As you may have seen, the Coachella 2018 set times dropped Tuesday night and as per usual, are full of difficult conflicts on who to go see. First, take a look at the full set times below, and then proceed to the bottom for some of our advice on who to check out.
FRIDAY, APRIL 13
SATURDAY, APRIL 14
SUNDAY, APRIL 15
FRIDAY CONFLICTS
Kali Uchis (5:00 to 5:45 PM, Outdoor Theatre) vs. Greta Van Fleet (4:45 to 5:35)
Clearly, if you stick to one genre then this isn’t much of a choice to you. If you favor pop and R&B you’ll head over to see Colombian-born Kali Uchis, if you’re a guitars guy then you’ll see Greta Van Fleet. But if you like to dabble in a variety of genres, this is a chance to see one of two acts that will likely be much higher up the bill the next time they play Coachella. Both are playing a handful of other fests, but Kali Uchis will be back in LA at FYF Fest in July. So if you’re headed to Expo Park this summer, catch her then and go see the band that everyone is comparing to Led Zeppelin. If you’re a big fan of surprise guests, Kali Uchis’ new album Isolation is excellent and chock full of collaborators, including Coachella 2018 acts Tyler the Creator, Jorja Smith, and Steve Lacy of The Internet (who appeared at her show at The Novo on Tuesday night).
Kygo (8:30 to 9:25 PM, Main) vs. St. Vincent (8:55 to 9:50, Outdoor) vs. DREAMS (8:40 to 9:30, Mojave)
Of these acts, only St. Vincent is playing more than a handful of festival dates. Kygo almost certainly will drop a massive tour after Coachella that includes a major LA date (my money is on the LA Convention Center). DREAMS is one of those boom-or-bust sets. It’s the collaboration of Empire of the Sun’s Luke Steele and Silverchair’s Daniel Johns. They only have one song out. Their only US dates are Coachella, and they have just one Aussie date scheduled otherwise. They only have one (very EOTS-sounding) song out. If that’s your bag, I recommend starting out with some of their set and depending on how you like it, drifting over to Kygo or St. Vincent for the second half of one of those sets.
SATURDAY CONFLICTS
alt-J (10:10 PM to 11:10, Outdoor) vs. Jungle (9:50 to 10:40, Mojave) vs. Hundred Waters (10:05 to 11:05, Sonora) vs. Tom Misch (10:10 to 10:55, Gobi)
This is just an absolute clusterfuck and probably the worst conflict of the entire weekend, no matter your musical inclination. I’m a little bummed that Hundred Waters isn’t getting a slot in the Sahara tent considering their awesome production at their El Rey show seems like they could make great use of the improved Sahara’s production. They’ll be in the rock-driven Sonora Tent which is a slight letdown. Tom Misch just put out one of the hottest albums this year and could draw on a couple collaborations for his set. Both Misch and Hundred Waters were among my 10 predicted breakthrough undercard acts. But Jungle’s soulful sound is where the ultimate dance party will take place and 10 PM is about as good of a time as any to move your ass — so that’s my recommendation. Good news if you’re an alt-J fan though, they close out the Outdoor Theatre and it should be easy to get close as people start getting ready for Beyonce on the main stage.
David Byrne (7:05 to 8:05 PM, Outdoor) vs. Tash Sultana (7:20 to 8:10, Mojave)
David Byrne is obviously an icon, but Tash Sultana is one of the most promising musicians to emerge in recent years and I have the sense that Coachella has the chance to be a massive breakthrough performance for the multi-instrumentalist and singer. If you’re an LA local, Byrne will play the Shrine in August. I’ve seen Tash play The Echo and Fonda Theatre to sold-out crowds the last year-and-change, and she’s only going to continue to grow. Based on Setlist.fm info, Byrne has usually front-loaded a lot of Talking Heads material, playing classics like “This Must Be The Place” and “Once in a Lifetime” in the first half-dozen or so songs. I recomment checking out the first half of Byrne’s set then sprinting over to catch the last 15 or 20 minutes of Tash.
SUNDAY CONFLICTS
ODESZA (8:40 to 9:40 PM, Main) vs. Miguel (8:30 to 9:20 PM, Outdoor)
Let’s be real — ODESZA might end up with some of the sickest production as one of the few EDM acts playing the main stage at night this year. But Miguel’s tunes seem like they are better suited for the wind-down nature of Sunday night after you’ve run out of your party favors and are starting to feel the pain of everything you did to your body this weekend. Also if you’ve been courting a honey all weekend, what better time to get grinded on or do some grinding than when Miguel is crooning?
Cardi B (6:00 to 6:35 PM, Main) vs. Jessie Ware (5:40 to 6:30, Outdoor)
Cardi B reportedly spent $300K of her own money on her stage setup. This is interesting considering she is playing just a 35-minute set. Will her show be bells and whistles with no punch as she just revealed on SNL that she’s pregnant? I’ve been playing her new album Invasion of Privacy and really digging it, but early videos of her performing live have been lackluster. Jessie Ware is a proven talented live performer with a bunch of soothing melodies behind those fantastic vocals. The answer to what you should do is this — are you trying to turn up or turn down?
