The first weekend of Coachella 2024 delivered a string of unforgettable moments, celebrity sightings and onstage surprises.
While the festival may be notorious for its oversaturation of influencers, this year, so far, has been a who’s who of A-list stars. From Taylor Swift and Travis Scott to Justin and Hailey Bieber, Will Smith, Billie Eilish and Rihanna and more, a string of cameos only added to the festival’s broad appeal.
Tech difficulties, surprising lyric changes, fashionable flourishes and shout-outs also gave a bit of drama to the festivities. Here were some of the best moments from Coachella 2024’s opening weekend.
No Doubt reunited on stage
No Doubt delivered an unforgettable performance when they reunited on stage Saturday. The set marked the first time they had performed together since Coachella 2015.
The set list delivered all the band’s greatest hits: “Don’t Speak,” “It’s My Life,” “Just a Girl” and more. When they wrapped their final song, the band gave an emotional bow to a roaring crowd.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were the king and queen
Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce penciled time in their vacation to enjoy the festival on Sunday. The singer is currently on a two-month break from her massive Eras Tour, and was hand-in-hand — sometimes neck-in-neck — with Kelce as they watched performances by her friend and collaborator Jack Antonoff, Ice Spice, Dom Dolla, John Summit and more.
Fans captured videos of Swift and Kelce in the crowd dancing together. At one point during the Dom Dolla set, Kelce hoisted Swift above his shoulders for a better view of the crowd.
Grimes’s technical difficulties
Grimes didn’t have the night she expected on Saturday due to some technical issues. She stopped three times in the middle of her set to apologize, though the crowd continued to support her with cheers and encouragement.
“This s*** always f***ing happens,” she said in her first apology. “All my tracks are twice as fast so I’m not mixing very well, but I’m going to keep trying.”
Grimes stopped her set a second time to clarify that the problem was due to her preset mixes being unable to transition to the next song because of the festival’s equipment.
“This is very hard to explain because this is a complex technology,” she said to the audience, as seen in a since deleted video on Twitter. “But everything has been put to a double tempo so I’m doing a lot of internal math in my mind to make the tracks go together.” She later added: “It is my fault for handing in the last track about an hour and half ago, so I take responsibility for this.”
In a third apology, she acknowledged the tempo issues again, adding that “they’re kind of unfixable.”
“The rest of the mixes are going to be a bit crazy y’all,” she added.
The next day, Grimes apologized a fourth time in a post on X: “I want to apologize for the technical issues with the show tonight,” she wrote before vowing that next week’s Coachella performance will be “flawless.”
I want to apologize for the technical issues with the show tonight. I wanted to come back rly strong and usually I always handle every aspect of my show myself – to save time this was one of the first times I’ve outsourced essential things like rekordbox bpm’s and letting…
— 𝖦𝗋𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗌 ⏳ (@Grimezsz) April 14, 2024
Cameos, cameos, cameos!
Sunday night saw Will Smith join J Balvin on stage dressed in his famous suit from Men in Black. The actor performed his song of the same title from the hit 1997 film.
Later that day, Doja Cat brought out A$AP Rocky and 21 Savage during her set, while Paris Hilton made a surprise appearance during Vampire Weekend’s set on Friday. She later joined the band for a short game of cornhole.
On Friday night, Lana Del Rey invited Billie Eilish onstage where they performed two songs together: Eilish’s 2016 song “Ocean Eyes” and Del Rey’s hit “Video Games,” from her 2012 album Born to Die.
Meanwhile, Saturday saw Olivia Rodrigo appear on stage with No Doubt to sing “Bathwater” alongside Stefani. She walked out in a white tank top that read: “I [heart] ND.”
Star-studded crowds
Justin and Hailey Bieber were spotted sharing a sweet moment on Friday as they watched Lana Del Rey’s headlining performance. Jaden Smith joined the Bieber crew later on as well after giving Justin a friendly embrace.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky were also spotted together watching Tyler, the Creator perform on Saturday. Rocky later joined him on stage for a surprise performance during his set.
Charli D’Amelio turned up the heat on Sunday. The 19-year-old influencer went braless in a sheer white ensemble with a glimpse of black panties underneath. Shakira, Barry Keoghan, Halle Bailey, Emma Roberts among others showed up in their best festival fashion.
Meanwhile, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice had her picture taken with Taylor Swift. Giudice’s husband, Luis Ruelas, took the photo and shared it on Instagram.
Nelly Furtado’s fall
Nelly Furtado delivered a master class of professionalism when she brushed off a fall during a surprise appearance in Dom Dolla’s set.
In a video later posted to her Instagram Stories, the singer gave a bloody thumbs up and laughed off the injury.
“This Barbie likes to rave,” she said in the clip with the caption: “Literally left it all on the stage… including my blood 🩸⛑️. All for you @domdolla.”
Kesha calls out Diddy during Reneé Rapp’s set
On Sunday, Reneé Rapp was joined on stage by Kesha, who sang “Tik Tok” with altered lyrics. Instead of singing the original lines, “Wake up in the morning feelin’ like P. Diddy,” the duo sang: “Wake up in the morning like F*** P. Diddy!”
The lyric change arrives on the heels of sexual assault accusations against Diddy. Earlier this month, the feds raided two of Diddy’s homes as part of an ongoing sex trafficking case involving several alleged victims.
Last year, Kesha settled a case of her own with Dr. Luke, who she accused of sexually assaulting her in 2005.
