Glorious gothic fantasy with a surprise cameo from Arlo Parks
Most folk musicians don’t step onto the stage at a festival with heavy metal sounds, but Phoebe Bridgers isn’t most folk musicians. Wielding a custom black battle-axe of a guitar and wearing a glamorous, rhinestone version of his trademark skeleton outfit – which tonight is more gothic from the high fashion brand Vampire’s Wife than a deceiver – the songwriter -interpreter from Los Angeles has managed to create a world that is entirely his own.
Bridgers was among high-profile musical artists who took the stage Friday, April 15, at Coachella, which returns to California after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Against a screen of twinkling stars reminiscent of the cover of his second album, 2020’s PunisherBridgers’ incredible video backdrop to the festival – which is currently underway – opens in a lavishly illustrated storybook, as she rips through her breakthrough hit ‘Motion Sickness’ and the acoustic elegance of ‘Scott Street” which brings a mournful fiddle before California’s saddest horns join.
Hailing from Los Angeles, this show is something of a homecoming for Bridgers. “Capture it; Coachella – the year is 2011, I’m in a Two Door Cinema crop top and I have pink hair,” she says, before joking, “Don’t imagine it actually. hours on the freeway, she adds, “I’m from Los Angeles, so I can’t tell you what a dream it is for me,” before thanking her mother for driving her to the festival for seven days. consecutive years.
The catchy, upbeat “Kyoto” is fun, but tonight it’s Bridgers’ more emo numbers that really impress, especially when British singer Arlo Parks casually takes the stage to provide light backing vocals to “Graceland Too.” and “I Know The End”. , which ends with a blaze of baby pyrotechnics and an almighty whine from a beaming Bridgers.
We’re also getting a stream of the brand new song, “Sidelines,” which premiered earlier this week as part of the soundtrack for the upcoming new TV adaptation of author Sally Rooney’s YA phenomenon. Conversations with friends. “Now we’re going to pretend to live in a fictional world where people come to a concert to hear a new song,” Bridgers laughs. It’s another sad girl special, a slow-burning ballad brimming with dreamy nostalgia and more than a hint of darkness.
As the hot night suddenly turns cold, this mass therapy session – which takes inspiration from Bridgers’ 2017 debut Stranger in the Alps as well as its 2020 follow-up – delivers a much-needed moment of bass catharsis and beats the heavy Coachella bill, making it a very special show.
Before the pandemic interrupted large-scale music events, the hottest performers at Coachella in 2019 spanned the musical spectrum with Childish Gambino’s hip-hop, Ariana Grande’s pop and Tame’s alternative indie. Impala.
The biggest names in music will perform over the next two weekends. Headliners for this year’s event include Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Swedish House Mafia, with The Weeknd replacing Kanye West who pulled out at the last minute.
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