With literally more than a hundred acts on the Coachella bill, it’s hard to make an impact, but every year some artists break through in a big way. Here are the five best things we saw at the first weekend of Coachella 2022.
Lawrence: This brother-sister duo and their band delivered a jolt of high-energy, high-musicianship blue-eyed soul and funk on Friday, with jam band-level instrumentalism, a single that just hit the Billboard top 40 chart (“Don’t Lose Sight”), and horn-driven punctuation that feels ready for any kind of party. That level of joy, especially these days, is infectious: their small-stage tent revival is ready for a mid-day mainstage blowout already.
Some two-person sax action during Lawrence’s set at #Coachella pic.twitter/9yJjrCHYSG
— PvNew (@PvNew) April 16, 2022
L’imperatice: Every Coachella has that moment: a moderately unknown band starts their set on the small Gobi tent when it’s half-full in the middle of the afternoon, only to inspire a dance party that overflows with revelers by the end. This year’s breakout belonged to France’s L’imperatice, whose precipice-of-the-’80s-influenced, earnest Eurodisco led to an enormous crush of people trying to get a dance in while getting a glance of their absurdly cute bright-red, heart pumping jumpsuits.
L'Impératrice plays a set to a completely full crowd at #Coachella. (
