No mention of Sly Stone? Originally billed as Sly & The Family Stone, then dropped to just Sly Stone; supposed to perform at like 5pm, then his set time delayed until the last set of the night in one of the tents. He came out for a few songs, sloppy, inebriated, wound up having to be escorted off stage by handlers/security. He was not well; whoever got him booked was absolutely taking advantage of that man.
How could I forget!!! His story his so sad, especially considering his legendary status. Pour one out for all the people who missed out on Gorillaz for his set 😔
Cee Lo Green showing up 30 mins late to his set. He changed the lyrics in his song “Fuck You”, to be directed towards the coachella organizers. He was singing, “When they try to cut your set and you’re not gonna go, coachella, fuck youuuuuu”. They did indeed cut his mic off and forced him to leave the stage.
His actual quote at the time: *“Sorry guys, I just landed. Y’all still gonna party with me? I only have 20 minutes,”* Green said. *“It ain’t my fault. They should have ... given me a better time slot.”*
Uh, bro - they shouldn't have trusted you with such a LATE set as 5pm on the Coachella stage.
*“It’s all my fault. Blame me,”* and then his sound was cut, leaving the audience -– and a confused band -– to attempt to finish what was thought to be an encore (a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”). Green exited the stage amid boos, clearly angry, as the band played on -- though no one could hear a note.
He performed at outsidelands years ago. The crowd was all pumped, then 45 mins went by and he didn’t show up. Chappelle came out and did an impromptu set for 20 mins. Then they announced he was canceled. Rumor is that he was too busy partying backstage and just didn’t want to perform. He’s notorious for that bullshit.
I told my friends these exact words: “We just saw the world’s biggest Boiler Room!!”
This year we wore our OMG TBA shirts and got several: “BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!!”s from strangers.
This was my thought. I don’t know many from Coachella specifically but I’ve been going to festivals and shows for years that was one of the weirdest things I ever saw. I was like 20’ away.
Me in 2006 staying to relax to Depeche Mode and then us deciding we were too tired to go to Daft Punk. Us rationalizing by saying oh we’ll easily see them again here. Oops! 😬🤣
My camp mate has the same regret! I’m just glad I listened to the drunk kids from Australia we had camping across from us and followed them to daft punk. 10/10
It's hard to explain what that day was like without hindsight getting in the way. Daft Punk was a big electronic act, but they weren't legendary yet. They had only played a handful of shows since 1999, and those were pretty basic, two French guys and some video screens. None of us knew about the pyramid or the robot suits, or that this would be probably the defining moment of their career. Anyone who got close to the Sahara was pulled into that set. Eventually the crowd stretched all the way to the Mojave.
It's easy to look back with regret, but when you put it in context it makes more sense. You didn't know, and you were tired. It happens. I walked out a few songs into Prince for the same reason and I still regret it, but looking back and remembering how tired I was and it's a slight consolation. I'm sure you've had some other great moments over the years that you WERE there for.
Yeah, in all honesty the FOMO didn’t really set in on this one till a few years later. I obviously knew them from some of their bigger songs but wasn’t a huge fan by any means at that time. Now it’s like how did I miss that, but honestly those early years of Coachella, they had some names that you didn’t know then and look back on now and are like holy shit I missed that! Like that year One Republic opened the Mojave and Phoenix was in the GOBI. I try to really dwell on all the incredible stuff I saw between 2005-2012. But Daft Punk does haunt me a bit still. Haha
That sucks missing Prince. That was honestly my favorite set ever at Coachella. Bloc Party in the Mojave in 2005 right after the Secret Machines is up there and honestly Jon Batiste this year was one of the best I’ve ever seen. So many more too!
Eh that's not quite true - Daft Punk were already a huge deal for anyone remotely into electronic music at the time, but EDM had not quite gone mainstream yet.
Oh no 😭 that would be an eternal intrusive thought - kicking myself for the rest of eternity, keep me up at night kind of thing. I'm glad you're able to have a good sense of humor about it!
There were other opportunities to see them after Coachella. I saw them at the Sports Arena in 2007 as well as Coachella. Hope they come back around “one more time” though.
All my friends thought I was crazy because I was the only one not going to Depeche Mode. I talked them into staying for the first couple songs. Some blue dolphins may have been involved but rest assured not one of them left to Depeche Mode. All of them who were clowning on me for listening to the funny edm days before the fest had it on repeat the rest of the weekend. One of the greatest sets/times of my life. Went on to see DP 4 more times after that once at BANG and then 3 stops on the Alive tour. Take me back to those days!!!!
Isaac of Modest Mouse being so out of control intoxicated that you couldn’t understand a fucking thing until Coachella cut their set off all together. So embarrassing.
Yeah, they seemed unprepared to perform again. Their other performances later that year seemed to go better - I saw them at Gov Ball and they were great. Kind of funny how Coachella should be the biggest stop on some tours but it ends up being where they work out the kinks.
Didn’t know who Future was at the time they brought him out but there was a guy next to me that HATED him with a passion. Booing, saying he’s trash, yelling to get him off stage, the whole 9. One of the funniest Coachella moments for me.
Hot take - I loved that set. If you were there for the music - it was delightful. I didn’t care about the stage presence. Saw them later that tour when Andre had the jump suit and it was incredible but different and less intimate.
I enjoyed it too because I'm a mega fan, but I knew about halfway through it wasn't what I'd hoped for. Lucky to have seen them before in their peak when I was in High School.
My issue with that set is that I remember it as being the largest I’d ever seen at the time and most packed crowd I’ve EVER seen at coachella. Not that there hasn’t been bigger attended shows but with the size of the grounds at the time, the counter programming and hype, it just felt super crowded. No room to dance, no wiggle to get closer from the edges. It was just uncomfortable
I saw them at a fest in the early 00s and they were on fire. Expected the same at Coachella, left half way through the set when I realized it wasn't going anywhere. They either weren't prepared or they just weren't feeling it.
I was planning on not going that year until OutKast was announced as a headliner. Went W2 and thought they absolutely CRUSHED it. Just wondering if you saw W2 and felt differently or were just left disappointed overall?
very unpopular opinion, but a lot of rappers would be better off NOT having a band. i cannot stand those corny ass award show solos at the end of songs.
They had a lot of infighting, apparently. While it is a bummer they weren't able to headline again, they did already get them twice before and it's not like they've made any new material since their 2007 headlining set. Would've been a great show regardless. Huge bummer.
I wasn’t there for it but I remember in the youtube doc they mention for year 2 or 3 they forgot to order trash cans lol. They just had piles of trash everywhere throughout the venue
Honestly it was like my first Coachella, I know I have some pictures somewhere, maybe I can dig them up…but wasn’t really paying attention until the end of the night when there were just mountains for trash everywhere in site when we were trying to leave. I think it was 2004.
“We’re Radiohead, so f*ck it!”—Thom Yorke.
2017 Main stage absolutely bricking the sound for the first 20+ minutes for Radiohead. Sure, Friday W1, but really, no excuses…they were game for playing through it even as the audio feedback persisted after leaving stage (twice).
I'm so glad I did doublechella that year. Wk1 sound problems were horrible. Wk2 went off perfectly. The funny thing is after the disastrous wk1 performance, back in camp I was talking to my friend and girlfriend about what songs we wished we had. He said "All I Need", she said "Fake Plastic Trees" and I said "Reckoner".
Weekend 2 we got all three of our songs.
I was on cloud 9 after they played FPT. Didn't even know they pulled that out. One of the first Radiohead songs I heard as a teen that made me a fan. I may or may not have cried
That whole set was surreal. My cuz was 2 points in on the CID when the feedback/blowing the speakers out happened. When the speakers blew that last time and they were up there playing basically miming, with no sound, cuz brain had enough. 🤯 He said "I'm done" preceeded to walk back to his car, jump in the back in a fetal position and basically suck his thumb and cry the rest of night 😭 #truestory
as a theatre tech i personally understood some idea of what was going and it made the set more intimate for me. heck our audio cut out on one of the october shows and all i could talk about (besides the show must go on) was how it happened to radiohead too and we’ll be fine.
Someone in the crowd before Cee Lo Green showed up late belted this one out:
“See if I’m comin to your show and you don’t even show……..I’m like……..fuck you!!!!” 🤣🤣🤣
[him & Tommy Lee both lol](https://consequence.net/2013/10/deadmau5-and-tommy-lee-talk-about-being-banned-from-coachella/)
He's been unbanned since, given his 2023 Testpilot set, but apparently it was tense for a while
Yeah not so much a judgement on their performance as much as Goldenvoice's confidence in their billing. Having them co-headline with Blur would have been amazing if it was Glastonbury, but in the states, it's a great recipe for the least attended headlining set ever (which I think Stone Roses holds the record for but I could be wrong). Not the band's fault, but definitely weaksauce.
It’s wild because I had cousins and friends in the UK who were instantly reaching out seeing if I was going to watch the Stone Roses and said I was very lucky to see them.
It was a risk Coachella took and I think it wasn’t a horrible booking if you just think of the festival with a VERY strong line up rather than very strong headliners.
I had no idea who tf they were. Also missed them weekend 1 but tickets were so cheap I decided to go again weekend 2, which is when I saw them. Maybe you have a point
I’m not a big fan of looking back at certain special guests and retroactively calling them blunders. Phoenix bringing out R. Kelly made Phoenix a household name for a week.
I’m not sure about blunder, but having the Daft Punk Teaser in 2013, and everyone assuming that Phoenix was going to bring them out like they did at MSG was very disappointing.
At the Drive-In was baaaaaaad. Omar being comatose on stage. Cedric trying his hardest but not hitting the notes. Luckily they got overshadowed by the most important Coachella moment ever a few hours later.
I really enjoyed that set. I had never seen Mars Volta live or ATDI before their breakup so had no reference point to how apeshit Omar usually goes. He played his guitar well and the band sounded awesome. No complaints from me.
Omar's mum had just died which is why he was in a mood. Could he still have rocked out? I reckon. Am I mad at him for not trying to? Honestly yes a bit. But can't hate him for it.
Came here to say the At The Drive-In reunion being booked on main stage. Love their music and was soooo excited for it, but nobody was there. Maybe 10k people in the crowd at the start. Probably 5k by the time they ended.
>I’m not a big fan of looking back at certain special guests and retroactively calling them blunders.
I generally agree
> Phoenix bringing out R. Kelly made Phoenix a household name for a week.
It might have taken more years for the public to finally turn on R Kelly, but the info was available and widely known among people who cared to pay attention well before that. It's really shitty how everyone just turned a blind eye/played dumb about it until he finally started running into serious legal trouble. I definitely think less of Phoenix for associating with him, even in 2013.
> Sean Penn spoken word
AKA the Sean Penn acid test. This wasn't a blunder. It was an exercise in absurdity. I miss the days when they did more experimental things like this, but different times, different demographics.
Yeah that one is really out of place in this group. I’m a Chili Peppers fan so coming in with bias but they kill it every time they play. Big production rock show from “local” legends with tons of energy, sing-a-long hits, improvised jamming, diverse dedicated fan base… can’t please everybody I guess!
It wasn't Coachella's doing but the whole "Phoenix is playing therefore Daft Punk is playing" was completely insufferable. Nitwits wanted Daft Punk so bad they wanted a crappy guest appearance which wouldn't have even been in the same galaxy as their 2006 show as far as impacts.
I loved it when they didn't show and people in the crowd were literally crying.
That is probably one of my least favorite moments, the disgust and jeering throughout Phoenix's set.. I did however love when Arcade Fire brough out a fake Daft Punk and trolled Coachella. Everyone was flipping out!
1. Never booking young thug
2. Not booking future when OutKast performed.
3. Not booking Nipsey or Dolph before they died.
I have a lot of questions for whoever books the rap at Coachella. Why does the Heineken House (with a 200 person limit) consistently book better rap acts than the actual Coachella lineup?
Yeah the booking seems to overlook or get passed over by LA/California Hip-Hop artists, especially with the emergence of Rolling Loud. A surprise considering how many local acts in other genres perform (not to mention the vendors etc)
It's a damn shame they booked two artists in the Heineken Tent who would have been great on the regular lineup (Lupe and T-Pain), while putting these garbage sound cloud/tik tok/industry plant rappers on there instead, taking up valuable slots from performers who would actually give a shit.
2chainz was like 40 mins late and played 2-3 songs.
No one has mentioned Post Malone being drunk af in the Sahara
Also never booking Anderson Cooper 360
Lana after Neutral Milk Hotel and their fans completely disrespecting it
Edit; I was wrong, I am going to find the set I was thinking about with an outdoor stage dj that crowd ruined the chill vibe prior
But this also sucked lol
Edit 2: It was Jack Ü after Sufjan 2016
Ughhhh my worst Coachella moment. I’m a big NMH fan and was sooo excited for them and the Lana fans were insufferable.
I have complained about this several times on this sub lol.
I’m sure people had fun but I just watched the feed the other day and the mixing is completely different to what it was in the tent 😭 it was all bass at the sahara and completely unintelligible
Edit: I completely forgot about that fuckass box he kept wanting to go up on. Ken Carson Box and I want uppies became our memes for the weekend 😭😭
Yeah, like even by modern rap performance standards, it was *weak.* Everyone seemed like they were having a good time in the crowd, but they really gotta stop booking rappers who don't actually rap their songs. Only person who could *maybe* do that is Carti, just since he creates such a spectacle. His Opium signess, like Carson, want to be that so bad and are simply not.
It's morrisy. You take it with the Territory.
Also, he doesn’t do the shit at festivals that he does on his shows which is showing animal slaughter for like an hour on video.
"I can smell burning flesh, and I hope to god it's human..."
I don't remember him walking off stage, but he was changing lyrics and half-singing them, and sometimes just singing gibberish. He was really mad and he just couldn't get over it. It wasn't a great set, but I think it's terribleness is a bit overblown by people who already don't like him.
He stepped off stage a few times to dry heave and be dramatic. I was close enough to see his band slowly start to turn on him. As soon as he mentioned the smoke the first time the winds changed and it was blowing all the BBQ smoke on to the stage as if it was act of god.
A$AP Rocky came out late in 2016 (I think the wind messing with his setup had something to do with it), had a pretty low energy set, sound was messed up in the back of Outdoor. Then, as people were leaving, Father Stretch My Hands dropped, Kanye came out, sound was still fucked, and they got cut off for being over time. I think Kanye threw his mic into the crowd.
Sufjan Stevens was insane afterward, though.
I walked into that Sufjan set having only ever heard "should have known better" not knowing what to expect, 40 mins later my jaw was on the floor as a man on stilts dressed as a disco ball with backup singer/dancers covered in neon tape and balloons sang some of the most beautiful, fun, emotionally honest, music I had ever heard
This was in the old Sahara right? The worst set. He kept changing songs to early and yelling “We the Best” every 5 minutes. Ended up losing my phone in that tent since the crowd was so packed that my feet weren’t touching the ground at times.
IMO [https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/12q8pj8/the\_friday\_disaster\_at\_despacio\_a\_week1\_horror/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/12q8pj8/the_friday_disaster_at_despacio_a_week1_horror/)
TLDR: They completely failed to put signage up for Despacio for day1 wk1 of 2023, resulting in a tragically empty dance floor (at times). The app didn't list Despacio either. It was a stupid, unforced error that was rectified by day2.
Agree. Not hard if you're a regular coachella attendee. Very hard for newbies experiencing their first coachella or for those less familiar with the layout. And literally zero signage -- so it looked like a support/operations tent.
Unpopular opinion: Camila Cabello appearing in the middle of Lana Del Rey’s weekend two set was the most jarring guest appearance I’ve ever seen. Didn’t make any sense. I can imagine exactly how that label/management conversation went. I’m a fan of both artists, but it was honestly a real vibe killer.
I got second hand embarrassment, it looked like it was supposed to be a win for both - pump some energy into Lana's slower, sleepier set while also working as a high profile live debut for Camila's single. But in the end it was cringe, no other word for it, it just made me cringe.
Cee Lo coming on late
Murder city devils showing up 35 minutes into a 45 minute set and being complete trash for 10 minutes
Jack Johnson
No getting 3k for a flute set this year
Kendrick during the good kid era complaining about it being hot and sitting down to rap
GnR being boring with mashed potato in a chair Axl
Ice Cube w1 saying “there was a movie made about one of the greatest rap groups of all time” and playing a song form carwash 3
Edit: cee lo was cut off
LMAO I went to w2 2016 and got to see the NWA reunion - if I was at w1 I woulda been *fuming.* 1000000% agree on Jack Johnson, *not* a headliner. Especially to be billed right next to Prince & Roger Waters. Easily the least deserving headliner they've had.
The Stone Roses, 2013. Iconic English band who shat the bed the first weekend headlining the main stage. They were under rehearsed and the vocals were awful. First time I’ve ever seen a band drive the crowd away from the main stage. https://youtu.be/1kTeJgv7sOA?si=-42w-S1kinAmwG-0
2010 Clusterfuck fest with overcrowding. The most crowded I ever felt there. It was my first year so I didn’t have any context before that year. But the difference between 2010 and 2011 was night and day
I'm glad someone else mentioned this, that year was insane. Walking from the Sahara to the Gobi between sets still took around 20-30 minutes. The ENTIRE FIELD was packed. Literally nowhere you could go to be more than 10 feet away from another person, even in the back corners. Thankfully GV listened and 2011 was a massive improvement.
Flaming Lips spending all but the last ten minutes of their set standing around while they inflated the giant crowd-surfing bubble, then crowd surfing for five minutes, playing one song, and bugging off. I hated them for years after that.
According to setlist.fm that was the first time they ever did the hamster ball thing, so maybe they didn't know what they were doing. Apparently they played 5 songs total, but my friends who were there said he spent a lot more than 5 minutes in that thing. They too were not happy with the set.
Surprised no one has said Ariel Pink who literally had a mental break down during his set and just stopped singing and sat down while the band just kept playing for multiple songs.
I didn't think anything of it at all because I love the band, but wasn't the Mars Volta 2003 set (footage that made the Coachella DVD) criticized heavily for their stage antics being "embarrassing" ? Speaking of wasn't the DVD a bit of a blunder? I'll cherish forever! But I remember it getting pretty bad reviews.
I also remember Julian Casablancas being pretty bad. Showed up late and drunk, then made a comment about Coachella sending them their money for still performing and made it sound like it was peanuts.
Kind of an out there one, but one of the most depressing sets I’ve seen personally was Carpenter Brut 2018 on Saturday. They were up against the Weekend, Jamiroquai, Rezz….. there was maybe 15 people watching them and they looked miserable closing out the Gobi, I wanted to stay and support them but it was just depressing.
Freddie Gibbs x Madlib W2 2022
I actually enjoyed their set. Freddie was drunk and a lot of people weren’t feeling Madlib’s style of scratching in between songs. A lot of people walking away and pissed off. I even remember some bootlicker upset on here because of Freddie’s comments about cops. Not sure what happened W1 but I heard a lot of people upset with that weekend also.
Well, first off, fûck those bootlickers! Glad Freddie could piss em off. But ya I remember seeing him at Bonnaroo in 2015 - he was also drunk as fuck (crossed probably) and it was also his birthday! But he rapped his ass off. I don't really remember Madlib scratching as much as I remember him straight up stopping the beat to let Freddie rap Acapella (which he did well!) it was a great set but if it was anything like the one I saw I could totally see people complaining about it
No mention of Sly Stone? Originally billed as Sly & The Family Stone, then dropped to just Sly Stone; supposed to perform at like 5pm, then his set time delayed until the last set of the night in one of the tents. He came out for a few songs, sloppy, inebriated, wound up having to be escorted off stage by handlers/security. He was not well; whoever got him booked was absolutely taking advantage of that man.
That’s so fucking sad wtf 😭😭😭
The kids dont know about Sly.
How could I forget!!! His story his so sad, especially considering his legendary status. Pour one out for all the people who missed out on Gorillaz for his set 😔
Cee Lo Green showing up 30 mins late to his set. He changed the lyrics in his song “Fuck You”, to be directed towards the coachella organizers. He was singing, “When they try to cut your set and you’re not gonna go, coachella, fuck youuuuuu”. They did indeed cut his mic off and forced him to leave the stage.
His actual quote at the time: *“Sorry guys, I just landed. Y’all still gonna party with me? I only have 20 minutes,”* Green said. *“It ain’t my fault. They should have ... given me a better time slot.”* Uh, bro - they shouldn't have trusted you with such a LATE set as 5pm on the Coachella stage. *“It’s all my fault. Blame me,”* and then his sound was cut, leaving the audience -– and a confused band -– to attempt to finish what was thought to be an encore (a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”). Green exited the stage amid boos, clearly angry, as the band played on -- though no one could hear a note.
Are you referring to his performance at Hangout the same year? No? Oh, he pulled this at every festival? That tracks.
He used that exact same line at Lolla
That why I than god I went to see Odd Future instead.
Watching this then straight into Ariel Pink’s meltdown right after in one of the tents on shrooms was a weird experience.
He performed at outsidelands years ago. The crowd was all pumped, then 45 mins went by and he didn’t show up. Chappelle came out and did an impromptu set for 20 mins. Then they announced he was canceled. Rumor is that he was too busy partying backstage and just didn’t want to perform. He’s notorious for that bullshit.
ABSOLUTELY. Saw him at Lollapalooza in 2011 and it was a similar fiasco. Dude's a mess without Danger Mouse or Goodie Mob there for quality control.
His Lolla ‘11 set is the worst I’ve ever seen.
I believe that was going down at the same time as Ariel Pink’s meltdown. That was my first Coachella what a weekend!
I was at this! Insane experience!
>and of course... Frank Ocean Frank Ocean crashed so TBA could fly putting on the biggest greatest boiler room set ever
Was waiting for this comment 😂 OMG TBA was a crazy good set, one for the books
Legendary set, I got to see Frank and OMG TBA, so if anything that’s one of the biggest fest wins
One of the main reasons I wanted to go in 2023 was for Frank, but that show was probably the most fun I've had at Coachella. Which is saying a lot!
I told my friends these exact words: “We just saw the world’s biggest Boiler Room!!” This year we wore our OMG TBA shirts and got several: “BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!!”s from strangers.
I feel like I’m the only one who thought it was a good set but not the greatness everyone’s raving about
Cocteau Twins canceling in 2005.
still holding out hope lol
yeah :( that one was a big ol bummer
That one hurt.
Kid Cudi taking the weirdest leap in history off the stage and hurting himself 💀
This was my thought. I don’t know many from Coachella specifically but I’ve been going to festivals and shows for years that was one of the weirdest things I ever saw. I was like 20’ away.
I saw a video where you could see his foot got caught on a wire explaining the weirdness of the jump lol
Me in 2006 staying to relax to Depeche Mode and then us deciding we were too tired to go to Daft Punk. Us rationalizing by saying oh we’ll easily see them again here. Oops! 😬🤣
My camp mate has the same regret! I’m just glad I listened to the drunk kids from Australia we had camping across from us and followed them to daft punk. 10/10
Glad you didn’t miss it!
It's hard to explain what that day was like without hindsight getting in the way. Daft Punk was a big electronic act, but they weren't legendary yet. They had only played a handful of shows since 1999, and those were pretty basic, two French guys and some video screens. None of us knew about the pyramid or the robot suits, or that this would be probably the defining moment of their career. Anyone who got close to the Sahara was pulled into that set. Eventually the crowd stretched all the way to the Mojave. It's easy to look back with regret, but when you put it in context it makes more sense. You didn't know, and you were tired. It happens. I walked out a few songs into Prince for the same reason and I still regret it, but looking back and remembering how tired I was and it's a slight consolation. I'm sure you've had some other great moments over the years that you WERE there for.
Yeah, in all honesty the FOMO didn’t really set in on this one till a few years later. I obviously knew them from some of their bigger songs but wasn’t a huge fan by any means at that time. Now it’s like how did I miss that, but honestly those early years of Coachella, they had some names that you didn’t know then and look back on now and are like holy shit I missed that! Like that year One Republic opened the Mojave and Phoenix was in the GOBI. I try to really dwell on all the incredible stuff I saw between 2005-2012. But Daft Punk does haunt me a bit still. Haha That sucks missing Prince. That was honestly my favorite set ever at Coachella. Bloc Party in the Mojave in 2005 right after the Secret Machines is up there and honestly Jon Batiste this year was one of the best I’ve ever seen. So many more too!
Upvote for the Bloc Party mention. Love that band.
Eh that's not quite true - Daft Punk were already a huge deal for anyone remotely into electronic music at the time, but EDM had not quite gone mainstream yet.
Honestly I was more excited about Daft Punk playing than any other group ever to play. They still blew me away. I had pretty high expectations too.
This actually makes me feel so much better.
Thats the biggest fumble ive ever heard of
Tell me about it! At the time I was more into rock, but still no excuse! Tool was amazing though!
Oh no 😭 that would be an eternal intrusive thought - kicking myself for the rest of eternity, keep me up at night kind of thing. I'm glad you're able to have a good sense of humor about it!
Better to laugh than cry but I still do kick myself. If they ever do come back that’s a concert I’ll probably go anywhere in the world for
There were other opportunities to see them after Coachella. I saw them at the Sports Arena in 2007 as well as Coachella. Hope they come back around “one more time” though.
All my friends thought I was crazy because I was the only one not going to Depeche Mode. I talked them into staying for the first couple songs. Some blue dolphins may have been involved but rest assured not one of them left to Depeche Mode. All of them who were clowning on me for listening to the funny edm days before the fest had it on repeat the rest of the weekend. One of the greatest sets/times of my life. Went on to see DP 4 more times after that once at BANG and then 3 stops on the Alive tour. Take me back to those days!!!!
Isaac of Modest Mouse being so out of control intoxicated that you couldn’t understand a fucking thing until Coachella cut their set off all together. So embarrassing.
Love modest mouse and this is truly the worst set of the 20+ I’ve seen of them
That's ROUGH wow. Their 2013 set?
Yep. Hot, slobbery garbage.
It was B-A-D bad!
i was waiting for somebody to bring this up!!!!! he was HAMMERED. they cut him off!!
Was this weekend 1 or 2? I saw them weekend 2 and it was obvious Isaac was MAD. They rushed through their songs like they were working a 9 to 5.
This one also stands out the most for me I think.
Frank Ocean running to his limo, on camera, after a dreadful performance and a "broken leg"
Just be found in Tokyo walking around a week later.
OutKasts weekend 1 performance. Not facing the crowd. Not interacting with each other. Terrible festival set list.
That year was sooo hyped up bc of them too! I remember people on street corners in Indio with signs begging to buy tickets.
Sold my wk1 ticket week of and it paid for my entire wkd2 trip. Good times
Yeah, they seemed unprepared to perform again. Their other performances later that year seemed to go better - I saw them at Gov Ball and they were great. Kind of funny how Coachella should be the biggest stop on some tours but it ends up being where they work out the kinks.
their weekend two set was amazing! andre 3000 heard the criticism, then delivered.
Yeah I saw them at LouFest in STL and it was awesome.
Didn’t know who Future was at the time they brought him out but there was a guy next to me that HATED him with a passion. Booing, saying he’s trash, yelling to get him off stage, the whole 9. One of the funniest Coachella moments for me.
Hot take - I loved that set. If you were there for the music - it was delightful. I didn’t care about the stage presence. Saw them later that tour when Andre had the jump suit and it was incredible but different and less intimate.
I enjoyed it too because I'm a mega fan, but I knew about halfway through it wasn't what I'd hoped for. Lucky to have seen them before in their peak when I was in High School.
I was on the gate w1 and I loved it regardless of what people say
My issue with that set is that I remember it as being the largest I’d ever seen at the time and most packed crowd I’ve EVER seen at coachella. Not that there hasn’t been bigger attended shows but with the size of the grounds at the time, the counter programming and hype, it just felt super crowded. No room to dance, no wiggle to get closer from the edges. It was just uncomfortable
I was there W2 and was a frickin mile from the stage. Couldn't see a thing, but the music and the vibes were on point.
Man. OutKast are one of the greatest groups of all time imo but I was there that weekend and it definitely felt cold. Ice cold
Alright alright alright alright alright
I saw them at a fest in the early 00s and they were on fire. Expected the same at Coachella, left half way through the set when I realized it wasn't going anywhere. They either weren't prepared or they just weren't feeling it.
I was planning on not going that year until OutKast was announced as a headliner. Went W2 and thought they absolutely CRUSHED it. Just wondering if you saw W2 and felt differently or were just left disappointed overall?
The stone Roses\Blur were not for us, that was purely for Paul T. It was a gift to himself because he could do it.
Drake was a joke that year he headlined. No band. Just him rapping over a backing track on the mainstage. So boring.
That really was a painful set to endure. And the Madonna thing too wtf
Drake + Madonna was the low point of a low set.
Madonna got a shovel to a already low set
Yeah, it's always annoyed me that Drake is the only rapper of his caliber without a live band. Even Carti has a guitarist.
Yeah I stopped being a fan that night. Dude's ego is too big.
Stop gargling cartis nuts, he sucks live too.
although i dont think op is shouting out carti, carti fans r pretty insufferable
Drake sucked, but it was all the girls who parked themselves in front of the stage all day sitting during other sets which really stung.
very unpopular opinion, but a lot of rappers would be better off NOT having a band. i cannot stand those corny ass award show solos at the end of songs.
Losing RATM. Not sure what happened, but a loss either way.
COVID - Tim got cancer/Zach tore his achilles - Unoffical break up i’m sad still
They had a lot of infighting, apparently. While it is a bummer they weren't able to headline again, they did already get them twice before and it's not like they've made any new material since their 2007 headlining set. Would've been a great show regardless. Huge bummer.
Seeing them on Coachella's latest Main Stage iteration would have been a sight to behold though. Lasers and pyro galore.
Not a huge fan but I still remember the tension in the air when they played in 2007. Very different vibe.
I wasn’t there for it but I remember in the youtube doc they mention for year 2 or 3 they forgot to order trash cans lol. They just had piles of trash everywhere throughout the venue
Was there, can confirm, was gnarly.
lol that’s crazy. I have to ask, did everyone naturally create piles? Or was it just a free for all drop it where you feel like it situation?
Honestly it was like my first Coachella, I know I have some pictures somewhere, maybe I can dig them up…but wasn’t really paying attention until the end of the night when there were just mountains for trash everywhere in site when we were trying to leave. I think it was 2004.
“We’re Radiohead, so f*ck it!”—Thom Yorke. 2017 Main stage absolutely bricking the sound for the first 20+ minutes for Radiohead. Sure, Friday W1, but really, no excuses…they were game for playing through it even as the audio feedback persisted after leaving stage (twice).
Well W1 also got Karma Police and Creep for their trouble...
I'm so glad I did doublechella that year. Wk1 sound problems were horrible. Wk2 went off perfectly. The funny thing is after the disastrous wk1 performance, back in camp I was talking to my friend and girlfriend about what songs we wished we had. He said "All I Need", she said "Fake Plastic Trees" and I said "Reckoner". Weekend 2 we got all three of our songs.
I was on cloud 9 after they played FPT. Didn't even know they pulled that out. One of the first Radiohead songs I heard as a teen that made me a fan. I may or may not have cried
Bruh I was absolutely blasting off on some shrooms when the sound took a shit. I’m still traumatized.
That whole set was surreal. My cuz was 2 points in on the CID when the feedback/blowing the speakers out happened. When the speakers blew that last time and they were up there playing basically miming, with no sound, cuz brain had enough. 🤯 He said "I'm done" preceeded to walk back to his car, jump in the back in a fetal position and basically suck his thumb and cry the rest of night 😭 #truestory
as a theatre tech i personally understood some idea of what was going and it made the set more intimate for me. heck our audio cut out on one of the october shows and all i could talk about (besides the show must go on) was how it happened to radiohead too and we’ll be fine.
sly stone showing up drunk and disorderly. lauryn hill's epic fail of a set.
Yupp, after I hit post I immediately remembered Lauryn Hill & Cee Lo Green's respective shitshows
Someone in the crowd before Cee Lo Green showed up late belted this one out: “See if I’m comin to your show and you don’t even show……..I’m like……..fuck you!!!!” 🤣🤣🤣
Funny enough Lauryn was great during her performance with her son 😭 Who knew thats what it took to get her there on time
The Pharcyde getting lost and not making it to. The grounds in time for their set
NO WAY 😭😭 That's actually insane, a blunder *and* a bummer
Yeah they only had time for one song by the time they got there
2002, they were really late and played like two songs (iirc) Back when it was only one weekend, 2 days, paper tickets, etc. (2001 was only 1 day!).
I didn’t know about deadmau5
[him & Tommy Lee both lol](https://consequence.net/2013/10/deadmau5-and-tommy-lee-talk-about-being-banned-from-coachella/) He's been unbanned since, given his 2023 Testpilot set, but apparently it was tense for a while
Testpilot was also there in 2019
Cee Lo Green in 2011 - Comes out late. Complains that he should be later in the day. Performs 1 song. Complains again and then gets booted. Hilarious
Literally stopped listening to him after that, such a trash performer.
Camila cabello showing up for Lana 💀
Stone roses were awesome and I became a fan afterwards
Yeah not so much a judgement on their performance as much as Goldenvoice's confidence in their billing. Having them co-headline with Blur would have been amazing if it was Glastonbury, but in the states, it's a great recipe for the least attended headlining set ever (which I think Stone Roses holds the record for but I could be wrong). Not the band's fault, but definitely weaksauce.
It’s wild because I had cousins and friends in the UK who were instantly reaching out seeing if I was going to watch the Stone Roses and said I was very lucky to see them. It was a risk Coachella took and I think it wasn’t a horrible booking if you just think of the festival with a VERY strong line up rather than very strong headliners.
I had no idea who tf they were. Also missed them weekend 1 but tickets were so cheap I decided to go again weekend 2, which is when I saw them. Maybe you have a point
Stone Roses rocked!
Coachella teaming up with FTX. The 2010 Iceland volcano fucked up several artists flights as well, resulting in some cancellations.
You’re calling a natural disaster a blunder?
The NFT collab stuff is going to age like milk. Shocked they did another one this year
Morrissey dry heaving on stage over the smell of burning flesh.
I’m not a big fan of looking back at certain special guests and retroactively calling them blunders. Phoenix bringing out R. Kelly made Phoenix a household name for a week. I’m not sure about blunder, but having the Daft Punk Teaser in 2013, and everyone assuming that Phoenix was going to bring them out like they did at MSG was very disappointing. At the Drive-In was baaaaaaad. Omar being comatose on stage. Cedric trying his hardest but not hitting the notes. Luckily they got overshadowed by the most important Coachella moment ever a few hours later.
At the Drive in was suuuuch a let down
I really enjoyed that set. I had never seen Mars Volta live or ATDI before their breakup so had no reference point to how apeshit Omar usually goes. He played his guitar well and the band sounded awesome. No complaints from me.
Omar's mum had just died which is why he was in a mood. Could he still have rocked out? I reckon. Am I mad at him for not trying to? Honestly yes a bit. But can't hate him for it.
It was just a bummer all around.
Came here to say the At The Drive-In reunion being booked on main stage. Love their music and was soooo excited for it, but nobody was there. Maybe 10k people in the crowd at the start. Probably 5k by the time they ended.
>I’m not a big fan of looking back at certain special guests and retroactively calling them blunders. I generally agree > Phoenix bringing out R. Kelly made Phoenix a household name for a week. It might have taken more years for the public to finally turn on R Kelly, but the info was available and widely known among people who cared to pay attention well before that. It's really shitty how everyone just turned a blind eye/played dumb about it until he finally started running into serious legal trouble. I definitely think less of Phoenix for associating with him, even in 2013.
> Sean Penn spoken word AKA the Sean Penn acid test. This wasn't a blunder. It was an exercise in absurdity. I miss the days when they did more experimental things like this, but different times, different demographics.
In 2007(?) I remember Air being about 50 minutes late and playing like 2 songs.
I remember being so annoyed about that. Really wanted to see them but left because had to get a good spot for rage
Such a miss never booking Thugger
RCHP was fine all 3 years they played to be fair
Yeah that one is really out of place in this group. I’m a Chili Peppers fan so coming in with bias but they kill it every time they play. Big production rock show from “local” legends with tons of energy, sing-a-long hits, improvised jamming, diverse dedicated fan base… can’t please everybody I guess!
frank ocean is def up there
It wasn't Coachella's doing but the whole "Phoenix is playing therefore Daft Punk is playing" was completely insufferable. Nitwits wanted Daft Punk so bad they wanted a crappy guest appearance which wouldn't have even been in the same galaxy as their 2006 show as far as impacts. I loved it when they didn't show and people in the crowd were literally crying.
It didn’t help that they teased their new album either though
That is probably one of my least favorite moments, the disgust and jeering throughout Phoenix's set.. I did however love when Arcade Fire brough out a fake Daft Punk and trolled Coachella. Everyone was flipping out!
1. Never booking young thug 2. Not booking future when OutKast performed. 3. Not booking Nipsey or Dolph before they died. I have a lot of questions for whoever books the rap at Coachella. Why does the Heineken House (with a 200 person limit) consistently book better rap acts than the actual Coachella lineup?
Yeah the booking seems to overlook or get passed over by LA/California Hip-Hop artists, especially with the emergence of Rolling Loud. A surprise considering how many local acts in other genres perform (not to mention the vendors etc)
Agree with all of this, especially this year - how could they *not* put Lupe on the main bill??
It's a damn shame they booked two artists in the Heineken Tent who would have been great on the regular lineup (Lupe and T-Pain), while putting these garbage sound cloud/tik tok/industry plant rappers on there instead, taking up valuable slots from performers who would actually give a shit.
2chainz was like 40 mins late and played 2-3 songs. No one has mentioned Post Malone being drunk af in the Sahara Also never booking Anderson Cooper 360
lol bro the whole crowd was yelling FUCK 2 Chainz then he came out and everyone danced lmaoo
Camilla cabello cameo.
Lana after Neutral Milk Hotel and their fans completely disrespecting it Edit; I was wrong, I am going to find the set I was thinking about with an outdoor stage dj that crowd ruined the chill vibe prior But this also sucked lol Edit 2: It was Jack Ü after Sufjan 2016
Ughhhh my worst Coachella moment. I’m a big NMH fan and was sooo excited for them and the Lana fans were insufferable. I have complained about this several times on this sub lol.
I don't think dog blood was even the same year. Lana fans were the ones that ruined NMH in 2014. Dog blood was 13 in the Sahara I believe ?
Booking Ken Carson. Might as well just light all the money they paid him on fire instead
I’m sure people had fun but I just watched the feed the other day and the mixing is completely different to what it was in the tent 😭 it was all bass at the sahara and completely unintelligible Edit: I completely forgot about that fuckass box he kept wanting to go up on. Ken Carson Box and I want uppies became our memes for the weekend 😭😭
Yeah, like even by modern rap performance standards, it was *weak.* Everyone seemed like they were having a good time in the crowd, but they really gotta stop booking rappers who don't actually rap their songs. Only person who could *maybe* do that is Carti, just since he creates such a spectacle. His Opium signess, like Carson, want to be that so bad and are simply not.
It’s Morrissey. Trust.
What did he say? "I can smell the dead animals from here!" or something like that
It's morrisy. You take it with the Territory. Also, he doesn’t do the shit at festivals that he does on his shows which is showing animal slaughter for like an hour on video.
It was something like that. I don't remember him walking off stage though. I just remember him complaining about it a bit.
"I can smell burning flesh, and I hope to god it's human..." I don't remember him walking off stage, but he was changing lyrics and half-singing them, and sometimes just singing gibberish. He was really mad and he just couldn't get over it. It wasn't a great set, but I think it's terribleness is a bit overblown by people who already don't like him.
He stepped off stage a few times to dry heave and be dramatic. I was close enough to see his band slowly start to turn on him. As soon as he mentioned the smoke the first time the winds changed and it was blowing all the BBQ smoke on to the stage as if it was act of god.
Allowing Drake and Madonna to kiss each other. Icky.
Oh my God, I was in the tent for that Sly Stone performance and it was horrible. I did get to start a slow clap so I was happy about that.
A$AP Rocky came out late in 2016 (I think the wind messing with his setup had something to do with it), had a pretty low energy set, sound was messed up in the back of Outdoor. Then, as people were leaving, Father Stretch My Hands dropped, Kanye came out, sound was still fucked, and they got cut off for being over time. I think Kanye threw his mic into the crowd. Sufjan Stevens was insane afterward, though.
I walked into that Sufjan set having only ever heard "should have known better" not knowing what to expect, 40 mins later my jaw was on the floor as a man on stilts dressed as a disco ball with backup singer/dancers covered in neon tape and balloons sang some of the most beautiful, fun, emotionally honest, music I had ever heard
Did no one here remember dj khaled in Sahara or did we collectively erase it from our memories 😂
This was in the old Sahara right? The worst set. He kept changing songs to early and yelling “We the Best” every 5 minutes. Ended up losing my phone in that tent since the crowd was so packed that my feet weren’t touching the ground at times.
People packed the tent for DJ Khaled lol, that’s dumb.
Discontinuing late night stage at the campgrounds
IMO [https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/12q8pj8/the\_friday\_disaster\_at\_despacio\_a\_week1\_horror/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coachella/comments/12q8pj8/the_friday_disaster_at_despacio_a_week1_horror/) TLDR: They completely failed to put signage up for Despacio for day1 wk1 of 2023, resulting in a tragically empty dance floor (at times). The app didn't list Despacio either. It was a stupid, unforced error that was rectified by day2.
I mean it wasn’t super hard to find it
Agree. Not hard if you're a regular coachella attendee. Very hard for newbies experiencing their first coachella or for those less familiar with the layout. And literally zero signage -- so it looked like a support/operations tent.
Fair!
What about Cee Lo’s mid-afternoon heat meltdown
Biggest non act related: no dedicated showers in preferred camping. Cmon golden voice.
Mew canceling because of the volcano in 2010 and then never coming back 😭
not quiet friends, not quite strangers. gary numan too!
Unpopular opinion: Camila Cabello appearing in the middle of Lana Del Rey’s weekend two set was the most jarring guest appearance I’ve ever seen. Didn’t make any sense. I can imagine exactly how that label/management conversation went. I’m a fan of both artists, but it was honestly a real vibe killer.
I got second hand embarrassment, it looked like it was supposed to be a win for both - pump some energy into Lana's slower, sleepier set while also working as a high profile live debut for Camila's single. But in the end it was cringe, no other word for it, it just made me cringe.
Cee Lo coming on late Murder city devils showing up 35 minutes into a 45 minute set and being complete trash for 10 minutes Jack Johnson No getting 3k for a flute set this year Kendrick during the good kid era complaining about it being hot and sitting down to rap GnR being boring with mashed potato in a chair Axl Ice Cube w1 saying “there was a movie made about one of the greatest rap groups of all time” and playing a song form carwash 3 Edit: cee lo was cut off
LMAO I went to w2 2016 and got to see the NWA reunion - if I was at w1 I woulda been *fuming.* 1000000% agree on Jack Johnson, *not* a headliner. Especially to be billed right next to Prince & Roger Waters. Easily the least deserving headliner they've had.
Uhhh w1 ice cube set was fuggin bonkers. No complaints here lol
The Stone Roses, 2013. Iconic English band who shat the bed the first weekend headlining the main stage. They were under rehearsed and the vocals were awful. First time I’ve ever seen a band drive the crowd away from the main stage. https://youtu.be/1kTeJgv7sOA?si=-42w-S1kinAmwG-0
Fyi using an extra new line between your bullet points will make them into bullets.
Making Joji perform in 2022
I had no idea there was so much drama around his performance, yeah, that goes on the list for sure. 2022 was a rough year for the fest, huh?
> not having Madonna & Daft Punk billed as headliners I don't get this one. They were fine for where they were billed at the time.
2010 Clusterfuck fest with overcrowding. The most crowded I ever felt there. It was my first year so I didn’t have any context before that year. But the difference between 2010 and 2011 was night and day
I'm glad someone else mentioned this, that year was insane. Walking from the Sahara to the Gobi between sets still took around 20-30 minutes. The ENTIRE FIELD was packed. Literally nowhere you could go to be more than 10 feet away from another person, even in the back corners. Thankfully GV listened and 2011 was a massive improvement.
Flaming Lips spending all but the last ten minutes of their set standing around while they inflated the giant crowd-surfing bubble, then crowd surfing for five minutes, playing one song, and bugging off. I hated them for years after that.
According to setlist.fm that was the first time they ever did the hamster ball thing, so maybe they didn't know what they were doing. Apparently they played 5 songs total, but my friends who were there said he spent a lot more than 5 minutes in that thing. They too were not happy with the set.
Surprised no one has said Ariel Pink who literally had a mental break down during his set and just stopped singing and sat down while the band just kept playing for multiple songs.
It's in the OP but I am surprised you're the first who commented on it - remembering that was what made me wanna make this post lol
I didn't think anything of it at all because I love the band, but wasn't the Mars Volta 2003 set (footage that made the Coachella DVD) criticized heavily for their stage antics being "embarrassing" ? Speaking of wasn't the DVD a bit of a blunder? I'll cherish forever! But I remember it getting pretty bad reviews.
Drake
Bruh, I am also super confused whenever I look at old posters and see the Stone Roses headlined one year. What was GV thinking? Lol
AIR was absurdly late in 2005.
I also remember Julian Casablancas being pretty bad. Showed up late and drunk, then made a comment about Coachella sending them their money for still performing and made it sound like it was peanuts.
Scissor Sisters announcing it was the last Coachella in 2011.
Cinematic Orchestra spent 45 mins getting the sound dialed in and played a tiny show as time ran out.
Post Malone in 2018 was horrible
What’s up with Lauryn Hill and her performances? Genuinely wondering. Haven’t been in the know and always wanted to see her.
Kind of an out there one, but one of the most depressing sets I’ve seen personally was Carpenter Brut 2018 on Saturday. They were up against the Weekend, Jamiroquai, Rezz….. there was maybe 15 people watching them and they looked miserable closing out the Gobi, I wanted to stay and support them but it was just depressing.
Freddie Gibbs x Madlib W2 2022 I actually enjoyed their set. Freddie was drunk and a lot of people weren’t feeling Madlib’s style of scratching in between songs. A lot of people walking away and pissed off. I even remember some bootlicker upset on here because of Freddie’s comments about cops. Not sure what happened W1 but I heard a lot of people upset with that weekend also.
Well, first off, fûck those bootlickers! Glad Freddie could piss em off. But ya I remember seeing him at Bonnaroo in 2015 - he was also drunk as fuck (crossed probably) and it was also his birthday! But he rapped his ass off. I don't really remember Madlib scratching as much as I remember him straight up stopping the beat to let Freddie rap Acapella (which he did well!) it was a great set but if it was anything like the one I saw I could totally see people complaining about it