Grimes‘ DJ set on the second day of Coachella 2024‘s first weekend has come to an end, and social media has a lot to say – check out fan reactions below.
READ MORE: Coachella 2024 live: Check out all of the action as it happens
Despite starting strong – Grimes arrived onstage on the back of a robotic spider-like vehicle – and performing back-to-back bangers of an unreleased track and a mash-up of BLACKPINK star Jennie‘s ‘Solo’ and Rihanna‘s ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’, her set was soon engulfed in a myriad of technical difficulties that she could not recover from.
From missing queues on transitions to music not playing at all, Grimes apologised to the crowd, explaining that her tracks had somehow been boosted to double their normal tempo and she was having trouble “doing the math”.
She tried to recover, telling the crowd: “All my tracks are double tempo and I can’t do the math. They’re borderline un-mixable, so the rest of my sent won’t be mixes but it’ll still be fun.”
She added, explaining that she had trouble beat-matching and syncing up BPMs of different tracks: “Don’t judge me for being bad a calculating things”. She also told fans that she “accepts full responsibility” for the mixing issues. She also promised that she will be better prepared for Weekend 2 of Coachella, and apologised multiple times throughout her set. The set also included Grimes screaming out in frustration multiple times.
However, the internet doesn’t seem to be too forgiving, with some fans labelling the set “the worst in the history of Coachella”.
This could be the worst performance in the history of Coachella. #grimes
— Tim Martell (@TimMartellMusic) April 14, 2024
This Grimes set has to be the worst in the history of @coachella
— DTR (@DeanS_B) April 14, 2024
Head over to Coachella live YouTube and watch Grimes train wreck her face off. Omg she is the worst I have heard in 25 years lol.
Ps grimes stop throwing your hands in the air celebrating your train wrecks
— Seth (@djsethlowery) April 14, 2024
Grimes is bombing so bad at Coachella right now it’s incredible
— Richie Assaly (@rdassaly) April 14, 2024
“being bad at math is not a sin”
this grimes set is hard to watch #Coachella
— Cheery (@cheeryio) April 14, 2024
“grimes coachella setlist”
1. technical difficulties
2. AAAAAHHHH
3. — don’t judge me
4. eight hours
5. double layered
6. music 4 machines
7. music 4 machines [struggle version]
8. genesis [suddenly stopped version]
— ؘ (@endedsouls) April 14, 2024
Maybe Grimes just unlocked a new style of DJing, and we’re just not up on it. So, traditional mixing is OUT. The new style is: play track > stop track > blame technology and math > scream > next track. #GrimesStyle #Coachella
— L&L Cool J (@cutso) April 14, 2024
Grimes this has to be the worst performance in Coachella history… a flop #Coachella #Coachella2024 #grimes #flop #grimesflop
— Angel MOMOCON (@MsFortune15) April 14, 2024
Grimes blaming this Coachella set’s problems on math instead of not preparing reminds me of when she didn’t research anything about pregnancy until she was in horrible pain and discomfort midway through.
— SHAYTRANADA (@BiblioShay) April 14, 2024
Never seen anyone had a stagemelt down like Grimes before… especially at Coachella
— tilo (@edguy52) April 14, 2024
In other Coachella news, Sublime – now fronted by late singer Bradley Nowell’s son Jakob – put on a show honouring Bradley, during which the band performed ‘Romeo’ live for the first time in 25 years.
Nowell also played with his father’s custom guitar and Mesa Boogie amp and Gaugh played with his OG signature green drum kit marking the first time the drum kit and guitar were on the same stage since the last Sublime tour in 1996 (per Variety).
Meanwhile, The Last Dinner Party stunned fans with their debut festival set. The British quintet took over the Gobi stage at the annual music and arts festival, performing their hit tracks along with a few new songs adorned in their signature Victorian frocks.
Elsewhere, Vampire Weekend closed out their last minute Coachella set with a surprise appearance from Paris Hilton and Abraham Lincoln during their country “Cocaine Cowboys” medley. For more live updates as it happens, check out NME’s liveblog for Coachella 2024 here.
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