Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong made a surprise appearance with The Go-Gos at Coachella today, joining the reunited band for an exuberant performance of their 1984 single “Head Over Heels”.
Green Day will headline the Saturday night (12 April) of the festival in Indio, California tomorrow.
The original five members of The Go-Go’s - singer Belinda Carlisle, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey, rhythm guitarist Jane Wiedlin, bassist Kathy Valentine and drummer Gina Schock - reformed this year for their first shows in more than seven years.
Ahead of the festival they played The Roxy in Los Angeles, which Variety reports the band announced was a chance to “practice our Coachella set.”
The Go-Go’s emerged from the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 1970s to become one of the most influential new wave bands of the 1980s.
Later in their Coachella set, the trailblazing all-female band interpolated the chorus of Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go!” into their own 1981 hit “We Got The Beat”.
Attendees at this year’s festival had earlier complained about long queues and a lack of facilities, branding the experience of arriving at Coachella as “worse than Fyre Festival:,
Fans began arriving to the festival’s campsites yesterday in the hope they would beat the crowds, but instead found themselves stuck in 12 hour lines to get in.
On X/Twitter, one user posted a photograph of a field full of cars lined up trying to access the festival along with the caption: “Coachella descends into chaos, and it hasn’t even started yet. These are cars lined up to get through security to enter the car camping area. Attendees are reporting a 12 hour wait, and no porta potties, with some saying it’s ‘worse than Fyre Festival’.”
Other attendees also drew comparisons to the famously disastrous 2017 festival in the Bahamas.
Festivalgoer Adam Roberts told Business Insider: “I made a joke earlier that I didn't know Fyre Festival tickets were included in admission this year, but that's honestly how I feel. I feel duped.”
In addition to The Go-Go’s, today will also see a headline set from Lady Gaga, who returns at the top of the bill after headlining the festival in 2017, and performances from Missy Elliott, rising pop star Benson Boone, The Marías, White Lotus star and BLACKPINK member LISA, The Prodigy, Parcels, Mustard, and Mau P.
Those not attending the festival in person can livestream performances on Coachella’s YouTube channel or via the new Coachella Livestream app, beginning at 4pm PT/7pm ET each day.
