It harkens back to years when the festival had the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Daft Punk on-site. Now, however, it would only be relevant through influencers.
DJ and record producer Diplo thinks California’s Coachella Festival just isn’t getting the right big names for its lineup anymore, and he’s not happy about it. He calls the event, which ran from April 14-23 this year, a single “influencer survivor” thing.
“We’ve left the era of the big superhero acts behind us”
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the 44-year-old explained: “I think they have a really hard time booking headliners. There’s not much left. We left the era of big superhero acts like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Daft Punk behind. […] Now they’re booking acts like Bad Bunny and Blackpink, which are cool, but they’re just so Top 40. It’s almost like they’re stadium acts.”
Diplo, whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz, believes the open air’s producers are having a hard time booking stars “because there aren’t a lot of really culturally relevant new acts.”
Diplo is a fan of Labrinth: “He’s the real Coachella”
But Diplo also has good things to say about the US event. In an interview with “THR” he raves about a labrinth show that he witnessed at this very festival: “I saw labrinth. That was amazing. I think he represents the real Coachella. It’s part of the zeitgeist. But the rest felt like they were struggling to find things that are cultural touchstones but also have the ability to draw large audiences.”
The DJ himself made his debut at Coachella in 2005, which has been held annually since 1999. Since then he has been on stage there three times – most recently in 2019. His current album is called DIPLO and was released in March 2022.