The 20 Best Coachella Sets of All Time

In the classic Japanese film Rashomon, four characters tell the same story from four completely different perspectives, giving accounts so conflicting that it's impossible to know what really happened. Coachella is kind of the same way, times about 20,000 perspectives.

When we asked L.A. Weekly writers to name their all-time favorite Coachella sets, over 120 different performances entered the conversation. Friends and readers suggested dozens more. In the end, these were the 20 that stood out the most, both of terms of how often they were cited and how much they've become part of our collective memories of America's first great annual music festival. By this time next year, Guns N' Roses may join this list, or another artist from the 2016 lineup no one could have predicted. That's what makes Coachella so great; just when you think it's starting to lose its mojo, another headliner or Sahara tent DJ or unheralded Gobi tent newcomer seizes their moment and becomes part of the festival's mythology.

Based on the sheer number of different sets our writers proposed for this list, Coachella's best year was either 2015 (probably just because it's the most fresh in our minds) or 2005, when Arcade Fire debuted, Chemical Brothers owned the dance tent, and Bauhaus turned everyone into an honorary goth for the night. The worst year? Despite headlining sets by Bjork and Oasis, it was apparently 2002. Only Beck's surprise appearance with DJ Z-Trip that year made a lasting impression on anyone we surveyed.

20. LCD Soundsystem, Sahara Tent, 2007
James Murphy's disco-punk crew will be playing Coachella for the fourth time this year. Anyone who saw them in the tiny Gobi tent in 2004 can claim "I was there" bragging rights, and they graduated to the main stage in 2010 without missing a beat. But the LCD Coachella set for the ages came in 2007, when they were the hands-down highlight of a stacked Sahara tent lineup that also included sets by The Rapture, Justice and MSTRKRFT. With Murphy hooting and hollering at the helm, LCD Soundsystem's full live incarnation, including members of Hot Chip and !!!, stormed through renditions of anthems like "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" and "North American Scum" that were even harder and funkier than the studio versions, whipping the sweaty Sahara crowd into a pogo-ing frenzy. If they can capture that same magic at this year's festival, they'll cement their status as one of the greatest live dance music acts of all time — Andy Hermann

19. Arcade Fire, Outdoor Stage, 2005
Over Coachella’s history, no band has seen their rise aided by the event like Arcade Fire. The Canadian indie rockers have played the festival four times, including twice as headliners; who could forget the LED beachballs of 2011 or the special appearance from Blondie’s Debbie Harry in 2014? But it was the first time that kickstarted the band’s legend, a sunset appearance on the Outdoor stage in 2005. From percussion on motorcycle helmets to a feverish conclusion with “Rebellion (Lies)” that left guitarist Richard Reed Parry drained and motionless on the stage, the set saw a young band rising to the occasion of a large audience in a beautiful setting. Eleven years later, Arcade Fire have more than lived up to the hype this performance created. — Philip Cosores

18. Underworld, Outdoor Stage, 1999
The inaugural Coachella festival fell somewhere between a rock show and a rave — and in 1999, that was still a novel concept. (Who the hell, we thought at the time, would put together a bill with Morrissey and Richie Hawtin?) When Underworld played, though, it made sense. By this time, anyone who hit the party scene (or saw Trainspotting) at least knew Underworld for the dance floor anthem "Born Slippy." But the group brought us more than a hit. Live-music-lovers could look towards the stage and watch a show; the rest of us could find a groove that mimicked the ebb and flow of a DJ set and just dance. Out in the crowd, it was a peak for the party of a lifetime, where you can't quite remember what was played, but you remember the sweat-sticky feeling of your baggy jeans, the bliss of dancing alone and the joy of bumping into friends. Seventeen years later, I struggle to recall all the details, but the emotions that set provoked (the first of several Underworld shows I would attend over the years) haven't dissipated. (Note: Videos from Coachella '99 are limited and usually of poor quality; this clip is not from Coachella, but was shot around the same time.) — Liz Ohanesian

17. Madonna, Sahara Tent, 2006
I may have seen most of it from atop a wobbly porta-potty, but Madonna’s 2006 appearance in the Sahara tent was a sexy spectacle that I’ll never forget. The late addition set (she was never on Coachella’s famous flyer) marked a turning point for the fest that, some might say, wasn’t all positive — but if you were there, in the moment, it was perfect. Maybe we could longer call the desert shindig "edgy" or "indie" with the biggest pop star in the world shaking her ass (which did look good, by the way) for the massive crowd, but that was OK. Humping and thumping about in her leotarded Confessions guise, Ms. M brought a discotheque unity to the desert that’s only gotten bigger as dance music’s popularity has grown. With her signature sassy banter, bodacious back-up dancers, and a short but sweet mix of effervescent pop jams old and new (“Ray of Light” was a righteous choice), Madonna single-handedly took the “too-cool” out of Coachella and allowed us all the not-so-guilty pleasure of finding the groove and letting ourselves go. — Lina Lecaro

16. Chemical Brothers, Sahara Tent, 2005
The Chemical Brothers could very well be considered one of the mascot acts of Coachella. After top billing the first three years, the bombastic pair moved to the Sahara tent’s ginormous, womb-like space for their return in 2005. The Sahara proved to be a perfect fit for the standard-bearing visuals and lights of the duo's most memorable Coachella performance. That night, the Chemicals took it somewhere else. It was like riding Space Mountain, backwards, for the first time, with way more than two people per car. You couldn’t really see anything, but there were lots of flashes, lots of vibrations, lots of heaving, and lots of screaming. And it went on for 20 songs, dive after ascension, loop after loop, drop after drop. It was awesome. — Lily Moayeri

15. Kanye West, Coachella Stage, 2011
While he didn’t launch the trend of hip-hop festival headliners — you can credit Jay-Z for that in 2010 — Kanye West sure set the standard. Coming off the major success and widespread critical acclaim of his 2010 master opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and still suffering from the death of his mother, Kanye was at his most introspective as he took the Coachella main stage in 2011. This was a pained, lonely, disturbed Kanye, a pre-Yeezus Kanye still years away from reaching his next critical evolution. Arguably one of the most crucial bookings in his career at the time, the 2011 Coachella performance served as the intro to the wildly ambitious, rap-as-art performer we love (and love to hate) today. Backed by graceful ballet dancers and a grandiose set, Kanye challenged the traditional, rock-reliant setting of Coachella's main stage to transcend rap as a genre and awaken the full potential of the festival set as performance art. — John Ochoa

14. Darkside, Gobi Tent, 2014
The first thing to consider is the wind. On the second night of the first weekend of Coachella 2014, a desert windstorm was in effect, creating a dramatic ambiance and making the chandeliers inside the Gobi sway. The tent wasn't packed, but those assembled early were in on the secret of Darkside, the New York duo featuring guitarist Dave Harrington and producer Nicolas Jaar. "They're rebooting the energy in the room!" one crowd member exclaimed when the duo launched their set with several minutes of distortion. Whether or not that was true, Darkside made that tent their own — playing sprawling, spaced-out versions of nearly everything on their only album, Psychic. It was sexual, it was spiritual, it was rare. The duo announced their hiatus four months later, and while reunion rumors swirl, it's likely that they'll never again play a venue so intimate. — Katie Bain

13. The White Stripes, Coachella Stage, 2003
Jack White has played the desert so many times with his various projects, it's easy to forget that his first and still greatest band, The White Stripes, has appeared there only once. But boy, did they make it count. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were ostensibly the Sunday night headliners in 2003, but they were thoroughly upstaged by Jack and his "big sister" Meg, who blazed through a 17-song set with more fire, fury and stage presence than seemed possible for a mere guitar/drums duo. Coming less than a month after the release of the career-defining album Elephant, the set catapulted The White Stripes from cult band to legit festival headliners, set Jack White on the path to rock superstardom, and helped turn "Seven Nation Army" into one of the most popular chant-along anthems of the new millennium. — Andy Hermann

12. Roger Waters, Coachella Stage, 2008
Many Coachella fans raised eyebrows when the festival announced former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters among the headliners in 2008. It was the first year Goldenvoice took a chance on such a legacy classic rock act to close out the main stage, and a vocal contingent of indie-leaning fans bombarded digital media with protests. Taking the stage to the strains of The Wall track, “In the Flesh,” Waters and his crack band powered through Pink Floyd favorites “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Sheep.” During the latter song, Waters’ giant inflatable pig prop came loose from its tether and floated away. Including a run through the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon, Waters’ crowd-pleasing set paved the way for more legacy rockers like Paul McCartney to headline future Coachella lineups. — Scott T. Sterling

11. Amy Winehouse, Gobi Tent, 2007
Booking festivals is a tricky business; lineups are set months in advance, which sometimes leads to red-hot artists playing to overflow crowds on secondary stages. Such was the case when Amy Winehouse played to a packed (and extremely sweaty) daytime crowd in the intimate Gobi tent, right when "Rehab" was blowing up radio and every blog and newspaper in America was touting her as the Next Big Thing. Even seemingly somewhat out of it, teetering unsteadily on her "Fuck Me Pumps," Wino still delivered a mesmerizing performance, backed by the always on-point Dap-Kings, chatting happily with the crowd between songs, and crooning soon-to-be-classics like "You Know I'm No Good" and "Tears Dry on Their Own" with casual virtuosity. Sadly, her first Coachella appearance would also be her last; she was booked to return in 2009, but it became one cancelled gig among many as her career and life unraveled. But for those of us lucky enough to squeeze into the Gobi in 2007, we got to witness one of the greats. — Andy Hermann


10. Throbbing Gristle, Mojave Tent, 2009
In the 2000s, many cult acts of the 1970s through the 1990s jumped at the chance of reaping adulation (and dollars) by playing the familiar oldies for affluent crowds. Not industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle. A now fully pandrogynous Genesis P-Orridge, Sleazy (attired for some reason like the Pope of Cows), knob-twirling Chris and trance-inducing Cosey landed in the California desert like high priests and priestesses of a hypnotic sect, bent on taking their influential early transmissions ever further out. Here in the flesh, playing for the children of Nine Inch Nails, were the Freak Fab Four and, for a brief moment, they went back to the source of Coil, Psychic TV and industrial music and pushed it forward into the new millennium. — Gustavo Turner

9. Jack White, Coachella Stage, 2015
At the tail end of his Lazaretto tour that began nearly a year earlier, White was a man with a purpose when he hit the desert stage. The enigmatic musician presented a thunderous set of White Stripes and solo songs with a terrific backing band. Dedicating his second weekend's set to fallen Long Beach keyboardist Ikey Owens, while howling that “music is sacred,” White didn’t need to prove to the massive crowd that he’s a purist, instead simply reminding Coachella-goers why he’s remains the biggest and most prickly rock star of his generation. — Daniel Kohn

8. Rage Against the Machine, Coachella Stage, 2007
Rage has always lived up to its name, so the band’s reunion show on the main stage in ’07 was everything we expected it to be and then some. It was as if Zack de la Rocha had purposely allowed his fury to fester internally for seven years, just so he could release it in the most mad and massive way possible. The Bush administration was in charge during his musical absence, so he naturally still had a lot to say, and songs such as 'Know Your Enemy” and “Killing in the Name Of” resonated more than ever. I watched Rage’s set from the comfort (and safety) of the VIP section — and while that might sound wimpy and lame, it was in fact the very best vantage point from which to view their absolute obliteration of the Coachella field. Zack’s fervent rants and Tom Morello’s brutal riffs were like cannon blasts exploding into a glob of humanity that bowed and bounced together with every rhythmic blow. — Lina Lecaro

7. Flaming Lips, Coachella Stage, 2004
There I was, 17 years old and high — not to mention sweaty, dusty and probably clinically dehydrated — with a well-dressed man in an inflatable hamster ball rolling over top of my head. Images of Wayne Coyne floating in his trusty clear orb across a sea of concertgoers might be ubiquitous today, but a real-life bubble boy was the last thing anyone expected to see during Flaming Lips' 2004 Coachella set. "We don't know if this is going to work," a voice said as they first pushed a plastic-ensconced Coyne into the crowd. Balls aside, the band played what might be the shortest festival set ever (five songs — including a glorious, spacey version of "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1"), but no one seemed bothered. We touched plastic greatness that night, and will forever remember it as the debut of one of music's most iconic concert props. — Sarah Bennett

6. My Bloody Valentine, Coachella Stage, 2009
While The Cure's epic, three-encore conclusion of Coachella 2009 is worth mentioning (when the plug literally had to be pulled on the band), even better was the main stage performance that led into it. Shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine had prepared people for their volume, with the fest giving out complimentary earplugs as fans entered on Sunday afternoon. But there is really no preparing for the audio assault that the band brought. It all came to a head during closer "You Made Me Realize"; the roar of their guitars could reportedly be heard all the way in the Sahara tent. For fans camped out waiting for the night's headliner, it was a gauntlet, an audio holocaust with the power to make a listener physically ill. Like the best music experiences, it was equally exhilarating and frightening. — Philip Cosores 

5. Bauhaus, Coachella Stage, 2005
Coachella has become known for some pretty epic reunions, and Bauhaus’ resurrection in '05 goes down as one of the fest’s most theatrical returns to stage. Peter Murphy, David J, Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins were “un-dead” in the realest way. Opening with “Bela Lugosi's Dead,” the band emerged from darkness in white smoke to reveal Murphy hanging upside down like a bat. The rest of the set was just as fiendishly dramatic and nostalgic, especially classics such as “In The Flat Field,” “A God in An Alcove" and “She’s in Parties.” It was a hauntingly precise performance. David J later told me that tension within the band ensures they’ll never do it again, and maybe that’s for the best. Despite the discord, or maybe because of it, our fave fiends had a triumphant return. I'd never been so proud to be a former goth, ever. — Lina Lecaro

4. Leonard Cohen, Outdoor Stage, 2009
"It's been a long time since I last toured,” Leonard Cohen announced with the timing of a seasoned Borscht Belt comedian at almost every stop in his glorious 2008-2009 comeback tour. “It was about 14 or 15 years ago. I was 60 years old, just a kid with a crazy dream.” Septuagenarian or not, by the time he got on his knees and delivered a devastating version of his sublime “Hallelujah” (overheard: "What? It's not a Jeff Buckley cover?"), many in the young Coachella crowd had become card-carrying members of the Church of Cohen. Around 3:13 you can hear an almost stereotypical California girl asking her friend, “Ohmahgad — are you crying?” And who could blame her if she was? — Gustavo Turner

3. Dre/Snoop/Tupac Hologram, Coachella Stage, 2012
Honoring the 20th anniversary of The Chronic, the reclusive Dre and his star pupil hit the stage amidst a flurry of hype and anticipation. Compton and Long Beach's finest ran through their vast greatest-hits catalog, with help from the likes of Dre disciples Eminem, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar. But the most lasting memory from Dr. Dre’s only set since 2000 was the 2Pac hologram. Nearly four years later, it's become an iconic moment in the festival’s history, cementing it as the go-to festival in the United States. As part of the first year with the two-weekend format, Dre and Snoop’s hit-laden set was perhaps even more anticipated the second time around. — Daniel Kohn

2. Prince, Coachella Stage, 2008
Prince has a flair for the dramatic that’s only outpaced by his ability to rise to any occasion. Case in point: his 2008 headlining Coachella set. He began the show with his own opening acts: Morris Day, who led the band through Time classics “The Bird” and “Jungle Love,” followed by Sheila E. performing “Glamorous Life.” Then, after charging through a clutch of his biggest hits including “1999,” “Little Red Corvette” and “Controversy,” Prince shocked and delighted the stunned crowd with an inspired version of Radiohead’s “Creep.” After mixing in takes on The B-52s (“Rock Lobster”) and The Beatles (“Come Together”), he ended with the one-two punch of “Purple Rain” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” eclipsing the inherent drama of closing Coachella with a virtuoso performance that has yet to be matched. — Scott T. Sterling

1. Daft Punk, Sahara Tent, 2006
Whether into electronic music or not, Coachella-goers who missed this set are still kicking themselves. Moving way beyond the standard laser-packed, confetti-blasting DJ set at the Sahara tent, Daft Punk’s 2006 Coachella performance was the industry-wide wake-up call that established the current state of EDM as the most innovative and progressive musical movement in the United States today.

As night fell, a massive crowd — rumored to be as many as 40,000 — swarmed the overflowing Sahara tent. A thick sense of mystery filled the nighttime air, as nobody knew what to expect from the elusive French robots, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Then, out of nowhere, it appeared: a mammoth LED pyramid, towering over thousands of soon-to-be-converted lifelong fans.

Nobody had seen this amount of LED; nobody had experienced this level of evolved production. As soon as the call of the distorted robot voice blasted through the speaker walls, there was no looking back. Leaning exclusively on their original material, Daft Punk's set consisted of never-before-heard, on-the-fly edits and remixes, creating new, mutated songs cut out of their classics and deeper tracks. The music alone challenged the status quo at the time of a DJ culture heavily reliant on playing other artists’ works.

This was the paradigm shift that finally placed electronic music as a worthy competitor against its big brothers, rock and rap. After Daft Punk, every active artist within electronic music — and arguably even beyond it — had to rethink their approach to live performance.

Anyone holding their breath for the return of the pyramid should give up all hope. Daft Punk are not ones to repeat themselves, and this performance is one that could never be recreated. — John Ochoa