In 2011, the lineup unveiled on January 18, 2011, to Coachella's website late Tuesday night.[1] Tyler made his debut at Coachella as part of the collective Odd Future, where they performed at the Sahara stage.
Los Angeles Times's August Brown reviewed, "And for about five minutes' worth of 'Sandwitches,' the track they tore apart on Jimmy Fallon's show, they delivered. All the major players (save the yet-un-free Earl Sweatshirt, sadly) sauntered on like the reception was precisely what their talents were owed. Tyler's gravel-tongued raps and Hodgy Beats' manic stage presence were as feral as their reputation implied. It felt like a major star turn about to happen." Brown continued as their performance went on, there seemed to be a severed link between the performers and audience, where jokes and energy did not match.[2] Raymond Flotat from Under the Gun agreed, "fell a bit short," where there were technical issues that delayed their set and their chants "never really quite clicked with the crowd." Pharrell Williams made a guest appearance.[3]
Pitchfork weighed in, "the audience seemed content to spend the whole time yelling "SWAG!", "Free Earl", and "Fuck Steve Harvey!" as Tyler, the Creator killed time by making fake announcements like, "Are you ready... for C-Murder!" But when they finally arrived, things sorta started to wane by the end of opener 'Sandwitches.' And OFWGKTA definitely took notice. Crowds are well-versed in their spectacle, but the crew's lurching beats and dense vocals don't always spark familiarity-- a functioning knowledge of OFWGKTA's discography takes a heck of a lot of homework."[4] Meanwhile, Ben Wener of The Orange County Register described it as "terrifyingly exciting, so out of control and yet somehow completely in control," where he predicted, "Given time, they could slay some of their idols and usurp a few thrones." He added, "The most fearful moment of their jaw-dropping hour-long set came just before an awkward end, at which point the pumped-up crew hadn't a clue what to perform, so they instead pulled three young women out of the pit to shake their thing on stage. Then the house lights came up. Just before that, however, Tyler introduced the last of several new tracks from his second solo album, Goblin. (With a physical push coming from XL Recordings, the May 10 release—a follow-up to arguably the strongest OFWGKTA album, Tyler's Bastard--could be the one that pushes Odd Future out of the MTVu minor leagues and into the big time.)"[5]
On January 6, 2015, Coachella revealed the lineup.[6] Tyler was a performer for both weekends at the Outdoor Theatre stage, where the first set was held on April 12, 2015, the day before his album Cherry Bomb dropped. He debuted live the songs "Deathcamp" and "Fucking Young."
Billboard writer Steven J. Horowitz summarized, "Jabs aside, the Odd Future frontman was in good spirits during his night-two set." He added, "But Tyler was in good spirits, even when he got “depressing” for “IFHY” featuring Pharrell Williams, who wasn't in attendance. He kept the guests relegated to his Odd Future crew, including Domo Gensis and Hodgy Beats for “Rella” and Jasper, who served as hype man for the set."[7] Vibe penned, "This year, the OF mastermind created a giant bedroom with his own custom touch. A giant bed and dresser appeared as his backdrop—which Tyler made sure to do quite a bit of jumping on. The now 24-year-old is still a big ass kid at the end of the day. During his set he playfully shouted out Dr. Dre & Snoop (who were there in 2012), cussed at Kendall Jenner, made fun of and complimented Jack White, and ridiculed Coachella staff for not allowing his videographer onstage."[8]
Shaad D'Souza from Noisey called it "colorful," noting of the rapper's Flower Boy aesthetic and mood throughout the set. Tyler's progression was observed, where it "showcased the depth of New Tyler as a performer and as a songwriter. No longer an agitator, Tyler is now something of a showman.[9]
On June 12, 2023, the festival's 2024 dates were officialized. Advanced sales of festival wristbands and camping passes began the same day.[10] On January 16, 2024, the full lineup was announced.[11] Compared to previous years, ticket sales took longer than usual, being 27 days to sell around 125,000 tickets for the first weekend.[12]
In Tyler's set, the stage was designed to resemble a campsite. It opened with an pre-recorded video, where the rapper wore a ranger outfit and explained of deciding to give up his music lifestyle and instead live as a park ranger. Then, real-life Tyler crashed through a makeshift camper and landed on stage. Silent House Studios president Alex Reardon confided of the segment, "Tyler actually was launched through the wall of the trailer, out about 80 feet, and landed on the thrust on a wire on an apex." Stunt coordinator Pat Romano added, "I told them the pyro guys, 'You have to create an explosion that creates a believable effect as to how a six-foot human being is being projected this far. So it has to be a fireball, and it has to be bits of balsa wood coming out on air mortars.' I said, 'Think about this as a film, not a live concert. Think about that one shot.' And then in rehearsals, we've actually worked out exactly how far down the thrust the cameras had to be in line. And then we coordinated with the very cooperative people at Coachella to make sure the live stream and our IMAG on different cameras appeared to be in exactly that same place." These stunts were inspired by "old 1920s black-and-white movie sketches of people clinging on to clock faces."[13]
Tyler used pyrotechnics and brought out special guests Childish Gambino, A$AP Rocky, Charlie Wilson and Kali Uchis, of which the former he jokingly admitted he "used to hate." He also addressed his appearance on HBO's Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, where Carmichael admitted of his unrequited crush on Tyler: "I'm guessing y'all got TikTok and probably seen my homie try to fuck me on camera. I looked terrible. I told the n—a no and he said, 'What about if we filmed it?' Terrible." For the finale of Tyler's set, he wore a harness to perform "New Magic Wand," hanging from the edge of a canyon, then was whisked off stage by a simulated gust of wind.[14]
Consequence of Sound's Jo Vito wrote, "With the stage decorated by massive sets and a wrap-around screen depicting an idyllic desert scene, Tyler's set was a theatrical triumph. Throughout the set, the visuals morphed between cool starry nights and warm, sunshiney bliss, as Tyler exploded out of a camper van, donned an epic park ranger fit, scaled a cliff, and brought out his many guests."[15] Tom Coulter for The Desert Sun praised, "Ultimately, with songs spanning across his career, the headlining set delivered on all expectations—the energy even impressing Tyler, who has beefed with some crowds in the past."[16] The Guardian editor Alaina Demopoulos was equally impressed, stating, "the set seemed to really fly by, probably due to the production's tight choreography and effortless transitions."[17] Rhian Daly of NME retrospectively reflected of Tyler's performance, "Although the crowd gathered to watch this all go down is relatively modest, they make their presence felt—even if they do ignore those pre-show requests about phones and flashes. It's a reflection of the rapper's cult icon status and a rebuttal to those in his life who didn't believe in him."[18]
On April 14, 2024, Tyler made a surprise appearance during Lupe Fiasco's set for "Paris, Tokyo" at the Heineken House. He later tweeted out: "paris tokyo is in my dna. love to lupe, he so cool and a GREAT performer. ive studied him and wow wow i look so great sheesh what an amazing chessboard i made."[19]
For the April 20, 2024 performance, Tyler's set was similar to his first week in songs and stunts. The primary difference was surprise guest, where he brought out Earl Sweatshirt, the only one.
Paul Albani-Burgio of The Desert Sun lamented it wasn't as thrilling as the Weekend 1 performance, mainly citing the lack of guest appearances. He added, "To be clear, this problem is far from unique to Tyler and probably not his fault. [...] But when he ended up providing an admittedly charming recounting of his favorite sets from the festival so far during a moment in which he had been performing with a guest last weekend, the comparative shortcomings of this set were more apparent then ever."[20]
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Weekend 2 |
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Fri | April 15 2011 | 4:30 P.M. – 5:25 P.M. | Indio, CA | Empire Polo Club | Sahara |
Sat | April 11, 2015 | 9:15 P.M. – 10:05 P.M. | Outdoor Theatre | ||
April 18, 2015 | |||||
April 14, 2018 | 7:55 P.M. – 8:45 P.M. | Coachella Stage | |||
April 21, 2018 | |||||
April 13, 2024 | 11:40 A.M. – 1:00 A.M. | ||||
April 20, 2024 |
Template:Tyler, the Creator live performances