The Best of Coachella, Weekends 1 and 2 (Besides the Headliners): Dijon, Laufey, FKA Twigs, Geese and More
YouTube’s annual Coachella livestream is the single best place to experience and discover new and contemporary music on the Internet: For three days, it is packed with career-defining sets for some of the most important, influential and up-and-coming artists in the world, exquisitely choreographed, stage-managed and filmed, and broadcast all over the globe. It’s essentially a giant Grammy Awards, but with full sets, seven stages and three multi-hour nights of entertainment.
“Couchella” is dramatically different from being at the festival, and if you care most about the music (as opposed to the scene or being seen), it’s better: There’s no dust, wind, distances to drive and walk; there’s no waiting outside a packed tent; there’s no sprinting across a crowded field to catch a set (or get into one before it’s too crowded); and most of all, there’s no trying to figure out the annual dark art of obtaining a coveted “artist pass,” which guarantees good views.
However, for legal reasons, those videos are available for only 24 hours before essentially vanishing forever except in janky clips on social media and deep in dark web territory and on private hard drives. So, every year, many of us plunk ourselves down in front of the laptop for almost the entire weekend, scrolling through multiple feeds of incredible performances before they disappear, and circle back for Weekend 2 to catch the sets we missed, or the ones that were so great we had to see them again.
We’ve already written separately about headliners Sabrina Carpenter, who brought a whole new production and special guest actors to her “Sabrinawood” set and brought out Madonna on Weekend 2; Justin Bieber, who largely performed solo on Weekend 1 but was joined by SZA, Dijon, Big Sean and serenaded Billie Eilish on Weekend 2; and Karol G, who soared through a spectacular, female-and-Latin-empowering celebration of multiple genres of music to close out the festival, and was joined by Peso Pluma, J Balvin, Wisin, Becky G and more.
We also covered Huntr/x’s surprise appearance during Katseye’s set on Friday and David Byrne’s brilliant show at an earlier date. But here’s the best of the dozens of other performances we caught — which by no means is to say that these were the only great performances, just the ones we saw before the livestreams disappeared.
For your album-streaming and concert-attending pleasure and decision-making, below (in alphabetical order) are our picks for the best of Coachella 2026, Weekends 1 and 2 — with video, where available.
Not many people automatically equate Coachella with “innocence.” But starting off both weekends with tent performances by L.A.’s famed Bob Baker Marionettes provided a delightful dose of it. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren have seen the puppets on field trips, and many of them thrilled to revisit that experience in the wild in the desert. The show was just slightly saucier than the one usually presented to young children, as the marionettes danced to Ben Platt’s cover of “Diet Pepsi” (complete with the word “ass”), and CMAT came out on Weekend 2 to duet with the lead showgirl puppet on “Take a Sexy Picture of Me.” The real highlight: when the emcee announced “Geese,” and out trotted the sweetest goslings you’ve ever seen. Here’s to the Bob Baker Marionettes as the greatest “industry plants” we know. — Chris Willman
Blood Orange creates deeply distinctive and expertly performed music that is arguably not ideal for a festival — it would have been comically incongruous to hear frontman Dev Hynes shout to the crowd, “Let me see you all jump!” Opening with a brief, unusual cover of the Smiths’ 1985 classic “How Soon Is Now?” — perhaps in homage to Hynes’ Johnny Marr signature Fender guitar — the group rolled through songs from 2025’s “Essex Honey,” its first album in eight years as well as tracks from its past catalog. And with a group including a violinist and saxophonist, it was all sumptuously played.
Clipse, aka brothers Thornton (Pusha T and Malice), have settled gracefully into their role as elder statesmen in hip-hop, a genre where age can often code as currency. But it’s that wisdom and experience that made their afternoon set on the closing day of Coachella so electric. Not only do they have a catalog full of songs that have had decades to resonate across generations, but they know how to deliver them as if they’re fresh off the stove. They kept the flash and bombast to a minimum, save for a mega-watt appearance from Travis Barker on the drums for the first few songs, but that’s the power of Clipse: To know them is to understand that skill and showmanship are your greatest weapons when you cultivate them properly. — Steven J. Horowitz
Dijon was one of the most buzzed-about acts of the festival and his solo set on Friday did not disappoint (he also joined Bieber for a song on Saturday). Accompanied by an eight-piece band — which meant that at one point he had five people playing guitar, including himself — Dijon’s songs take on an added dimension in a live setting, especially the ones from his latest album, “Baby,” which here transcended their intentionally lo-fi recorded versions. Most unusual is Dijon’s stage presence: With a headset microphone, he paces around onstage while he’s singing as if he were talking on the phone, barely looking at the audience.
Veteran electronic duo Disclosure soared through a powerful set of material spanning the last decade, ranging from their early hits like “Latch” and “When a Fire Starts to Burn” new “song we wrote yesterday” with rapper Samara Cyn that seems to be called “Bite Me.” The duo kept the crowd moving and amped throughout the set, for which they were joined by singer both IRL (Cyn) and audio-only (Sam Smith).
Ethel Cain’s unusual combination of alternative, goth hard rock (think the guitar solo part of Pink Floyd’s comfortably numb) and almost ambient soundscapes is the kind of music that is better suited to Couchella or a seated venue than a days-long festival, but that’s not to say the group lacks power. While the titular frontwoman’s sometimes unsettling imagery and the intensity of her audience can sometimes distract from what a strong singer she is (something also obscured by the effects often piled onto it). The band matches her intensity note for note, with a full-time pedal steel guitarist contributing not country licks but lush atmospheres, which perfectly suited the grass and ivy-bedecked stage.
FKA Twigs delivered what has to be one of the longest sets in Coachella history, exceeding two hours and extending far into Monday morning (on the East Coast, anyway). Listening to her music is half the story and sometimes less than that: She’s an intensely visual performer and a world-class dancer — as well as an opera-trained singer — and this set featured mind-bogglingly complex choreography on nearly every song from a small army of dancers, but primarily a group of limber-limbed men who, interestingly, were often doing choreo that one usually sees from female hip-hop dancers: lots of booty-bouncing, synchronized moves, arm-fluttering and even a full-on vogue segment. Yet most impressive of all was Twigs herself, who led the dancers with moves even more complex than theirs — while singing. The set ended with her spinning on a stripper’s pole, upside-down, in a split, then she lowered herself and sang an impossibly high melody flawlessly. She is a truly multidisciplinary performer who must be seen to be comprehended.
Largely due to Cameron Winter’s deeply polarizing singing, Geese can be an acquired taste, but the drama around him and the group’s status as biggest-NYC-rock-band-since-the-Strokes (who played their own set later that night) obscures the fact that they are an extremely tight, powerful and innovative rock band. The guitarists grind and shriek and gnarl as the rhythm section thunders away, with Winter’s voice often acting more as another instrument rather than the focal point. The band’s extensive touring around their latest album, “Getting Killed,” has clearly paid off: This set crushed their Brooklyn show last fall.
“Beloved,” Giveon’s latest album, is such a tribute to the lush early-‘70s soul of Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes and Teddy Pendergrass that it was uncertain how his deep baritone and the heavily orchestrated arrangements would go over in a festival setting — but he and his elaborate band were stellar. Performing in a suit and tie, with a giant band and orchestra arrayed behind him, Giveon brought Coachella to church with an elaborate set that still felt human and, relatively speaking, spontaneous: Kehlani made a special appearance and duetted with him on her Grammy-winning hit “Folded.”
Similarly to Giveon, it was unclear how Laufey’s jazzy, at times 1940s-era songs and singing would translate on the Coachella stage, but the singer — one of the biggest talents to emerge in the last five years — was more than up to the task. With a flawlessly executed performance that saw her accompanied by an ace jazz group, a string quartet and a troupe of dancers, she moved with ease from frontperson to piano to guitar — peeling off complex jazz chords while singing very complicated melodies — and even, at one point, cello. She’s not only making the old new again, she’s making it cool, and with captivating charm.
Kacey Musgraves rode in on a high horse — literally — to her Saturday afternoon Coachella set, trotting in from backstage in the saddle while giving the live debut of her song “Middle of Nowhere.” It was a grand entrance for an even grander performance, which frontloaded Coachella Day 2 with a marquee set from an arena-level artist in the considerably smaller Mojave Tent. Musgraves was in mint condition, performing songs from her upcoming album “Middle of Nowhere” while weaving in fan favorites including “Slow Burn,” “Golden Hour” and “Justified.” There was no viral “yee-haw” moment like there was during her 2019 Coachella set (even though at one point, she did put it on the screens), but she didn’t need a gimmick for her appearance to stand on its own. — Steven J. Horowitz
Not for Radio, the solo project from Maria Zardoya of the Marias, was a perfect late-night set to close out Friday. Her songs are gentle and ethereal, not worlds away from the Marias but with a more prominent trip-hop influence (although she did play her main band’s hit, “No One Noticed”). With a forest theme to the staging and a dramatic moment where she performs surrounded by a sheer curtain that then abruptly falls, Zardoya is a first-class performer with a presence that’s hard to look away from.
Living legend Iggy Pop, who incredibly turns 79 on Tuesday, has nothing left to prove — yet he and his ace band (featuring the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner on guitar, Joan as Policewoman on piano and a three-piece horn section) proves it over and over again onstage. Their fiery Coachella set was all classics and no filler, from Stooges anthems like “No Fun” (which Geese briefly covered on Weekend 2) and “Raw Power” to his collaborations with David Bowie like “Nightclubbing” and the extended closer “Funtime,” which saw the shamelessly shirtless Pop moon the audience before waving to the crowd and climbing into an upright coffin, which a stagehand then wheeled offstage.
It should no longer come as a surprise that Addison Rae has fully blossomed into one of pop’s most promising stars. Her Saturday afternoon set at the main Coachella stage was one of spectacle and splash — a meta-text commentary on the nature of fame and the lengths one must go to achieve it, all done with a wink and a Colgate smile. Rae has built her persona on the lengths that one must go to attain celebrity, from the boa made of dollar bills that she strung around her neck mid-performance to her delectable closing song “Fame Is a Gun.” It recalls the assuredness of her forbearer Britney Spears and the ambition of someone who really wants it — not to mention that she looked like she was having an absolute blast while doing it. Remember when pop music used to be fun? — Steven J. Horowitz
All of our Couchella advocacy doesn’t really extend to the dance tents, where the communal vibe of a nightclub just doesn’t translate to video, but one set that must be singled out was the Sunday night opus from Norwegian duo Royksopp, who powered through nearly two hours of lush electronic textures and thumping beats, but what sets them apart is their sense of melody — throughout the set, they recast elements from their collaboration with Robyn, and stretched pieces of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” over about half an hour.
On record, Missouri native Slayyyter is basically an electro-pop artist, vaguely in the vein of Charli xcx — but in a live setting she’s a straight-up rock star, stomping across the stage in cut-off shorts and big boots and belting in a powerful voice (and at one point, unleashing a total death-metal roar). With a set heavy on songs from her latest album, “Wor$t Girl in America,” she had the crowd jumping, and it’s safe to say she finished her set with a lot of newly converted fans.
We’ve been able to witness Sombr find himself on stage over the past year or so, becoming a more confident performer on tour or at award shows like the Grammys and BRITs. It’s why it felt like a fully realized moment to watch the 20-year-old emerge like a new prototype for the modern rock star, with one toe dipped in the pop world and another drawing from alt-rock convention. His hits — now amounting to many — rang like a bell through the teeming audience at the Outdoor Stage, prompting singalongs to tracks like “12 to 12” and “Undressed,” and was joined by a pair of Billys: Corgan for the Smashing Pumpkin’s classic “1979” on Weekend 1 and Idol for “Eyes Without a Face” on 2. Sombr himself looked like he couldn’t believe that he finally got to this point, one where he could tangibly, and perhaps in disbelief, see that he made it. — Steven J. Horowitz
Turnstile‘s albums don’t necessarily tell the whole story: In order to truly get the band, you have to see them live. There, it all makes sense: They’re a super-tight rock band combining almost every major rock genre of the early ‘90s — Rage Against the Machine’s crunch, Green Day’s pop melodies, and a vast array of alt-rock flourishes ranging from Smashing Pumpkins to Nirvana — into a sound that’s reverent and respectful but also very much their own. Best of all, they can both crush and groove, and put on a powerful live show powered by frontman Brendan Yates and drummer Daniel Fang.
Wet Leg’s almost accidental fame from their 2021 hit “Chaise Longue” seemed to poise them for one-hit-wonder status, but their Coachella set on Sunday proved that there’s much more to the group than first met the eye and ear. The songs from their new album are burlier and more versatile than their debut, and most of all, frontwoman Rhian Teasdale has transformed into a full-on rock star, with a powerful and unabashedly sexy presence — the opening moments of their set, which find her marching toward the microphone with her arms raised in bicep-flexing posture, communicates clearly what’s coming.
The xx’s somber, electronic-based music is so low-key that some may find it hard to imagine them being compelling in a live setting, but the reunited group — which first played the festival in 2010 — showed just how compelling they can be. A trio, singer/guitarist Romy Madley Croft, singer/bassist Oliver Sim and master DJ-producer Jamie xx (who was anchored behind a desk on decks and percussion) commanded the stage with a dazzling white light show and a set that combined the best tracks from their three albums along with highlights from their solo projects (with the most exciting being a medley from Jamie’s excellent 2024 album “In Waves”). The group was visibly overwhelmed by the ecstatic response from the crowd.
“Couchella” is dramatically different from being at the festival, and if you care most about the music (as opposed to the scene or being seen), it’s better: There’s no dust, wind, distances to drive and walk; there’s no waiting outside a packed tent; there’s no sprinting across a crowded field to catch a set (or get into one before it’s too crowded); and most of all, there’s no trying to figure out the annual dark art of obtaining a coveted “artist pass,” which guarantees good views.
However, for legal reasons, those videos are available for only 24 hours before essentially vanishing forever except in janky clips on social media and deep in dark web territory and on private hard drives. So, every year, many of us plunk ourselves down in front of the laptop for almost the entire weekend, scrolling through multiple feeds of incredible performances before they disappear, and circle back for Weekend 2 to catch the sets we missed, or the ones that were so great we had to see them again.
We’ve already written separately about headliners Sabrina Carpenter, who brought a whole new production and special guest actors to her “Sabrinawood” set and brought out Madonna on Weekend 2; Justin Bieber, who largely performed solo on Weekend 1 but was joined by SZA, Dijon, Big Sean and serenaded Billie Eilish on Weekend 2; and Karol G, who soared through a spectacular, female-and-Latin-empowering celebration of multiple genres of music to close out the festival, and was joined by Peso Pluma, J Balvin, Wisin, Becky G and more.
We also covered Huntr/x’s surprise appearance during Katseye’s set on Friday and David Byrne’s brilliant show at an earlier date. But here’s the best of the dozens of other performances we caught — which by no means is to say that these were the only great performances, just the ones we saw before the livestreams disappeared.
For your album-streaming and concert-attending pleasure and decision-making, below (in alphabetical order) are our picks for the best of Coachella 2026, Weekends 1 and 2 — with video, where available.
Not many people automatically equate Coachella with “innocence.” But starting off both weekends with tent performances by L.A.’s famed Bob Baker Marionettes provided a delightful dose of it. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren have seen the puppets on field trips, and many of them thrilled to revisit that experience in the wild in the desert. The show was just slightly saucier than the one usually presented to young children, as the marionettes danced to Ben Platt’s cover of “Diet Pepsi” (complete with the word “ass”), and CMAT came out on Weekend 2 to duet with the lead showgirl puppet on “Take a Sexy Picture of Me.” The real highlight: when the emcee announced “Geese,” and out trotted the sweetest goslings you’ve ever seen. Here’s to the Bob Baker Marionettes as the greatest “industry plants” we know. — Chris Willman
Blood Orange creates deeply distinctive and expertly performed music that is arguably not ideal for a festival — it would have been comically incongruous to hear frontman Dev Hynes shout to the crowd, “Let me see you all jump!” Opening with a brief, unusual cover of the Smiths’ 1985 classic “How Soon Is Now?” — perhaps in homage to Hynes’ Johnny Marr signature Fender guitar — the group rolled through songs from 2025’s “Essex Honey,” its first album in eight years as well as tracks from its past catalog. And with a group including a violinist and saxophonist, it was all sumptuously played.
Clipse, aka brothers Thornton (Pusha T and Malice), have settled gracefully into their role as elder statesmen in hip-hop, a genre where age can often code as currency. But it’s that wisdom and experience that made their afternoon set on the closing day of Coachella so electric. Not only do they have a catalog full of songs that have had decades to resonate across generations, but they know how to deliver them as if they’re fresh off the stove. They kept the flash and bombast to a minimum, save for a mega-watt appearance from Travis Barker on the drums for the first few songs, but that’s the power of Clipse: To know them is to understand that skill and showmanship are your greatest weapons when you cultivate them properly. — Steven J. Horowitz
Dijon was one of the most buzzed-about acts of the festival and his solo set on Friday did not disappoint (he also joined Bieber for a song on Saturday). Accompanied by an eight-piece band — which meant that at one point he had five people playing guitar, including himself — Dijon’s songs take on an added dimension in a live setting, especially the ones from his latest album, “Baby,” which here transcended their intentionally lo-fi recorded versions. Most unusual is Dijon’s stage presence: With a headset microphone, he paces around onstage while he’s singing as if he were talking on the phone, barely looking at the audience.
Veteran electronic duo Disclosure soared through a powerful set of material spanning the last decade, ranging from their early hits like “Latch” and “When a Fire Starts to Burn” new “song we wrote yesterday” with rapper Samara Cyn that seems to be called “Bite Me.” The duo kept the crowd moving and amped throughout the set, for which they were joined by singer both IRL (Cyn) and audio-only (Sam Smith).
Ethel Cain’s unusual combination of alternative, goth hard rock (think the guitar solo part of Pink Floyd’s comfortably numb) and almost ambient soundscapes is the kind of music that is better suited to Couchella or a seated venue than a days-long festival, but that’s not to say the group lacks power. While the titular frontwoman’s sometimes unsettling imagery and the intensity of her audience can sometimes distract from what a strong singer she is (something also obscured by the effects often piled onto it). The band matches her intensity note for note, with a full-time pedal steel guitarist contributing not country licks but lush atmospheres, which perfectly suited the grass and ivy-bedecked stage.
FKA Twigs delivered what has to be one of the longest sets in Coachella history, exceeding two hours and extending far into Monday morning (on the East Coast, anyway). Listening to her music is half the story and sometimes less than that: She’s an intensely visual performer and a world-class dancer — as well as an opera-trained singer — and this set featured mind-bogglingly complex choreography on nearly every song from a small army of dancers, but primarily a group of limber-limbed men who, interestingly, were often doing choreo that one usually sees from female hip-hop dancers: lots of booty-bouncing, synchronized moves, arm-fluttering and even a full-on vogue segment. Yet most impressive of all was Twigs herself, who led the dancers with moves even more complex than theirs — while singing. The set ended with her spinning on a stripper’s pole, upside-down, in a split, then she lowered herself and sang an impossibly high melody flawlessly. She is a truly multidisciplinary performer who must be seen to be comprehended.
Largely due to Cameron Winter’s deeply polarizing singing, Geese can be an acquired taste, but the drama around him and the group’s status as biggest-NYC-rock-band-since-the-Strokes (who played their own set later that night) obscures the fact that they are an extremely tight, powerful and innovative rock band. The guitarists grind and shriek and gnarl as the rhythm section thunders away, with Winter’s voice often acting more as another instrument rather than the focal point. The band’s extensive touring around their latest album, “Getting Killed,” has clearly paid off: This set crushed their Brooklyn show last fall.
“Beloved,” Giveon’s latest album, is such a tribute to the lush early-‘70s soul of Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes and Teddy Pendergrass that it was uncertain how his deep baritone and the heavily orchestrated arrangements would go over in a festival setting — but he and his elaborate band were stellar. Performing in a suit and tie, with a giant band and orchestra arrayed behind him, Giveon brought Coachella to church with an elaborate set that still felt human and, relatively speaking, spontaneous: Kehlani made a special appearance and duetted with him on her Grammy-winning hit “Folded.”
Similarly to Giveon, it was unclear how Laufey’s jazzy, at times 1940s-era songs and singing would translate on the Coachella stage, but the singer — one of the biggest talents to emerge in the last five years — was more than up to the task. With a flawlessly executed performance that saw her accompanied by an ace jazz group, a string quartet and a troupe of dancers, she moved with ease from frontperson to piano to guitar — peeling off complex jazz chords while singing very complicated melodies — and even, at one point, cello. She’s not only making the old new again, she’s making it cool, and with captivating charm.
Kacey Musgraves rode in on a high horse — literally — to her Saturday afternoon Coachella set, trotting in from backstage in the saddle while giving the live debut of her song “Middle of Nowhere.” It was a grand entrance for an even grander performance, which frontloaded Coachella Day 2 with a marquee set from an arena-level artist in the considerably smaller Mojave Tent. Musgraves was in mint condition, performing songs from her upcoming album “Middle of Nowhere” while weaving in fan favorites including “Slow Burn,” “Golden Hour” and “Justified.” There was no viral “yee-haw” moment like there was during her 2019 Coachella set (even though at one point, she did put it on the screens), but she didn’t need a gimmick for her appearance to stand on its own. — Steven J. Horowitz
Not for Radio, the solo project from Maria Zardoya of the Marias, was a perfect late-night set to close out Friday. Her songs are gentle and ethereal, not worlds away from the Marias but with a more prominent trip-hop influence (although she did play her main band’s hit, “No One Noticed”). With a forest theme to the staging and a dramatic moment where she performs surrounded by a sheer curtain that then abruptly falls, Zardoya is a first-class performer with a presence that’s hard to look away from.
Living legend Iggy Pop, who incredibly turns 79 on Tuesday, has nothing left to prove — yet he and his ace band (featuring the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner on guitar, Joan as Policewoman on piano and a three-piece horn section) proves it over and over again onstage. Their fiery Coachella set was all classics and no filler, from Stooges anthems like “No Fun” (which Geese briefly covered on Weekend 2) and “Raw Power” to his collaborations with David Bowie like “Nightclubbing” and the extended closer “Funtime,” which saw the shamelessly shirtless Pop moon the audience before waving to the crowd and climbing into an upright coffin, which a stagehand then wheeled offstage.
It should no longer come as a surprise that Addison Rae has fully blossomed into one of pop’s most promising stars. Her Saturday afternoon set at the main Coachella stage was one of spectacle and splash — a meta-text commentary on the nature of fame and the lengths one must go to achieve it, all done with a wink and a Colgate smile. Rae has built her persona on the lengths that one must go to attain celebrity, from the boa made of dollar bills that she strung around her neck mid-performance to her delectable closing song “Fame Is a Gun.” It recalls the assuredness of her forbearer Britney Spears and the ambition of someone who really wants it — not to mention that she looked like she was having an absolute blast while doing it. Remember when pop music used to be fun? — Steven J. Horowitz
All of our Couchella advocacy doesn’t really extend to the dance tents, where the communal vibe of a nightclub just doesn’t translate to video, but one set that must be singled out was the Sunday night opus from Norwegian duo Royksopp, who powered through nearly two hours of lush electronic textures and thumping beats, but what sets them apart is their sense of melody — throughout the set, they recast elements from their collaboration with Robyn, and stretched pieces of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” over about half an hour.
On record, Missouri native Slayyyter is basically an electro-pop artist, vaguely in the vein of Charli xcx — but in a live setting she’s a straight-up rock star, stomping across the stage in cut-off shorts and big boots and belting in a powerful voice (and at one point, unleashing a total death-metal roar). With a set heavy on songs from her latest album, “Wor$t Girl in America,” she had the crowd jumping, and it’s safe to say she finished her set with a lot of newly converted fans.
We’ve been able to witness Sombr find himself on stage over the past year or so, becoming a more confident performer on tour or at award shows like the Grammys and BRITs. It’s why it felt like a fully realized moment to watch the 20-year-old emerge like a new prototype for the modern rock star, with one toe dipped in the pop world and another drawing from alt-rock convention. His hits — now amounting to many — rang like a bell through the teeming audience at the Outdoor Stage, prompting singalongs to tracks like “12 to 12” and “Undressed,” and was joined by a pair of Billys: Corgan for the Smashing Pumpkin’s classic “1979” on Weekend 1 and Idol for “Eyes Without a Face” on 2. Sombr himself looked like he couldn’t believe that he finally got to this point, one where he could tangibly, and perhaps in disbelief, see that he made it. — Steven J. Horowitz
Turnstile‘s albums don’t necessarily tell the whole story: In order to truly get the band, you have to see them live. There, it all makes sense: They’re a super-tight rock band combining almost every major rock genre of the early ‘90s — Rage Against the Machine’s crunch, Green Day’s pop melodies, and a vast array of alt-rock flourishes ranging from Smashing Pumpkins to Nirvana — into a sound that’s reverent and respectful but also very much their own. Best of all, they can both crush and groove, and put on a powerful live show powered by frontman Brendan Yates and drummer Daniel Fang.
Wet Leg’s almost accidental fame from their 2021 hit “Chaise Longue” seemed to poise them for one-hit-wonder status, but their Coachella set on Sunday proved that there’s much more to the group than first met the eye and ear. The songs from their new album are burlier and more versatile than their debut, and most of all, frontwoman Rhian Teasdale has transformed into a full-on rock star, with a powerful and unabashedly sexy presence — the opening moments of their set, which find her marching toward the microphone with her arms raised in bicep-flexing posture, communicates clearly what’s coming.
The xx’s somber, electronic-based music is so low-key that some may find it hard to imagine them being compelling in a live setting, but the reunited group — which first played the festival in 2010 — showed just how compelling they can be. A trio, singer/guitarist Romy Madley Croft, singer/bassist Oliver Sim and master DJ-producer Jamie xx (who was anchored behind a desk on decks and percussion) commanded the stage with a dazzling white light show and a set that combined the best tracks from their three albums along with highlights from their solo projects (with the most exciting being a medley from Jamie’s excellent 2024 album “In Waves”). The group was visibly overwhelmed by the ecstatic response from the crowd.