By Owen Hynes
The dust has now settled over Indio, California as thousands of music fans watched Ariana Grande close out the second weekend of the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Sunday night.
Now, as festival attendees post their last Instagrams from the weekend and return to their normal, everyday lives until next April, it’s hard not to look back and reminisce on all of the memorable moments and surprises from weekend two.
As hard as it was to narrow down all of the exciting moments from Coachella’s second weekend, here’s what we compiled for our top five …
#5: Kid Cudi Brings Out Kanye West To Perform “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” “Ghost Town,” “Reborn,” and More
During his set on Saturday night, Kid Cudi brought out Kanye West for a surprise performance in front of an amped crowd at Coachella’s Sahara Tent. The duo wasted no time and immediately began performing a number of their most recent collaborations, including “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” from West’s album “The Life of Pablo” and “Reborn,” one of the tracks from the pair’s project “Kids See Ghosts.” In addition to West, artists Ty Dolla $ign and 070 Shake also joined Kid Cudi on stage during the performance.
Cudi closed out both of his weekend performances with the artist’s well-known hit “Pursuit of Happiness,” inciting a wave of nostalgia throughout the crowd as thousands sang along.
#4: Billie Eilish Solidifies Her Breakout Star Status
Prior to both of her Saturday performances at Coachella 2019, 17-year-old Billie Eilish was one of the festival’s most anticipated acts amidst all the buzz surrounding her new debut album, “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” After technical difficulties caused her set to start late during the first weekend’s performance, Eilish started right on time during weekend two and gave the Outdoor Theatre crowd watching a performance to remember.
Eilish took the crowd through an array of songs from her debut album, such as some of her classics like “Ocean Eyes.” The singer even enlisted the help of Vince Staples, who joined Eilish on stage to perform their collaboration “&burn.” At one point during her set, over the sound of thousands of fans singing along to the breakout artist’s lyrics, Eilish started to get emotional.
“I literally used to sit in my room and cry because I wanted this s*** so bad,” Eilish said. “I promise you, if I could stay up on this stage for the rest of my life, I would. Forever,” she later told the crowd.
After her two Saturday performances at Coachella 2019, it’s now clear that Eilish is one of the music industry’s next breakout stars.
#3: Ariana Grande Closes Out Coachella on Sunday, Brings Out Justin Bieber For A Surprise Performance
During her weekend one performance, Ariana Grande treated her Coachella audience to quite a few surprise guests, including *NSYNC, Nicki Minaj and P. Diddy; however, prior to her Sunday closing set during the festival’s second weekend, Grande told fans via Twitter that she would not be bringing any surprises with her the second time around.
“Tomorrow you’re stuck w[ith] just me,” tweeted Grande.
However, during Grande’s performance on Sunday night, a special guest did end up joining the singer on stage. Between her songs “Break Free” and “No Tears Left To Cry,” Grande paused to present her fans in the crowd with a surprise, according to Variety.
“I wasn’t going to bring out any guests tonight … But my friend Justin Bieber came all the way out,” Grande said as the crowd erupted in excitement.
Bieber, who hadn’t performed onstage in almost two years, joined Grande to sing his hit song “Sorry,” and later addressed the Coachella crowd on his hiatus from the stage spotlight.
“I had to get my groove back, had to get my swag back … you know what I’m saying,” said Bieber.
#2: Tame Impala and A$AP Rocky Perform “Sundress” and “LSD” Together on Saturday Night
After the Australian psychedelic rock group’s performance on Saturday night of Coachella weekend two, one thing was left clear: Tame Impala and A$AP Rocky were the perfect collaboration that fans needed.
Tame Impala, fresh off the release of two new singles, “Borderline” and “Patience,” brought Rocky onstage to perform the rapper’s songs “Sundress,” which samples the band’s 2011 song “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?” and “LSD,” from Rocky’s album “At.Long.Last.A$AP.”
Here’s a video of Tame Impala and Rocky performing “LSD”:
https://twitter.com/beverIyIaureI/status/1119981298624471042
Following their performance at Coachella 2019, Tame Impala are now slated to head on tour throughout the summer, including tour stops at various festivals, such as Glastonbury, Boston Calling, Lollapalooza, and more.
On top of a tour, although not officially confirmed yet, Tame Impala are also rumored to release a follow-up to their 2015 album “Currents” sometime this year.
#1: Kanye West Brings His Sunday Service to Coachella, Enlists the Help of Chance The Rapper, Kid Cudi, and More
Instead of touring to support a new album or causing waves of controversy and debate on Twitter, Kanye West is trying something new in 2019. At the beginning of the year, West started his weekly gospel performance series, Sunday Service; however, prior to bringing the Easter edition of the series to Coachella on Sunday morning of weekend two, West had only opened it up to friends and a small list of those close to him.
On Sunday morning, when West performed his Easter edition of Sunday Service, the artist opted to trade away his usually smaller-sized audience for an audience of 50,000 people, according to TMZ, who received attendance information from Coachella production sources.
The performance was highlighted by West playing gospel-inspired versions of older tracks, such as “Jesus Walks” and “All Falls Down,” in addition to newer songs like “Ghost Town” and “Reborn.” West even debuted an unreleased track called “Water,” featuring vocals from singer Ant Clemons, who also has a feature on the track “All Mine” from West’s 2018 album, “Ye.” On top of that, West brought out special guests like Chance The Rapper, Kid Cudi and DMX to join him on stage during the performance.
Here’s a glimpse from the Coachella edition of West’s Sunday Service:
https://twitter.com/ComplexMusic/status/1120048316488855552
Once again, Coachella played host to plenty of surprises over the course of the festival’s two weekends this year; however, thanks to these five performances and many more unique surprises, weekend two has made a very strong case for taking home the award for Coachella’s best weekend.
Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Coachella’s Facebook page.
Owen Hynes is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at ohynes@terpmail.umd.edu.
