So, Coachella is coming up this weekend, marking the start of the festival season in the USA for many and for the rest of us, signalling the onset of some heavy FOMO as we access YouTube to watch the festival’s livestream longingly. Still, there are some perks to having the option of watching the festival from home; there are no toilet lines, the drinks are cheaper and you’re not having to be around thousands of drunks attempting to make the social photos of one of many fashion photographers or social bloggers on ground.
This year, Coachella will be broadcasting sets from right across the festival via three dedicated channels on YouTube and have implemented a customisable schedule, which means you can line up what artists you want before they play and have your own personalised stream schedule ready to go. The livestream schedule hasn’t dropped yet, but keep an eye on their official YouTube channel for updates as they come.
For now, we’ve been taking a look at the schedule for Weekend One and have pulled out 20 artists who we’re most devo to be missing/hoping to catch on the livestream over the weekend. Line ’em up and watch ’em do their thing in the Californian desert, Coachella’s got us sorted wherever we are for another year!
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
Set Time: Friday, 11:10pm – COACHELLA STAGE
Their return to live touring has been one of the most hyped this year and going off the band’s recent show in New York, the LCD Soundsystem festival set list is going to be stacked full of the classics. It’s a Coachella return awaited by many; five years since they last headlined the main stage, LCD Soundsystem are going to have to meet some pretty hefty expectations but the excitement surrounding their round of live shows this year would indicate that they’re going to be welcomed back warmly regardless.
M83
Set Time: Friday, 7:55pm – COACHELLA STAGE
Anthony Gonzalez has caused some division in opinion with the release of the new M83 record, Junk. Openly reining in some distinctive sounds and influences that formed the acclaimed Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming album in favour for a decidedly more 70’s/80’s electro-pop lilt, the French producer and musician has continued to strive ahead defiantly in making music that is equal parts wacky, colourful and definitely fodder for conversation starters amongst those techy-music fans among us.
The question is though, how will this new material stack up against the rest live? M83 has long been a favourite among festival crowds around the globe and given the amount of time in between shows of this calibre and again, with this new album itching to be rolled out live, it’ll be interesting to see how M83 has figured out how to re-capture the live music fan’s imagination and attention.
NINA LAS VEGAS
Set Time: Friday, 12:30pm – SAHARA STAGE
There’s been a gap in our live club scene since Nina up and left triple j and Australia for the American sunshine and the opportunities that awaited the producer and musician Stateside. Her addition to the Coachella line up this year is a testament to how much her work has paid off in the last twelve months alone, as well it being a mark of how much her music and artistry has become renowned and respected beyond Australia.
THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS
Set Time: Friday, 8:20pm – MOJAVE STAGE
Another group who made a long-awaited return in 2016 has been the Miles Kane/Alex Turner bromance, The Last Shadow Puppets. Their sophomore album, Everything You’ve Come to Expect, is currently doing the rounds, while the band has been appearing on US TV and hitting their own headline dates out of the park. Recent shows have seen The Last Shadow Puppets feature a live string section on stage with them, fusing the intricacies of the poppier sides of their new material with that slamming guitar play Kane and Turner handle effortlessly themselves.
GUNS ‘N’ ROSES
Set Time: Saturday, 10:30pm – COACHELLA STAGE
The big one. Obviously, the reunion of Guns ‘n’ Roses has been marred by rumours and internal changes for years now but it would seem that even Axl Rose‘s broken foot isn’t stopping the iconic US rock band from storming ahead and giving long time fans the shows they’ve been waiting for. While the word is still out on whether Rose will be fronting AC/DC, we’re going to sit and enjoy watching the stream of the G ‘n’ R Coachella set while the euphoria of this reunion lasts.
BADBADNOTGOOD
Set Time: Saturday, 10:55pm – GOBI STAGE
Easily one of the most progressive bands out of Canada at the moment, BBNG come to Coachella with an excited buzz surrounding them. Since breaking out around 2012, the Toronto trio has been striking a chord with fans of jazz, hip hop and the more experimental fringes of both. Their collaborations with Tyler, The Creator, Frank Ocean and Ghostface Killah most notably have put them on the map and their live shows have been something of a, ‘you need to see it to get it’ type calibre.
RÜFÜS DU SOL (RÜFÜS)
Set Time: Saturday, 9:40pm – GOBI STAGE
RÜFÜS are on the Gobi Stage just before BADBADNOTGOOD, so we can expect some eclectic and wildly entertaining sets to round out Saturday night at Coachella, for sure. The Australians spent the end of 2015 pulling thousands of punters at the Falls Festival and with their new album Innerbloom displaying a continued drive for creating some innovative and bold sounds unique to their own style, the trio are setting themselves up for a huge 2016 yet.
BAT FOR LASHES
Set Time: Saturday, 5:50pm – GOBI STAGE
Natasha Khan is back! The new Bat For Lashes album, The Bride, is due out July 1st and to generate more buzz for the album, the British artist has been announcing some shows around the US to get back into the swing of things. We haven’t seen her out in Australia since she was touring The Haunted Man on the Laneway Festival, so the new Bat For Lashes live show is definitely one we’re keen to watch out for.
CLOVES
Set Time: Saturday, 2:30pm – MOJAVE STAGE
Melbourne artist Kaity Dunstan, aka Cloves, may call London home now, but her name is one that is definitely going global. We first saw her performing with her band at SXSW this year and she brought an impressive presence to the stage, with a musicality that was definitely attention-grabbing. It’s obvious the effect is spreading too, with the young artist popping up on festivals including not only Coachella, but Lollapalooza and Osheaga as well.
MATTHEW DEAR
Set Time: Saturday, 4:45pm – MOJAVE STAGE
It’ll be interesting to see if Matthew Dear comes through Coachella with his full live show production, or brings one of his globally popular DJ sets instead but regardless, his position on the festival line up is representative of Coachella’s programming of some killer techno talent at the moment. Though there hasn’t been a new Matthew Dear album since 2012’s Beams, it’ll be an intriguing set brimming with potential considering the body of work the producer and DJ now has behind him.
RHYE
Set Time: Saturday, 5:25pm – OUTDOOR THEATRE
Rhye’s debut album Woman was one of the best of 2013, in my opinion, and we’ve still yet to hear of their follow up, though Mike Milosh did open up about its progression last year. The neo-soul/R&B influenced duo have been recreating the lush and inviting environment their recorded music strongly established brilliantly onstage with sets at the likes of the Pitchfork Music Festival recently – with a late afternoon set at the Outdoor Theatre, no doubt there’ll be some hazy vibes in the air for this one.
SIA
Set Time: Sunday, 9:00pm – COACHELLA STAGE
Sia most definitely hasn’t gone anywhere since her last shows five years ago, but her re-emergence on to the public stage has drawn much conversation. Having had a hand in penning many songs that have slaughtered it in the charts around the world over the last few years, Sia’s recent album This is Acting has further shown Sia Furler as an artist with the strength to deliver material on her own. We saw her perform her first show since 2011 at SXSW this year and going off that show, we can only imagine what the Adelaide-native has in store once she fully kicks back into gear live.
ANDERSON .PAAK & THE FREE NATIONALS
Set Time: Sunday, 8:25pm – MOJAVE STAGE
Easily one of the most exciting names in R&B and hip hop at the moment and one of the standout artists we saw at SXSW this year, Anderson .Paak hits Coachella with much hype behind him, undoubtedly. If you haven’t gotten around his Malibu record yet, do yourselves a favour and check it out – the music displays the artist’s clear versatility and talent as a writer and his vocal is just to die for.
JOYWAVE
Set Time: Sunday, 3:40pm – MOJAVE STAGE
Joywave are a band we caught some of at Lollapalooza Berlin last year, the New Yorkers touring their 2015 album How Do You Feel Now? Since then, the band has been touring pretty solidly, most recently going through the US with Metric to favourable praise. Though they’re widely labelled as ‘indie-pop’, Joywave’s efforts with How Do You Feel Now? pointed to a group of musicians unafraid of mashing together a range of influences from electro-pop to disco and hip-hop on their arrangements and live, it comes together quite well.
DEATH GRIPS
Set Time: Sunday, 9:30pm – GOBI STAGE
When Death Grips announced that they ‘might make some more music’, even though their 2014 break up news seemed pretty definite, a lot of us didn’t know what/how much to expect. Still, with Bottomless Pit, the anarchic rap crew have ignited new excitement with the fans and even if it does wind up being the last we hear from them in some time, we’re going to be taking in every opportunity to see them doing their thing live until they call it quits. Fingers crossed they land on the livestream schedule.
YOUNG FATHERS
Set Time: Sunday, 1:50pm – OUTDOOR THEATRE
They whipped crowds up into a frenzy when they were in the country over New Year’s for the Falls Festival tour and yet, we still feel Young Fathers still have so much to let loose on. The Scottish trio doesn’t hold back on the live front, their performances raging as hard as their recorded material does. White Men Are Black Too was an album expertly crafted and delivered a final result that was a near on perfect protest record – engaging and confrontational, but never forgetting the musical aspect of it all. Wickedly entertaining.
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