Coachella 2024 in review: No Doubt about who stole the show and what they taught us

There was a lesson to be learned during this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and for an event that caters to 20somethings, that lesson came from a 54-year-old.

Gwen Stefani and her No Doubt mates were the stars of Coachella 2024. Ask a 50-year-old or ask a 20-year-old or anyone in between. The universally loved group from Anaheim reunited for the first time in almost nine years to put on an energetic show that seemed to draw more fans than any of the three headliners.

The lesson is that great performers are timeless, and when an opportunity comes around to put a “nostalgia” act in a headlining spot, don't miss it. No Doubt should've been one of the headliners. That has been a winning formula in the past, but it hasn’t happened in a while. In previous iterations, you’d have two current acts and the other headliner would be Paul McCartney or Guns-n-Roses, performers whose legacies span multiple generations.

Since 2018, which featured two such acts in Beyoncé and Eminem, organizers have gone strictly with of-the-moment headliners. Granted, Rage Against the Machine was supposed to headline in that time frame, but while an important part of music history, they aren’t quite in that same loved-by-all-ages category.

With Gwen and the boys reminding us that you don’t have to be in your 20s to be loved by music fans (or even influencers) in their 20s, it will be interesting to see if the 2025 headliners include someone in that vein. Bands like No Doubt don’t grow on trees, but the first example that popped into my head to match the high-energy, multiple-hits, appeal-that-spans-generations formula is Green Day. (And maybe Goldenvoice has invited Green Day every year for 15 years and they declined, but that'd be my genie-wish-grant pick.)

The headliners

Heading into this year's fest, I was a little dubious on a personal level in that none of the three headliners — Lana Del Rey, Tyler, The Creator and Doja Cat — were in my musical wheelhouse. But all I ever ask of a headliner is to crank up the showmanship level to 11, and all three of this year's headliners came through in a big way on that end.

In other words, don't do the same show you'll do next week for your fans in Los Angeles. Not everyone roaming around the Empire Polo Club is familiar with your work. This is Coachella, wow us. Do something that will be talked about for years to come.

Lana Del Rey rode to the Coachella Stage on the front of a motorcycle in a sort of police escort that started outside the grounds adding some gravitas right away. Lana Del Rey is an unusual performer to me, in that her body language never quite matches the sound that's coming out of it, but she has very loyal fans and they left happy both weekends. My only quibble is I think her sort of dreamy soft-focus vibe might've been better suited for Sunday night than Friday night.

Tyler, the Creator on Saturday night started his set off with a literal bang, as he began on the video screen by taking us on a tour inside his little camper for his park-ranger themed set, only to have an egg-based cooking disaster which caused the explosion of a camper on the stage, shooting Tyler out of the camper and onto the stage for an explosive entrance. He had amazing set design, too, with sort of a Utah rock formations vibe.

I thought the best headlining performance was turned in by Doja Cat. Definitely start to finish. At times she had so much hair you couldn't even see her and other times she was bald as she ran the full gambit from Cousin Itt to Uncle Fester. (A solid "Addams Family" reference sure to connect with the Coachella demographic). It all culminated with a not-safe-for-work, muddy spectacle on a circular stage out amongst the crowd. People talk about getting dusty and dirty at Coachella. Doja Cat took that to another level.

My biggest regret

This was a busy year for special guests popping up unannounced, particularly the first weekend, and your Coachella experience can sometimes be painted by how many of those you were lucky enough to see (Yay!) vs. how many you missed (Boo!).

I had some good fortune this year, catching many special guests that I love, but I did miss one that will haunt me for a while.

I was excited to see Kesha, who jumped up with Reneé Rapp. I was actually sitting on a blanket with some friends way in the back of the Outdoor Theatre when Rapp said she was coming on stage, and I bolted into action, jumping up and hustling to get a closer look. It was a fun moment.

Along the way, I also saw Shakira, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and, as I was walking past J Balvin performing on the Coachella Stage, I heard him playing the "Men In Black" theme as part of his alien-themed set, and I was stunned to look up at the screen and see it was actually Will Smith singing it live, not a recording.

But the one that got away was Norah Jones singing her all-time classic "Don't Know Why" as she was brought up on stage by Sabrina Carpenter in a rare Weekend-2-only special guest just as the sun was going down on Friday. Jones is one of my bucket list artists, and when I watched the replay on YouTube, I got chills and felt even more forlorn. Oh well, Coachella guests giveth and taketh away.

What's new?

There were some large-scale changes to the set-up this year with the addition of the new visually stunning Quasar Stage, which is one of the first things you see upon entering the Empire Polo Club now, and the relocation of the popular Sahara tent a couple of football fields south of the Quasar. The move increased the amount of acreage being used at the festival, and I was worried that it would be too spread out, but after navigating it for two weekends, I loved the changes.

The technology — both the crisp sound and the stunning clarity of the video boards — of the new Quasar Stage were a hit, as well as having a dedicated space for long-form sets by EDM artists. But to me, the best innovation wasn't technological, but geographical.

The relocation of the Sahara tent put it next to a grassy hill, which became a cool new place for fans to watch the acts on that stage. The Kid Cudi set during Weekend 2 in particular had the hill packed to watch him perform a powerful set that unfortunately ended abruptly when he jumped off stage and broke his foot, another one of those Coachella moments that will be remembered for years to come.

And the increased distance from venue to venue — it took me just over 13 minutes to walk from the Outdoor Theatre to the Sahara tent at the polar opposites of the grounds — didn't prove to be a big problem as the opened-up space also created easier walking lanes.

This was the 16th Coachella I've attended and I have to admit I came into it a little trepidacious. I'm now old enough to be Gwen Stefani's slightly younger brother, and when the lineup came out, I recognized very few of the bands. "Uh oh," I thought. "Am I aging out of this thing?" Then the news came down that ticket sales were lagging. "Uh oh. Is Coachella itself showing its age?"

But after being out there for six days finding new performers to love (Chappell Roan, The Japanese House), new food to crave (Prince Street Pizza!), new art to be inspired by and sharing space with 90,000 happy people in mostly perfect weather, I can report that neither of us is getting too old.

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Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella 2024 in review: No Doubt about who stole the show