Coachella 2024: The Red Pears, Sublime, Raye and Vampire Weekend among Day 2 highlights

Notable sets from Day 2 of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

The Red Pears

The El Monte born and raised Chicano indie rock group The Red Pears burst onto the Sonora stage, delivering a sunset set with style and energy while wielding a few custom-engraved guitars.

This Coachella performance was the group’s first since the release of their newest record on Friday, April 13 Die-hard fans flocked to the front, moshing and singing along to classics like “Daylight/Moonlight” and “Forever,” which have been staples in the Los Peras catalog since their backyard DIY show days.

However, the real highlight was the taste of new music that fans have eagerly awaited over the years.“These guys are local legends to me. I remember seeing them at small shows back in the day, and witnessing them at Coachella now is something else,” said Roberto Hernandez from Pasadena. His sentiment echoed among fans who have followed the band since their inception in 2014.

— Holly Alvarado

Sublime

One of the more historical sets in Day 2 included a performance by Sublime, which was in keeping with the ’90s vibe curated at Coachella Main Stage with Blur and No Doubt. The performance marks the second time the ska-esque band has performed as Sublime with no asterisk or qualifier due to the union of original members bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, now led by the late singer Bradley Nowell’s son, Jakob Nowell.

“It’s a family business,” Jakob Nowell said during the performance.

From this performance, it seems the trio is enjoying playing together and developing a chemistry. There were plenty of callbacks to the music of the Long Beach group during the years his father fronted the band, including the iconic sun emblem logo plastered on the drums and the two screens of the stage. The nostalgia was felt by some in the crowd, too, with fans singing along to their classics such as “Santeria,” “Wrong Way,” “Pawn Shop” and “What I Got.”

— Charlie Vargas

Blxst

If festival goers had no clue who Blxst was they did after seeing him play the Outdoor Stage today.

The South Central R&B artist has been steadily ascending the ranks of hip-hop in recent years, and Saturday’s set marked a pivotal moment in establishing his name. The crowd stretched far and wide, almost blending into the beer garden at the back of the grounds, attesting to his growing popularity.

Blxst exudes a suave, sensual aura as he takes the stage with his backup band and singers, captivating the audience with hit tracks like “Overrated” and “Chosen.” He delighted the crowd further by bringing out Colombian reggaeton artist Feid to perform their newest collaboration, “Rewind.”

With a vintage black Cadillac car on center stage and effortless vocal range that effortlessly navigates soulful tones, attendees couldn’t help but swoon and sway to till the bitter end.

— Holly Alvarado

Raye

The undercard of the Coachella lineup represents different things to different artists. For small, niche bands, this might be the biggest gig they ever get. For older bands, it’s a chance to be celebrated for past glories. And for some, it’s a moment that signals the moment their fame soared off into the stratosphere of musical success.

Raye, the stage name of British singer-songwriter-writer Rachel Keen, dominated the Brit Awards last month with six wins for her debut album “My 21st Century Blues,” which got her booked on “Saturday Night Live” a week ago.

No one can really tell her future, but based on her mid-afternoon set in the Mojave tent on Saturday, where ecstatic fans spilled far beyond the Mojave tent, Raye and those who saw here will remember this as one of those moments where things changed.

On songs such as “Worth It,” the one happy song on the album, she said, “Ice Cream Man,” a song about sexual abuse she described as the most difficult to sing, and “Eacapism,” an uptempo dance-y number, Raye was fantastic.

Her sweet joy at the response of the crowd made her ever more lovable, and her vocals, backed by 20 musicians and singers, was awesome in the true meaning of that word.

Raye was the best thing I’d seen by the middle of the festival. Here’s what else stood out as highlights of Saturday’s music.

— Peter Larsen

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend was a last-minute addition to the lineup, booked to play the Outdoor Stage late afternoon Saturday.

“One week ago I was sitting out in Ryder, Texas, drinking branch water and looking at the wildflowers, singer-guitarist Ezra Koenig told the crowd. “I got a text saying, ‘Can you play this festival?’”

Koenig said no, until he learned it was a week off, tight, but manageable.

“So I called the boys and said, ‘Can we do this?’” he continued. “They said, ‘(Bleep) yeah, we can do this.’”

And so they did, mixing hits such as “Unbelievers,” “Diane Young,” and “A-Punk,” with a pair of songs from the brand-new album “Only God Was Above Us.” The set wrapped up with a medley of “Cocaine Cowboys”-themed outlaw country classics, which also saw Paris Hilton come on stage to play cornhole with the band. As one does.

— Peter Larsen

The Last Dinner Party

The baroque indie rock of The Last Dinner Party brought an arty throwback rock feel back to Coachella with its dramatic, glammy set in The Gobi Tent.

The five young British women in the band dress in romantic old-fashioned frocks which delivered a look different than most of the rest of the line. If Victorian England had electric instruments there’d be line illustrations in the history books of women like The Last Dinner Party.

Highlights included songs off their debut album such as “The Feminine Urge” and “Sinner,” as well as the brand-new tune “Second Best.”

— Peter Larsen