Coachella 2023: Weekend 1 surprise guests include Ciara, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish
The artists billed on the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival lineup are enough to draw in huge crowds, but one of the most exciting aspects of any performance is seeing if they're going to bring out any surprise guests.
Thankfully, Weekend 1 had its fair share of superstars. Here's who joined Coachella performers the past few days.
With Bad Bunny
Muchas gracias @sanbenito ?? pic.twitter.com/aTDsCeIUiP
— Coachella (@coachella) April 15, 2023
Bad Bunny's headlining set made history as he was the first solo Latino artist to headline the festival. To make the occasion even greater, he brought out not just one or two, but four surprise guests. They included Post Malone, Jhayco (who The Desert Sun predicted), ?engo Flow and Jowell & Randy. Sadly, there were mic problems during Post Malone's portion of the performance.
More: Coachella 2023: Bad Bunny makes history as first Latino solo artist to headline
With Charli XCX
Wanna go back to @charli_xcx and Troye on the Coachella stage pic.twitter.com/STkBsky8m9
— Coachella (@coachella) April 16, 2023
English singer Charli XCX did not disappoint when it came to her vocals or dancing, nor with her surprise guest. On her track "1999," she was joined by Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan (another guest we had in our prediction article). Both donning black, the pair hopped around the stage and shared several sweet moments together.
More: Coachella 2023: Charli XCX shows off vocal, dance prowess; goes back to '1999' with Troye Sivan
With Calvin Harris
We were expecting an onslaught of surprise guests with Calvin Harris, but he kept things fairly simple during his set. By the end of the performance, he only brought out Ellie Goulding to the stage to perform the pair's latest single, "Miracle," which was another move we saw coming (three for three!). But after playing so many hit collaborations, it was disappointing when more stars didn't pan out.
More: Calvin Harris disappoints in 2023 Coachella return, even with Ellie Goulding as guest
With Rosalía
Rosalia y Rauw Alejandro en el Coachella ?? pic.twitter.com/QFiNdgrfsG
— Indie 505 (@Indie5051) April 16, 2023
Love was in the air when Spanish singer Rosalía was joined by her fiancé, Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro, on the Coachella Stage Saturday. The two sang "Beso" and "Vampiro" together and made everyone's hearts swell for the recently engaged couple.
More: Coachella 2023: Rosalía sings songs with new fiancé Rauw Alejandro at kinetic set
With Labrinth
Never felt less alone @Labrinth @billieeilish
Tune in tomorrow for more surprises on the @youtube live stream at https://t.co/gW7w2jV5nG pic.twitter.com/awsrsAma3i— Coachella (@coachella) April 16, 2023
Many people were expecting "Euphoria" star Zendaya to make a surprise appearance during Labrinth's set, because he's the artist who crafted the show's album. But they got a greater surprise when last year's Saturday headliner, Billie Eilish, joined instead to perform their recent collaborative single "Never Felt So Alone."
With Metro Boomin
.@MetroBoomin shutting down Sahara with a little help from @theweeknd @21savage & @Diddy
Tune in tomorrow for more surprises on the @YouTube live stream at https://t.co/gW7w2jV5nG pic.twitter.com/dZaNijppxT— Coachella (@coachella) April 15, 2023
Similar to Bad Bunny, Metro Boomin welcomed a star-studded group of surprise guests during his Friday set. Among those were last year's co-headliner The Weeknd, Future, 21 Savage, Don Toliver, Diddy, John Legend and Mike Dean. He basically created his own version of "The Avengers" and made the crowd go as wild as they did when Thanos snapped his fingers in "Avengers: Infinity War."
With Gorillaz
Damon Albarn of Gorillaz did not disappoint either when it came to his band of guests. The stacked lineup included Thundercat, Peven Everett, house music pioneer Jamie Principle, Del the Funky Homosapien and members of De La Soul.
More: Coachella 2023: Guest-filled Gorillaz set brings "Feel Good" vibes
With Becky G
Even though Becky G experienced mic problems during her set, nothing could rain on her parade. She welcomed Marca MP to sing her hit "Yo Acabo," followed by Mexican singer and rapper Jesus Ortiz Paz, with whom she sang two songs with, and Peso Pluma. They played a pair of songs together, including their collaboration "Chanel."
More: Becky G powers through mic problems, wows crowd with special guests
With Domi & JD Beck
Singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco joined jazz duo Domi & JD Beck in the Mojave tent — which caused the crowd to go truly wild — and then they brought out Thundercat to round out the performance. They were among the first surprise guests seen at Coachella, which set the festival off on a great foot.
With MUNA
Many people were expecting an appearance from Phoebe Bridgers during MUNA's set, but the band did one better. Not only did Bridgers join, but the two other members of boygenius, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, for the MUNA-Bridgers collaboration "Silk Chiffon."
With IDK
While rapper IDK certainly got the crowd on its feet during his Sunday set in the Mojave tent, his pal Rich the Kid made festivalgoers even more excited (even if some members of the audiences might have been there to see F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who was supposed to come out with IDK according to a press release sent out a couple hours before the performance).
With Jackson Wang
In what was one of the seemingly least expected surprise guest pairings of the festival (we sure didn't predict it), "One, Two Step" singer Ciara jumped onstage with singer/rapper/dancer/producer extraordinaire Jackson Wang in the Sahara tent Sunday. The collaboraters sang their new single, "Slow," and wowed audiences with their impressive choreography and fiery chemistry.
Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ema_sasic.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella: Weekend 1 surprise guests include Ciara, Billie Eilish