Star-studded surprise appearances at Tyler, The Creator headline Coachella set

Childish Gambino, Asap Rocky, Charlie Wilson and Kali Uchis appeared as surprise performers during the headline set of Tyler, The Creator at Coachella.

Tyler, The Creator, real name Tyler Okonma, headlined Saturday night at the Californian festival after becoming a mainstay since debuting in 2011 with his hip-hop group Odd Future, as well as playing solo sets in 2015 and 2018.

The US rapper first brought out US star Childish Gambino, real name Donald Glover, to the stage to perform Running Out Of Time.

The 33-year-old then performed his 2017 hit Who Dat Boy with Asap Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers – who shares two sons with pop megastar Rihanna.

Tyler, The Creator also performed a medley of Odd Future tracks including She and Yonkers to rapturous applause.

The show later saw 13-time Grammy nominee Wilson, lead singer of the Gap Band for a decade, appear on stage during a performance of Earfquake – a song Tyler, The Creator released in 2019.

Lastly, Uchis appeared briefly on stage to perform their hit song See You Again.

Colombian-American R&B singer Uchis recently gave birth to a child with American rapper Don Toliver.

Uchis performed at Coachella in 2023 and brought out Toliver to perform Fantasy from her album Red Moon In Venus, which she released in March.

Spearheading the British acts during the day were rock band Blur – featuring frontman Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bass guitarist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree – on the Coachella stage.

The band played hits including Girls & Boys, Song 2, and Beetlebum, concluding their set with 1999 track Tender.

Jungle performed hits including Busy Earnin’, Heavy, California, and Dominoes – while it was reported US pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce were among the stars enjoying the set.

Earlier in the day, British star Raye spoke about her next music project after her award-winning debut album My 21st Century Blues.

The London-born star, who was wearing “office chic” for her afternoon performance at Coachella in Indio, California, said “art takes time” when discussing new music – before performing a string of hits including Worth It and Escapism.

“I just want you to know, this next piece of music that I’m going to put out … I’m so proud of it and I just need you to know,” the 26-year-old told the crowd.

“I can’t wait for you to hear it, it’s not what you expected.”

Last month, Raye overtook Blur, Harry Styles and Adele by picking up the most Brit awards in one year during the 2024 ceremony.

Her total haul on the night featured album of the year for My 21st Century Blues, artist of the year, best new artist, best R&B act and song of the year for Escapism featuring 070 Shake.

US rock band Vampire Weekend, who were confirmed to perform just days before the festival, brought out reality star Paris Hilton to play an American game titled Cornhole – which involves throwing a bean bag into an angled board.

Hilton, who was wearing a black cowboy hat with a matching ensemble, said: “I haven’t played this game since The Simple Life,” in reference to the reality series she starred in alongside Nicole Richie, which premiered in 2003.

It comes after the first day of the festival saw two-time Oscar winner Billie Eilish unexpectedly appear during Lana Del Rey’s Friday headline slot to sing her 2016 track Ocean Eyes, before duetting on Del Rey’s 2012 hit song Video Games.

Del Rey told the audience she was “grateful” for Eilish, describing her as “the voice of our generation”, while Eilish praised Del Rey for being “the reason for half of you b******’ existence … including mine”.

The headline show also saw Del Rey bring on Grammy-winner Jon Batiste to play the piano on her hit Candy Necklace, and Swift’s long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff to play the piano on Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have – But I Have It.

The first day of the Californian festival also saw Shakira announce an upcoming world tour during a surprise appearance during the set of Argentinian DJ Bizarrap to perform their new track La Fuerte and BZRP Music Sessions, Vol 53.