Back in the California desert after a two-year break owing to the coronavirus, Coachella returned with a vengeance and the likes of Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Doja Cat and Fatboy Slim hitting stages on two weekends in April.
On weekend one, Damon Albarn joined Billie Eilish onstage, and Justin Bieber put in a surprise appearance to sing Peaches with Daniel Caesar. Weekend two, April 22 to 24, had to dig deep to come up with moments for the festival history books and it didn’t disappoint.
Here are some of highlights from the second weekend …
Harry Styles and Lizzo go disco
Headliner Harry Styles made the news from the first weekend of the festival when his girlfriend Olivia Wilde was seen dancing backstage during his set. For the second weekend, Styles called his friend Lizzo to join him onstage, and the pair treated the crowd to some classic disco and a One Direction hit.
The Juice singer and Styles performed Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 hit I Will Survive, following up with the One Direction song, What Makes You Beautiful, with the crowd singing along to every word.
Styles also showed his support for Ukraine, with his stage set lit up in the blue and yellow of the nation’s flag.
Billie Eilish duets with Paramore’s Hayley Williams
She might have been on the music scene since 2004, but Paramore’s Hayley Williams couldn’t hide her excitement when headline act Billie Eilish brought her onstage.
“Wow … my first Coachella,” Williams said.
She joined Eilish and her singer-producer brother Finneas to perform an acoustic version of the Paramore track Misery Business. The band stopped performing the song in 2018 after deciding the story it told, about two women competing for a man’s affections, felt anti-feminist and against their ethos.
Williams later returned to the stage for a duet with Eilish on her hit Happier Than Ever.
Kendrick Lamar joins cousin Baby Keem onstage
Kendrick Lamar was featured on Baby Keem’s Grammy-winning track Family Ties, so it was fitting that he would join his cousin onstage to perform the hit at Coachella.
The pair then sang Keem’s Vent from his 2021 album The Melodic Blue.
Big Sean and Mike Posner throw it back
Nostalgia was big at this year’s festival, a vibe rapper Big Sean fully embraced by inviting long-time friend Mike Posner onstage.
The Pull Up n Wreck singer invited Posner to perform his 2010 hit Cooler Than Me, a track Big Sean had appeared on for one of the earlier remixes.
“I was in the basement writing songs with Mike Posner,” Big Sean told the crowd of the pair's teenage friendship. “Y’all don't know. We were in Mike Posner's mum's basement writing, If I Could Write You a Song to Make You Fall in Love.”
Crowd singalong to ‘Call Me Maybe’
The Coachella crowd knew every word to Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe, a festival highlight.
Fans were chanting “Carly! Carly!” before the Canadian singer set foot on the stage to deliver some of her tunes, including Run Away With Me, Emotion, and I Really Like You.
But it was her 2012 viral smash, Call Me Maybe, which provided the ultimate burst of pop sunshine from the singer, who last graced the Coachella stage in 2018.
Snoop Dogg (virtually) joins Anitta
Brazilian pop star Anitta, 29, proved a huge hit with fans during the second weekend of the festival.
The singer, who has worked with everyone from J Balvin and Iggy Azalea to Black Eyed Peas and Madonna, belted out her hit Me Gusta, and welcomed Saweetie onstage to join her for Faking Love.
The virtual appearance of rap legend Snoop Dogg on giant screens to introduce the South American star set the scene for Anitta's performance on a stage decked out like the favelas the she grew up in.
