Music fans offer mixed reactions to noticeably shorter 2024 Coachella festival lineup

Even though the lineup for the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival features a reunited No Doubt, alternative metal band Deftones and the long-awaited return of Lana Del Rey as a headliner a decade after her packed Coachella debut, reactions to the list of performers is mixed.

There is also one noticeable difference: fewer artists are performing at the festival compared to previous years. In past rosters, there have been 200 or more, and this year’s lineup features 146 acts. But this could also be a concession for music lovers.

Some music fans see latest Coachella lineup as 'weak'

In Coachella's Reddit forum, user Four2Nian said "I'm not trying to be an apologist, because I get there's lots of artists that people wanted, that aren't on the lineup...But as a fan of electronic music, I can get behind longer sets...assuming that's the tradeoff for having a smaller lineup."

"Yeah some of these artists deserve a (minimum) of 2 hour sets. I'd rather have a shorter lineup with higher quality performances/sets," user ChristinaSays replied.

It's unclear whether fewer artists will mean longer sets — alternatively, it could mean the festival will start later in the afternoon — but we won't know until set times are released a day or so before the festival begins.

Other music fans took to Reddit to express another popular opinion: that this lineup represents a change in the overall vibe of the festival.

"This is the weakest lineup in a decade," said johnx1870. "Man I love Coachella as much as anyone else, but this lineup looks extremely diluted. The poster looks half empty…. Feels like the twilight zone. The magic for Coachella in me is gone."

When Coachella began in 1999 and through the 2000s, the festival was prominent for featuring reunions by bands such as Bauhaus, Pixies, Pavement and The Stooges. But the roster has shifted in recent years as Goldenvoice, the Los Angeles promoter behind the festival, has cut back on rock and older hip-hop artists while limiting how many older acts appear in premium slots on the lineup.

Since 2022, the festival has focused on international artists dominating pop culture, evident in its choice of headliners such as K-POP band BLACKPINK, singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and pop-star Harry Styles.

This contemporary push has been the result of shifts in the music industry, including new ways audiences discover music in the digital age and everchanging trends. Independent music artists on platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram have gone viral with single tracks or a collection of self-produced material without any labels behind them.

The 2024 Coachella lineup still includes many notable names

Even though there are fewer entertainers on the poster, there are still many notable contemporary and older artists in the lineup to get excited about — including rock band The Aquabats, pop-punk band Taking Back Sunday and British punk band The Adicts. The electronic music duo Orbital, who appeared during a reunion in 2010, will also perform.

The festival will also mark Anaheim pop-punk and ska band No Doubt's first performance in over a decade. The band, which features vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young, reemerged in 2013 following a lengthy hiatus to release the album "Push and Shove." No Doubt went on hiatus again by the year's end. Stefani told Rolling Stone in 2015 the band had "grown apart as far as what kind of music we want to make" and was uncertain about the future.

In 2023, Stefani performed at The American Express golf tournament at PGA West in La Quinta. The set was packed with No Doubt hits such as "Just A Girl," "Don't Speak" and "Ex-Girlfriend."

Long Beach ska punk band Sublime members Eric Wilson (bass) and Bud Gaugh (drums) are also reuniting and will perform with the band's late vocalist Bradley Nowell's son, Jakob. In 2009, Sublime reunited with vocalist Rome Ramirez. The band changed its name to Sublime With Rome in 2009 following threats of a lawsuit from Bradley Nowell's estate, and Gaugh left in 2012. Wilson and Gaugh reunited to perform with Jakob Nowell at a December benefit concert for Bad Brains vocalist H.R. at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles.

Grammy Award-winning R&B singer Jon Batiste, the subject of the 2023 Netflix documentary "American Symphony," will also appear. Batiste's performance is part of his first North American headlining tour in support of his latest album, "World Music Radio." The expansive record is up for six Grammy Awards, including album, song, and record of the year.

Blur, the Britpop band featuring vocalist Damon Albarn, will perform at Coachella for the first time since 2013 when the "Song 2" rockers performed as headliners during Weekend 2 following a dismal turnout for original headliners The Stone Roses the previous weekend. Albarn performed at the festival last year with his other band, Gorillaz, and appeared as a special guest during Eilish's 2022 headlining set and the following weekend with Flume. It's a surprise move after Albarn told the French publication Les Inrockuptibles (Far Out Magazine) that he was done with Blur for the time being and wanted to focus on Gorillaz.

“It is time to wrap up this campaign,” Albarn told Les Inrockuptibles. "It’s too much for me. It was the right thing to do and an immense honor to play these songs again, spend time with these guys, make an album … I’m not saying I won’t do it again, it was a beautiful success, but I’m not dwelling on the past.”

Phil Pirrone, founder of the Perris Lake rock festival Desert Daze, will play with his band Jjuujjuu. In a post on Facebook, Pirrone posted the lineup poster and said "2009 me (crying at Paul McCartney) wouldn’t believe this sh-t."

But the lineup also represents the ongoing downward trends affecting the music industry and prominent music festivals such as the Glastonbury Festival and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in recent years. Instead of younger contemporary artists, festivals are now calling up older bands and artists. In 2023, Glastonbury featured Guns N' Roses, Elton John and the Arctic Monkeys as headliners and this year's lineup features Madonna, Coldplay and Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks.

One question remains: Does Coachella still value influencers above all?

Coachella emerged during the early 2000s as the first European-style music festival in the U.S. Early lineups featured reunions by bands such as Bauhaus, Pixies, Pavement and The Stooges. Kanye West, The White Stripes, LCD Soundsystem and more performed just as they were gaining widespread attention. But the festival really rose to prominence in 2006 after featuring Madonna and a legendary performance by electronic music icons Daft Punk.

In recent years, festival organizers have switched from attracting devoted music fans to catering to social media influencers and their audiences. A quick walk through the festival grounds — or even a brief look at a festival map — reveals a plethora of cosmetic company booths and clothing brand pop-ups.

In 2023, Bad Bunny’s headlining set at Coachella was accompanied by his partnership with Adidas in the form of a large cube structure featuring 50,000 flowers. The interactive ad gave fans an opportunity to purchase a pair of his branded shoes ahead of the release date.

What will it be this year? A huge plush heart where you can purchase pieces from Lana Del Rey's latest collab with Skims? Only time will tell.

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella 2024: No Doubt, Sublime among bands reuniting at festival