Coachella One Day Later: Five Takeaways from the 2024 Lineup
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The post Coachella One Day Later: Five Takeaways from the 2024 Lineup appeared first on Consequence.
Ahead of Coachella’s lineup reveal yesterday, US festivals were looking rather stale. While every festival has its highs and lows, 2024 was looking lopsided: There were festivals with great undercards but weak top lines, such as Bonnaroo and Boston Calling, while others like Hangout Festival suffered from top-heavy lineups (they booked Zach Bryan, so definitely a win for them).
Coachella, however, is notable for attempting to book in a sidewise direction compared to its festival peers. Sure, the regular 2024 festival-ready acts were shoe-ins, but this is also the festival that booked Jai Paul, Blondie and Björk last year, that replaced last-minute headliner cancellations with Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, and Lady Gaga in the last decade. So, when reports arose that the 2024 bill would be topped by Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, and Doja Cat — combined with Coachella’s latest lineup drop in a decade — something felt incomplete. Would there be no rarity headliner or famed reunion? Who was Goldenvoice head Paul Tollett delaying the lineup for? Or rather, would there be something for everyone topping the bill and not just 19 year-olds?
The answer, as revealed yesterday, was No Doubt. The Southern California rockers will be reuniting for their first live show in nine years — and to make things even more California, Sublime will also be reprising their new lineup with original vocalist Bradley Nowell’s son, Jakob, on the mic. Other highlights include Blur, who headlined Coachella alongside The Stone Roses in 2013, as well as Deftones, Justice, and British cult punk band The Adicts.
Still, even with a few surprises this year, Coachella is looking rather thin compared to recent editions. Read on for five takeaways from the Coachella 2024 lineup.
Editors Note: Read more on how to get tickets to Coachella 2024 here.
It’s California, Dude
No Doubt, photo by Thaib A. Wahab
This lineup makes a lot more sense when considering the geographic ties to the Southern California region. No Doubt is of headlining stature for most other US festivals, but their allegiance to SoCal is baked into their DNA. It’s absolutely fitting that they reunite on home soil — while No Doubt is not the biggest reunion Coachella has booked in their history, it’s definitely one that keeps their predominately SoCal-attending audience in mind.
Similarly, Sublime is one of those bands that are globally beloved, but in Southern California, they are completely unavoidable. Coachella never bothered to book them when they were reunited with Rome, and now that they’ve kept things in the family with Jakob Nowell, they’re set for a significant showcase this year.
On the other hand, Tyler, the Creator is a Los Angeles artist whose aesthetic and Odd Future origins have revolved heavily around Southern California. Lana Del Rey is not from the area originally, but her career, presentation, and songwriting themes have similarly revolved around the region. For a certain young SoCal demographic, Tyler and Lana’s rise came at a foundational time for music in LA, and it’s fair to say that their draw is particularly high in this part of the country. Other California artists that have a significant audience in the region this year include Deftones, Jhené Aiko, and the return of the LA collective 88RISING.
A Touch of the Weird
Taking Back Sunday, photo by Jessica Mlinaric
While the 2024 Coachella lineup can look a bit bland at a first glance, there are several surprises that suggest the opposite. British punks The Adicts are a bit of a left-field booking, and currently serve as the oldest artists on the 2024 lineup. It’s also nice to see a revitalized Blur back on the lineup, especially after their rather lackluster 2013 reunion at the fest. Meanwhile, if Sublime and No Doubt weren’t enough ska-influenced rock, they’ve also booked longtime SoCal punks The Aquabats.
Similarly, the heavy rock lane is looking decent this year. The aforementioned Deftones booking is exciting, especially given their recent TikTok resurgence. Also set to play are Taking Back Sunday, who join the long line of similar Riot Fest-esque bookings in Circa Survive, AFI, and Brand New. On the bottom lines, Militarie Gun (another LA band) will continue their 2024 victory lap, and fellow newcomers Narrow Head, Upchuck, and the Louis Cole-featuring Clown Core get big Coachella debuts.
International Flavors
ATEEZ, photo by Ben Kaye
Though this lineup is the first all-American headlining group since 2003 (it would have been 2020, but that festival never materialized), Coachella has continued their strategy of booking as many popular international artists as they can. K-Pop is given a bit more of a backseat this year after 2023’s explosive BLACKPINK headlining set — still, they’ve booked favorites ATEEZ, LE SSERAFIM, and the South Korean indie pop duo The Rose. Notably absent, however, are NewJeans: After winning over hundreds of new fans last year, the K-Pop group seemed like an inevitability for this year’s lineup (Coachella did book Erika de Casier though, who co-wrote and produced much of NewJeans’ 2023 EP Get Up).
Moving over to the west, Coachella has put a particularly big spotlight on Mexican music this year. Peso Pluma will be ringing in a significant 2023 with a sub-headlining set, rising Banda star Carín León will play a major set on Sunday, and Mexican rapper Santa Fe Klan will perform on Saturday. There are plenty of South American artists this year, too: Argentinian DJ Bizarrap is billed fifth on his day and Brazilian star LUDMILLA will make her Coachella debut.
(Not Quite) Popping Off
Doja Cat, photo by Travis Ball
There’s a lot of pop music at Coachella every year, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But this year feels particularly pop-focused, especially with Doja Cat topping the bill. While there are plenty of exciting pop artists that will dominate the future, like Erika de Casier, Chappell Roan, and Victoria Monét, there are quite a few that simply land in the middle of the road.
Bebe Rexha, for example, is a bit of a lazy booking. Sure, she’s become notable for her collaborations over the last 10 years and her hi-fi pop aesthetic. But with Reneé Rapp, Sabrina Carpenter, Tinashe, and Olivia Dean already on the lineup, Rexha doesn’t add a whole lot. Similarly, Coi Leray is a good performer, but her catalog does not hold up against some of her contemporaries in Ice Spice, Victoria Monét, and Jhené Aiko. That being said, there’s a big spotlight on the more percussive sides of pop this year. There’s no PinkPantheress, sure, but there are dozens of drum n’ bass-centered acts and production-forward pop music on display at Coachella 2024.
The Year of Underwhelming Headliners
Lana Del Rey, photo by Ben Kaye
I didn’t want to believe it until yesterday, but 2024 festivals, across the board, seems to be lacking headliners with the “It Factor.” To be clear, Tyler, the Creator and Lana Del Rey are justifiable headliners in 2024. They certainly are in the Southern California region, and their respective catalogs and career accomplishments — especially in the last five years — are worthy of headlining returns. Lana Del Rey is perhaps more on the cusp than Tyler, as seen in her sub-headlining billings at last year’s Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, but the enduring appeal of her discography speaks for itself.
Doja Cat, on the other hand, just doesn’t feel like a headliner yet. She was just on 2022’s lineup as a sub-headliner, and appropriate as that booking was, she hasn’t done enough since then to warrant an even bigger return — “Paint the Town Red” was a smash, yes, but the album it accompanied did not take Doja Cat up more rungs of the ladder.
No Doubt is a decent enough reunion to elevate the top lines, and the fact that three out of four headliners are women (or fronted by women, in No Doubt’s case) for the first time in the festival’s history is objectively a win. Still, the selection just doesn’t reflect the typical rarity and intrigue of the festival. Usually, like in 2013, Coachella will overcompensate on weak headliners by offering a swath of rarities and surprises in the undercard, which isn’t really the case this year either.
Overall, it just looks like less artists that can really move the needle for a large, multi-genre and demographic event are looking to play festivals right now. There are many factors to blame there; the financial viability of touring has shrunk to disastrous lows, Las Vegas residencies are snagging many of the most in-demand artists, and the cultural dominance of music festivals has dissipated significantly in the last decade.
For Coachella lovers, it’s easy to have faith in the festival to combat those factors — and hell, there may still be some late add surprises, like last year’s Blink-182 set. But more realistically, it just looks like 2024 was an off year. Everyone has ’em. Still, the show must go on. At least Deftones are playing!
Coachella One Day Later: Five Takeaways from the 2024 Lineup
Paolo Ragusa
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