The rumours were true: Rage Against the Machine, Frank Ocean and Travis Scott will indeed headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this April.
The festival, scheduled for April 10-12 and 17-19, announced its full lineup on January 3. The combination of a lefty-agitating rap-metal act, a mercurial young R&B singer and one of trap’s trendsetters hit just about all the core demographics for the fest, while staying away from the pure pop of recent years (Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga).
The deeper bill shows an admirably global and diverse slate of sounds: a marquee K-Pop set from Big Bang and a hometown show for Lana Del Rey; a wide bill of rowdy rap from Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, 21 Savage, Roddy Ricch and City Girls; film composer Danny Elfman (you may recall his ‘Simpsons’ theme); rising R&B singers Ari Lennox and Summer Walker; and several acts from the eclectic pan-Asian label 88 Rising.
Coachella’s grown more friendly to contemporary radio sensations, and Lil Nas X and Lewis Capaldi will both get to prove whether they can bring a compelling live show to match their streaming and Grammy success. There are also strong entries from the wilds of hyper-pop in Kim Petras and 100 Gecs (not to mention the Japanese anime-bot Hatsune Miku), and the second-billed Gen-Z rock phenom Rex Orange County will have a chance to see whether he’s a potential festival headliner in his own right.
Coachella 2020 also features a slightly down-bill return from onetime headliner Calvin Harris. While there’s not much EDM atop the ticket (tastes have shifted much toward hip-hop and R&B), club acts like Yaeji, DJ Koze and Peggy Gou hold up a serviceable run through the dance tent.
And we wouldn’t put it past Run the Jewels to bring out their old pal Bernie Sanders for a cameo.
Tickets for weekend one are sold out, but the second goes on sale January 6.
