What Makes A Great Coachella Performance?

Six Essential Skills For An Artist To Create A Timeless Show At Coachella

Coachella is America’s Glastonbury. Stemming from the desert land of Indio, California, the West Coast festival welcomes musicians and audiences worldwide to celebrate music. For six days spread over two weekends, many music lovers come to enjoy some of their favorite artists. From small growing bands to cultural mainstays, Coachella offers the opportunity for artists to showcase their skills and songs for huge crowds in person and now more online.

The big pull for the shows each other, however, like more festivals, are the headliners. These musicians can and should represent the previous year of music at the highest level. Their music should speak to the culture and genre they represent and the millions of fans they’ve amounted to in that time. The pressure is high, but the best pull through and meet the moment.

In this piece, I want to spotlight the most incredible Coachella performances. Not just that, I want to outline the exact skills necessary to execute an outstanding and historic Coachella performance. I’ve developed six qualities that make up a one-of-a-kind Coachella performance. For each quality, I’ll describe the following for each skill:

1. Why the skill is essential to a timeless Coachella performance.
2. A historic example of an artist using the skillset during their Coachella set.

Impeccable Stage Presence

Why The Skill Is Essential

For each artist who comes to Coachella, the stage is the embodiment of their sonic world. Musicians will use the stage to recreate the theme of their album or decorate with identifiable pieces of their brand. Regarding the top-tier musicians who headline the show, the stage looks like a Broadway play production with apparent high budgets and little room for error.

If done correctly, an impeccable stage presence will elevate the artist’s songs, better entertain audiences, and get them immersed in the music they came to see.

Example

Take Ye’s (FKA Kanye West) legendary 2011 headlining performance, for example. The stage featured ballerina dancers, pastel colors, and Ye in an exquisitely oversized gold chain, similar to his Beautiful Dark Twisted fantasy film and album that came out the year prior. He used different stage lifters for his guests and hid his dancers under cloth to maximize the capabilities of his limited space.

The performance looked and felt more like a theater-based performance than a typical hip-hop festival show. Still, at the center of it was Ye’s massive personality and the songs that made him a household name. No more than 10 minutes into his show, audience members realized they were witnessing an historic performance from one of the greatest artists of their time.

Evolved Versions Of Their Songs On Stage

Why The Skill Is Essential

If audience members wanted to hear a song exactly how it sounded on the album, they wouldn’t be at a festival. Instead, they would be at home listening to the music on their phones or laptops. Fans come to festivals to experience the music live, celebrate with people around them, and enjoy the new in-person iterations of the songs they love.

Great artists know this and respond accordingly. Whether it’s an extended introduction or an unpredictable production shift, artists are ready to surprise and impress listeners when they step on that Coachella stage. Most of the time, in the EDM community, DJs are prepared to change the mood, the crowd, and the tone of the night with one set.

And what DJs were better at Coachella in 2006 than Daft Punk?

Example

In the Sahara tent, the expectations were high for Daft Punk. Coming off of the lukewarm response to their project Human After All and performing for the first time in nearly ten years, the French duo had much to prove. Despite the recent underwhelming music, their music discography and enigmatic persona attracted screaming and excited crowds to the tent.

While the tent could traditionally only hold 10,000 people, over 40,000 people stormed into the tent for the highly anticipated show. The rare footage from the venue demonstrated the peak festival hysteria and positive energy exuding from the tent into the rest of the grounds.

Then Daft Punk arrived.

Ultimately, Daft Punk brought their music to new heights thanks to their live updates to the drums and the smooth transition between tracks not featured on the album. For instance, the timeless and remarkable transition between and fusion of “One More Time” and “Aerodynamic” drove the crowd up the wall and allowed them to bounce and dance for several more minutes.

Daft Punk rarely, if ever, speak during their shows. Therefore, the crowd’s great reaction is in response to the profound musician experience, expert DJing, and enhanced songs they receive at the hands of the incomparable duo.

Crowd Control + Engagement

Why The Skill Is Essential

Great musicians make the audience a part of the show. Artists don’t just perform in front of them; they encourage them to sing a long song, carry a chorus, or dance to a specific beat drop, or part of a song. It takes most artists years to learn this skill.

Learning to perform confidently in front of a crowd of thousands is one thing, but actively engaging and talking with them is another. Many excellent Coachella performance features the artist working hand in hand with the audience, making them a serious partner in the entire show performance.

Example

The psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips knew how to engage a crowd during a show. Lost in their weird world of awkward props and silly noises, The Flaming Lips made their 2006 Coachella performance unforgettable by working with the crowd and building memorable images in people’s heads and for headlines for years to come.

Holding a hand doll up to a small mic and poorly singing like a ventriloquist was odd but brilliant. Next, they took things up a notch and placed lead singer and bandleader Wayne Coyne in a giant man-sized bubble to hop around the crowd like a beach ball.

No, seriously.

The image of Coyne on his knees crawling on top of a crowd of thousands in a ball went viral before social media existed. Through that shot, The Flaming Lips emoted feelings of shock, wonder, and an undeniable urge to keep looking because the image was so ridiculous.

The crowd at their show was also singing along wonderfully and matched the bands’ energy whenever they motioned for them to raise the volume. In the end, The Flaming Lips and the crowd were one.

Profound Choreography

Why The Skill Is Essential

Some musicians aren’t just singers or instrumentalists but dancers, too. The live stage is where these dancer-musicians can show their choreography and group dance skills to large audiences. At Coachella, a well-crafted, choreographed set is unique because of all the bands and younger artists on the bill.

Therefore, when a dance-focused musician comes into town, the performances are usually highlighted among the must-see acts of the weekend. When these musicians give their all, they can create some of Coachella’s most remarkable, memorable, and timeless performances.

Example

Coachella audiences got just that performance with Beychella. In 2018, the standout pop artist crashed down in Indio like the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. From the announcement of the headlining gig to the Netflix documentary dedicated to the performance prep, Beyonce gave Coachella attendees a performance they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Beyonce is known for her unique mix of hip-hop and j-setting dance styles and provided both on the stage, especially during hit songs like “Deja Vu” and “Get Me Bodied.”

During her live show, she translated her music video dances into a smooth series of dances throughout one long show. Whether it was her iconic trio dance for “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” or the strut-walk into the booty pop on “Crazy in Love,” Beyonce’s choreography is almost as iconic as the songs. For Coachella, these profound dance moves helped stamp 2018 as one of the finest Coachella in the last decade.

Creating A Cultural Moment

Why The Skill Is Essential

Cultural moments don’t just last a lifetime; they last several lifetimes. The legend of the moment is something bigger and more triumphant than the one witnessed by people there. For those reasons, artists have to think about the lasting impact and enduring legacy their stage performance will make.

What are the images, words, songs, or spectacles they want to create for people to talk about for years to come? The best artists make sure it aligns with their values and is something they are proud to be associated with.

Example

One Coachella performance that captured the country’s zeitgeist in the 2000s was Rage Against The Machine’s 2007 headlining show. Returning from a seven-year hiatus for bandmembers to pursue other projects, Rage Against the Machine came into Coachella with their backs against the wall. The stakes were high for the legendary rock band.

In typical anti-establishment fashion, they crusaded against 50 years of US presidents for their deadly and immoral foreign policy. Lead singer Zack de la Rocha’s defining speech during the show was heard around the world for its vigor and its relatability to people helplessly watching hundreds of thousands of citizens die in the Middle East at the hands of U.S. soldiers.

Rocha’s message represented the mood of a generation of anti-war protestors and peace lovers who said enough is enough. Rage’s performance has gone down in history as a rebellious moment in the middle of a country crippled by and obsessed with foreign wars.

Exciting Guest Appearances

Why The Skill Is Essential

Many great artists are also great collaborators. Like a composer moving an orchestra with the stroke of his fingers, artists can recruit and collect the best artists around them to make fantastic music. When done on stage, it is the best gift to fans, especially if it’s a surprise.

Live collaborations elevate the performance and increase the audience’s energy because they feel even more grateful to be there. The larger the guest or the more surprising their appearance, the better. Of all the genres, EDM and house may be the most suited for these exciting live guest appearance moments.

Example

In 2012, the acclaimed Irish DJ Calvin Harris had the world in his hands and capitalized on the fanfare around him. Playing viral hits like “Bounce” and “Flashback” at his show made his set look like Glastonbury crazed and ecstatic. People were screaming, dancing, and deeply invested in each movement Harris made on stage.

Therefore, the fans lost their minds when Rihanna was the surprise guest. The Barbadian pop icon gave the fans the fantastic show they wanted and sang her collaborative songs with Harris in “We Found Love” and “Where Have You Been.” During “We Found Love,” Rihanna came to the front row to engage with the crowd. To everyone’s surprise, another pop icon reared her head above the audience and dived headfirst into them to crowd surf.

This second artist was the unparalleled Katy Perry. While Perry hovered over the crowd like a party balloon, Rihanna rocked and jumped around with the people. Festivals are at their peak when artists make these types of moments. By the end of the set, the crowd looked like one beautiful, unified entity sprawled out in exhaustion, laughter, and pure joy.