Coachella Day One delivered Harry Styles’ dreams and Anitta twerk teams

Just as the sun was setting and golden hour was seeping into the Coachella Valley, Anitta and her team of nearly 20 dancers delighted us on the main stage with booming bass and bouncing booties. The pace of her set continued to accelerate through her 45-minute performance, never missing a beat and never missing an opportunity to shock the crowd. The Brazilian Pop star had her rich culture on display throughout her hotly anticipated Coachella debut, while also bringing out epic surprise guests. The “Girl from Rio” songstress arrived on stage with Snoop Dogg and later in the set brought out Saweetie to help perform their collab “Faking Love.” Plus, the singer and her dancers took part in an epic groove battle while Diplo was spinning in the booth on the main stage. Of course, Anitta set flames to the audience when she performed her global hit, “Envolver.” Prior to arriving at the festival, Anitta dropped her debut album, Versions of Me.

The British boy band crush turned absolute sex symbol snagged the first headlining set this year at Coachella, let us just say we’d like to check into Harry’s House and never leave. The crooner opened with his latest synth-heavy single “As It Was” and the crowd poured in to fill the main stage. However, before arriving on stage visuals of beautiful springtime scenery played across the night sky. However, bunnies frolicking and birds chirping quickly turned into a loop of woodland creatures having sex, leaving fans giddy and laughing. Throughout his set, Styles delivered favorites from Fine Line and played two unreleased cuts from his upcoming release. “Boyfriends” was an acoustic ballad brimming with early 60s Laurel Canyon reverberations while “Late Night Talking” was a bright and funky 80s pop song. Styles sent fans over the edge when bringing out Shaina Twain, who performed “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” and “You’re Still the One” by his side. Between the two songs Harry told the crowd “In the car with my mother as a child, this woman taught me to sing. She also taught me that men are trash.”

Lil Baby took on the main stage Friday night and filled his time with an electrifying set and a crucial closing statement about police brutality. Joined by frequent collaborator, Gunna, and a squad of twerk-centric dancers, the rapper provided a star attraction kind of night. From “Drip Too Hard,” to “On Me,” to “We Paid,” the Atlanta rapper never skipped a beat, delivering one banger after another. While Drake did not join Lil Baby to perform “Yes Indeed,” the artist maintained exuberance throughout the show. The rapper closed his set with his protest song, “The Bigger Picture,” which initially arrived in 2020, days after the murder of George Floyd as Lil Baby led protests in Atlanta. While he wrapped the stage filled with images of Black Lives Matter protests from around the country.

Grupo Firme was the set that we didn’t know we needed. The Tijuana band and norteño band who have also recorded with a Sinaloan band hit the main stage right after Anitta and kept the party going. Making their Coachella debut, the group became the first banda to ever play for the festival. With dynamic choreography and a perfectly brassy danceable sound, the group celebrated Mexican culture and kept the crowd moving and grooving with hit after hit.

Talk about vibes! The sample-based DJ group took over the Gobi tent on Friday evening and as we looked around the crowd, it seemed it was all smiles as far as the eye could see. Playing through their 2020 release, We Will Always Love You the group provided simple joys with tracks like “We Go On” which samples The Carpenters’ “Hurting Each Other” and features Cola Boyy and Mick Jones. They closed out their set with their beloved title track “Since I left You,” leaving a purely heartwarming energy in the intimate tent.