Saturday night’s main stage at Coachella ended with an impressive festival experience by Tyler, The Creator which featured appearances from Childish Gambino and A$AP Rocky.
Tyler, The Creator is an artist that lives up to his name. He has had numerous Coachella appearances throughout his career, although 2024 marks the first lineup in which Tyler was given a headlining time slot. Knowing Tyler, he would not be one to take this honor lightly. I want to take a deeper look into the visual creativity that Tyler brings to his performances, turning each show of his into an experience for his audience.
The artist started his set promptly on time, with a unique approach of a recorded video tour of his onstage trailer. This approach caught me off guard as it appeared as a casual way to open his main stage set. However, as someone who was viewing on the livestream, I was unaware of the elaborate stage set up he had prepared.
Tyler’s introduction video was a bridge into his stage entrance where he was wired to actually explode out from the window of his trailer and land on the main stage. The stage then reveals a unique desert theme where there are various levels of rock formations spread across the stage. This rock formation was a unique way for him to explore a plethora of height choices for himself and the featured acts. I saw this set up as Tyler utilizing the opportunity of performing on the main stage to make the most of the space vertically as well as horizontally.
Childish Gambino, A$AP Rocky, Charlie Wilson, and Kali Uchis made appearances. The entrance from each featured artist was unique, as if they were emerging from the alternative world Tyler brought with him to the desert.
The creativity that went into the stage design of Tyler’s show was molded incredibly to the unique festival environment of Coachella, nestled in wildlife and mountains in California. The production value brought ranges of fire and explosions throughout and kept the hour-long set moving. He even played a few minutes over to extend his gratitude towards lifelong fans and other festival attendees who might not have even intended to see his performance, but ended up closing out the night there anyway.
As a creative artist in today’s pop culture, Tyler, The Creator is truly one of one. He has capitalized in all areas of creativity from music to merchandise and fashion.
There are very few artists who take the time to put immense thought into a theme for their stage design, and to play into it and utilize as much of their space and time slot as possible. This scale of productive value for a headliner really creates a once in a lifetime performance for festival goers to experience.
At the end of his set, Tyler says he has to get out of there before the wind storm takes over. Watching from home, I definitely considered there might actually be a wind storm in the desert that he was referencing. However, I soon realized he had choreographed himself to be strapped back in a harness on stage and blown off stage by a “wind storm” designed into his set where he had to hold onto rocks before literally being blown out of sight.
From start to finish, Tyler found ways to make an explosive entrance and exit, keeping his audience engaged at the Coachella main stage. He’s a timeless icon who undeniably delivered on one of the biggest festival stages in the world. I wonder if the success of his Weekend 1 performance will create a challenge for him to top for Weekend 2, and which artists he will choose to make an appearance, if any.
Author: Shana Olivero
Photos: Getty Images for Coachella
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