roughly 20 minutes of ASMR about Icelandic vistas in Anne’s Backyard? — MH
No Doubt
9:25 - 10:40 p.m.
‘90s kids, assemble! OC pop-punk-ska legends No Doubt have joined forces for the first time in almost a decade to kick out the jams and let you rank ‘n’ skank to your heart's content — all from the comfort of your own home. — MH
Orbital
11:40 p.m.
Gobi
In recent years, Coachella has done a nice job of both giving context and paying homage to its success with electronic and dance music by booking some of the genres’ major progenitors (See: The Chemical Brothers, Underworld). This year, UK duo Orbital, who first played in 2001, are holding it down for the old-school heads. But this ain’t no nostalgia act — they’re still churning out new music. Look forward to a masterclass in what this raving in the desert business is all about. — AD
Gesaffelstein
10:40 p.m.
Outdoor
The French artist known as Gesaffelstein — the producer behind some of Kanye and The Weeknd’s biggest hits — makes high-contrast electronic music, stripping away fat and frills in favor of maximizing bass, drums, and simmering melodies. That ethos extends to his live set-up, which you’re gonna wanna see: Last time he played Coachella, he was dressed like a chrome Greek statue, flanked by a 30 ft. monolith coated in Vantablack, a substance that absorbs 99.96% of visible light. It’s incredibly disorienting and cool to look at; you’re never quite sure what it is that you’re seeing. With Gesy being the first artist to ever use it in a performance, we can only guess what he’s got in store for his return to the Outdoor stage, where he’ll be dropping cuts from his just-released, ultra-darkwave fourth album Gamma. — AD
Tyler the Creator
11:40 p.m.
Coachella
Hawthorne’s puckish prodigal son at last takes up his mantle. He’s pulling from a decade-plus of an ascendant, wide-ranging career at the nexus of some of SoCal’s most influential music scenes, so the possibilities — from the sounds to the art direction to the guests — are kind of endless. Odd Future reunion? FlyLo? Andre 3000?…Frank Ocean? Only one way to find out. — AD
Sunday
JJUUJJUU
When Phil Pirrone isn’t busy running Desert Daze, he’s busy making psychedelic sonic forays with a rotating ensemble of far-out musicians known as JJUUJJUU. Given that Pirrone founded Desert Daze as a side-party to Coachella more than a decade ago, him finally playing the fest is a wild full circle. More wild are the new tunes he’s been trickling out over the last year. As stalwarts of LA’s psych scene, it’s time for JJUUJUU to get some long-deserved shine. Let’s step into the light. — AD
Hermanos Gutiérrez
4:50 - 5:40 p.m.
Sonora
Hermanos Gutiérrez, the Ecuadorian-Swiss sibling duo of Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez, recently unleashed their instrumental Latin Western on the Dan Auerbach-produced El Bueno y El Malo (their eagerly anticipated follow-up Sonido Cósmico is due in June via Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound record label). The desert vibes are strong in each reverb-drenched, luxuriously layered note, permeating your ears like dry heat slowly rising through a cacti-crowded expanse. — MH
Reneé Rapp
5:05 - 5:55 p.m.
Outdoor
She said she always wanted to be a pop girlie and hey, maybe she’s really going to do it? The Broadway, film, and TV star is making her Coachella debut on the Outdoor stage, following the 2023 release of her album Snow Angel. Maybe you caught Rapp reprising her role as Regina George in the remake of the movie-then-musical-then-back-into-a-movie version of Mean Girls earlier this year, or you saw her jaw-dropping SNL performance of “Not My Fault” with Megan Thee Stallion. Even though we’re not driving to Indio, take a moment to appreciate Rapp’s roadside billboard before catching her Couchella set. — Danielle Chiriguayo, Digital News Producer
Lil Yachty
9:25 - 10:10 p.m.
Mojave
The “bubblegum trap” Soundcloud rapper dropped one of 2023’s most ambitious and engaging records in Let’s Start Here., a sprawling LP that found him steering into wild psychedelic impulses. We love the album so much around these parts that we named it as our sixth best of the year. This is a must-watch set, especially given the excellent odds that a collab with his childhood pal Faye Webster could be in the offing. — MH
Khruangbin
7:50 - 8:50 p.m.
Outdoor
Since you’re on KCRW dot com, it’s a safe bet you’re already familiar with Khruangbin. But just in case, let us make it quite clear: This is appointment watching, courtesy of one of the best live bands doing it right now. Whether you’re on your couch or in the crowd, join Houston’s premiere purveyors of funk-psych for a celestial voyage into tight rhythms and gravity-defying grooves. — AD
More: Khruangbin live on Morning Becomes Eclectic
Barry Can’t Swim
8:20 - 9:10 p.m.
Gobi
Barry can’t swim, but you’ll sure as heck be able to bounce to this much-anticipated set by the Scottish electronic producer and musician born Joshua Mainnie. His debut full-length When Will We Land? was plastered across 2023 year-end lists for its rich, sophisticated production that packs every measure with vibrance and momentum. With an emphasis on musicianship, Mainnie strikes the elusive balance of making dance tracks that feel at once inviting and eye- (and ear-) opening. Dive in. — AD
ATARASHII GAKKO!
9:40 p.m.
Gobi
Coachella has been tapping J-Pop for a few years now, but ATARASHII GAKKO! hits different. The four-girl power crew sources an alchemical blend of punk, hip-hop, jazz, rock, and pop to dole out a slightly unhinged, livewire energy that’ll guarantee your second wind, should you be in need. — AD
BICEP
10:40 p.m.
Mojave
Pump. Flex. Feel the burn. Get ready to sweat out your Sunday scaries with the Irish duo’s muscular, inventive approach to electronic music. Pulling from jungle, techno, house, and disco, the group is celebrating a new chapter with the launch of their ambitious CHROMA project. Part record label, part curated events, it features a brand new, ever-evolving DJ/AV show and fresh visual identity to accompany a sound they say covers everything from “Acid to Alkaline.” — AD
