One month ago, the Empire Polo Fields in Indio California were transformed into a playground for Instagram influencers. Coachella 2019 saw Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande as headliners with a surprise, Sunday service from Kanye and friends on Easter morning. The three day long, consecutive weekend fest has been the jump-off point for the music festival season every year, for the last 20 years (feel old?). It's also a preview of festival fashion trends, so get your bright neon, mesh and tassels ready. And, yes, Coachella turned 20 this year, a fact carefully not celebrated by the promoter but a pretty big deal nonetheless.
A lot of Coachella acts head to the Bay Area for their own one-off shows before, after or between weekends. This is the time of year show-goers around SF like to call Faux-chella: it's just what you want from Coachella, nothing you don't. From April 9th to April 25th, there were at least 30 different Faux-chella shows in SF, Oakland and San Jose. From arena shows like Weezer at The Oracle Arena on April 10th and Zedd at The San Jose Event Center on April 17th. Maggie Rogers sold-out The Fox Theater in Oakland on April 19th and King Princess played The Fillmore on April 22nd. There were smaller, more intimate shows too, like White Denim at The Independent on April 25th.
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| Interrupters @ The Regency Ballroom 4/12/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
It was a fun, SKA-punk filled night with The Interrupters at The Regency Ballroom on Friday, April 12th. They brought their upbeat energy the Outdoor Stage in the Coachella sunshine the next day.
Parcels made the most out of their travels from down under to the states by playing a sold-out show at The Regency Ball Room on April 16th after playing the Gobi Stage on April 14th at Coachella weekend one.
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| Parcels @ The Regency Ballroom 4/16/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
CHVRCHES and Unknown Mortal Orchestra played on different stages in the desert but on Friday, April 19th they shared the stage at The Greek Theater in Berkeley.
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| Chvrches @ The Greek Theater in Berkeley 4/19/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
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| Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ The Greek Theater in Berkeley 4/19/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
After C2 was over, Lizzo and The 1975 both played two shows in San Francisco.
1975 returned to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Monday April 22nd and Tuesday April 23rd for the first time since playing there in 2017. Their SF sets were considerably longer than their sets on the main stage at Coachella, which consisted of 12 songs.
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| The 1975 @ The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 4/23/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
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| The 1975 @ The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 4/23/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
After 16 songs on night one and 15 songs on night two, the English pop-rock band treated fans to a solid 5 song en core, ending both nights with the sparkly track "The Sound".
Last year, before I left to work in Indio for three weeks, I saw Lizzo open for HAIM at The Greek Theater in Berkeley. It is one of the best opening sets I have ever seen, Lizzo quite nearly stole the show from the three Haim sisters that night.
Things have come full circle since then: as I headed to Indio for work this year, Lizzo was one of the Coachella acts I was most excited about seeing.
Her set was on Sunday evening in the Mojave tent and I made sure to squeeze her into my schedule on the second weekend, the same weekend her third album, Cuz I Love You dropped.
The massive crowd that gathered couldn't be contained by the Mojave tent as dancing fans spilled out all around it. Lizzo, with her troop of back up dancers, radiated on stage and her radiant energy permeated through the stale desert air like a crisp ocean breeze.
We didn't get a surprise appearance from Missy Elliot during their collaborative new song "Tempo" but Lizzo was still the best part about Coachella 2019. Sorry, not sorry Ariana.
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| Lizzo @ The Warfeild 4/22/2109 photo by Marc Fong |
The Cuz I Love You tour rolled through San Francisco right after Coachella and her show on April 22nd at The Warfield sold-out so quick that a second show was added on April 24th. Work keeps me from seeing a lot of great shows and not being able to see Lizzo in a more intimate setting really broke my little show-going heart. From what I've heard, she blew people's minds and I wouldn't expect anything less from Lizzo.
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| Lizzo @ The Warfield 4/22/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
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| Lizzo @ The Warfield 4/22/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
Before she even got to the city for those shows last month, she announced two shows at The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on October 27th and 28th, the first of which is already sold-out!
Lizzo won Coachella and Faux-Chella this year and she's going to keep on shining bright.
For a great time, go see Lizzo live, she'll make you feel good inside and out.
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| Lizzo @ The Warfield 4/22/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
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