The reveal of Coachella’s line-up poster often fires the starting gun for festival season. It tells us which acts are set to make big comebacks, which artists could be gearing up for a new album campaign and, generally, gives a pretty telling snapshot of where music is headed for the coming year.
Earlier today (January 17), Coachella announced the line-up for 2024 with Tyler, The Creator, Lana Del Rey and Doja Cat all set to headline the two-weekend festival in California this April. NME takes a look at the big talking points and burning questions from this year’s reveal.
Doja Cat steps up
The campaign for the 28-year-old’s recent album ‘Scarlet’ was intentionally divisive and noteworthy. In its lead up, the pop star scolding possessive stans dominated headlines, but she still had considerable success with the album landing at Number Four in the US and big splashes made by eye-popping visuals for ‘Agora Hills’ and ‘Paint The Town Red’. A well-received arena tour in the US is now proving to be the Road to Coachella as she headlines the festival for the first time. With a run of European dates set to take place this summer, it could be her time to rise to the top in other markets too.
Blur are… back?
Now, this one is a surprise. In late 2023, Damon Albarn was pretty adamant about Blur’s upcoming plans: “It is time to wrap up this campaign,” he said in December. “It’s too much for me. It was the right thing to do and an immense honour to play these songs again.”
Instead, they’ll head to the desert for their first US shows in almost a decade (they last played New York in 2015) and return to Coachella after an 11-year absence. It’s also their only date on the live calendar for 2024 after a year of heavy gigging in the UK, Europe, South America and beyond. Could a full US tour follow, or is it just a change of heart?
No Doubt and Sublime are this year’s newsworthy reunions
Coachella have made a rod for their own back in regards to reunions. A comeback set at the festival is the biggest splash returning bands can make, and punters expect a jaw-dropping reveal each year. Blink-182 got the boys back together in 2023; Rage Against the Machine had plans to reunite at 2020’s edition before it was scrapped due to the pandemic; OutKast reunited in 2014, much to André 3000’s dismay.
In 2024, it’s No Doubt and Sublime who’ll attempt to provide that mad scramble across the site. The former haven’t played a full live show since 2015 and are adamant that new music is a distant prospect; will it have the same internet-breaking magic that the above shows did? Sublime, meanwhile, have enlisted Jakob Nowell, son of original lead singer Bradley, to lead their new line-up.
New music on the horizon for Khruangbin, Justice and Deftones
Festival posters are a giveaway for who we can expect new music from in the coming months. Tyler and Lana march to the beat of their own drum, and at present, there’s no clear signs they’ll have additional music to share around April. We can hope, though, eh?
Elsewhere, Khruangbin announced their fourth studio album would be released in the coming months and continue their ascent with a big slot at Coachella this year. Likewise, Justice have been teasing their comeback with two new tracks – one featuring vocals from Tame Impala – and they, too, are high up at the Palm Springs festival. The same could be said for Ice Spice, Deftones and Peso Pluma.
British rising talent make their mark
Between a constantly-shifting live music landscape – and Brexit-induced touring red tape – it’s proving challenging for British acts to show their craft at foreign festivals, particularly ones with an international footprint like Coachella. In past years, you could count the British emerging talent on one-hand, but that could be changing.
Yet at 2024’s edition there’ll be appearances from The Last Dinner Party, Kenya Grace, Olivia Dean, Bar Italia, Jockstrap, FLO and Mandy, Indiana, among others. The fact that it’ll be livestreamed the world over is a bonus.