Now that the sun is staying out past 5:00pm, we’re entering a busy season. In the last two weeks, I have been to more concerts, book talks, and sporting events than the last few months combined. In the immortal words of Catherine Cohen’s summer anthem, “I wanna go to events!”
One major event I was not in attendance for over the past two weekends was Coachella. Coachella is probably not for me- the drone shots of the crowd for BLACKPINK are enough to make my skin crawl- but The Algorithm has done nothing but feed me videos of Charli XCX, Ethel Cain, Rosalía, MUNA, BLACKPINK, and boygenius performing, so I may as well have attended those sets.
Probably the biggest piece of news to come out of this year’s festival was Frank Ocean’s “bizarre” headlining set during the first weekend and his eventual withdrawal from the second weekend. Other notable moments included technical issues for Bad Bunny and Post Malone (despite being one of the most high profile music festivals in the world, Coachella seems to be plagued by technical issues) and a surprise appearance by Zendaya for her first live performance in seven years. Sadly, Zendaya was not there to perform her 2013 hit, “Replay,” but we can keep our fingers crossed for the future.
Closer to home, I decided not to attend a local music festival because, honestly, I needed a break. This was the first time since the festival started that I didn’t attend and it was, of course, the year that Lana Del Rey made an appearance to play with Bleachers. While I’m not a huge Lana fan, this is the most high-profile cameo ever made at the festival and I do like the song she performed (“Margaret”) so I cannot believe I missed this! GO TO EVENTS!
Some great events I actually attended recently include a Samia concert (one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time!) and a book talk with Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast (which included quickly meeting her and getting my copy of Crying in H Mart signed and me being very overwhelmed because I’ve never met someone who’s work I love so much before?!!). I’m gearing up for several events in the next month including MUNA (oooh!), Taylor Swift (ahhh!), and Pitbull (lol!). It’s event season, baby, and I’m ready!
Lots of things to attend, lots of music to listen to! This week’s mix includes newer tracks I’m enjoying plus older stuff I’m revisiting. What’s in your queue this week?