Coachella 2022 – live: All the updates from day 2 as Billie Eilish set to headline

Last time Surrey-born brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence played Coachella, back in 2016, they augmented their live show with a number of high-profile guest vocalists including Lorde (for “Magnets”), Sam Smith (for “Latch” and “Omen”) and AlunaGeorge (for “White Noise”).

By those high standards, tonight’s performance was relatively light on surprises – bar the appearance of Khalid late on for the first ever live performance of their 2020 collaboration “Know Your Worth”. Perhaps that’s a sign that the Lawrence brothers are now more confident in their own ability to hold the Coachella audience captive with minimal bells and whistles.

Now over a decade into a career they began as minors, the pair have become practiced experts at delivering a high-energy rave by this point. The Coachella crowd is more than willing to meet them half way, and they’re out in force for the duo’s sunset set, a euphoric, hands-in-the-air performance. “We want to see maximum energy, maximum vibes tonight,” announce the brothers. It’s fair to say their wish is granted.

“When a Fire Starts to Burn” has the whole crowd moving in unison, while phone lights flash on to illuminate “Nocturnal”. Despite playing the festival yesterday, there’s no sign of Slowthai aside from in pre-recorded form on the big screens for Grammy-nominated banger “My High”.

The duo close their set with party anthem “Tondo”, joined on stage by a brass band horn section, but the focus never really leaves the siblings at centre stage during the sort of uplifting performance the Coachella stage was made for.

While Disclosure are busy bringing in one of the biggest crowds of the weekend over on the Outdoor Theatre, 8rising are doing their own equally impressive thing on the main Coachella stage.

The first ever record label to be given their own showcase at the festival, the collective doesn’t take this honour lightly.

Since 2015, 88rising have been working with artists and creators from across Asia and, tonight, the LA-based company brings in the big boys and girls for an 80 minute extravaganza with an epic list of names as well as a troupe of dancers and multi-layered stage.

A mini version of 88rising’s own hugely successful Head in the Clouds festival, it’s the perfect potted variety show – with spots from Thai rapper Milli, South Korean singer songwriter Bibi and Jakarta-born Taylor Swift co-signed singer Niki as well as Indonesian rappers Rich Brian and Warren Hue.

It is the unannounced appearance of Chinese superstar Jackson Wang however, that really makes the festival lose its collective mind.

With his silver blue hair and red gloves on majestic display, the flashy Wang slinks his way through ten minutes of Michael Jackson inspired choreography with Las Vegas magician worthy flair, leaving a whole lot of fans more than happy for his arrival, but also wondering why he wasn’t on stage for an hour longer at least.

Where yesterday was too hot, today is decidedly too windy. Dust storms surround the site making visibility a challenge for many driving to the festival. On the ground, this means bucket hats blowing all over the place, bins tumbling across the fields and a lot of hairdos becoming hair don’ts. The solution? Hold onto your hats, Coachella.

We find our first legit mosh pit of the weekend at Turnstile’s Mojave stage set. Crowd surfing and an abundance of flailing limbs accompany the US hardcore act’s enticing way with melodic but still utterly ferocious punk.

Dylan Minnette just stopped Wallows mid-song to help a fan in the crowd. The actor/singer got a big cheer and round of applause from the audience for making sure the festivalgoer was ok. Check out the footage below.

Billie Eilish’s eponymous perfume brand tweeted a photo of the singer at Coachella next to a giant replica of the fragrance’s bottle, which is a kind of a metallic bust with half a head missing.

Little known Coachella fact. The Teletubbie hills were relocated to the festival site in the early 2000s and now act as a home base for rickshaw drivers and stray influencers.

Day two kicking off with more epic queues to get into the festival. Extremely jealous of the person with the pink parasol right now.