LA Phil Brings Out LL Cool J, Becky G, Zedd, More at Coachella

The LA Philharmonic embarked on unfamiliar territory with a guest-filled Coachella set led by conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic delivered an unforgettable 50-minute set at Coachella on Saturday, featuring stars like Becky G, LL Cool J, Maren Morris, Zedd, and Laufey. The stars performed some of their biggest hits, accompanied by the iconic symphony.

The outdoor stage in Indio is a far cry from what the orchestra is accustomed to at their usual home in downtown LA’s Disney Hall. But according to Dudamel, the performance was a long time coming. “It will be beautiful,” Dudamel said the week before the show.

The performance was a culmination of an idea that dates back to the early days of the conductor’s 17-year tenure with the orchestra. Notably, that tenure ends for Dudamel when he moves to New York for a leading role with the NY Philharmonic next year. But that just makes the Coachella show all a more glorious send-off.

“This was a dream that I had for many years,” said Dudamel of the Coachella performance, admitting that despite his long-running dream, it was only within the last year and a half to two years that the LA Phil held serious discussions with Coachella producers to make it a reality.

“We have the opportunity to do many wonderful things here at the Hollywood Bowl [where rehearsals took place], this wonderful venue where we have the chance to interact with wonderful pop artists on different music styles that we have the chance to do,” Dudamel explained. “But in the context of a festival that represents a culture itself, it was always a dream. We were talking a lot about how to do it and when, and I think it’s perfect timing. We have built something very beautiful together with the team.”

The LA Phil’s performance during Coachella Weekend 2 will feature different guest stars—the identity of which will not be revealed ahead of time, to keep it a surprise, as was the case with Weekend 1. Saturday’s show featured contemporary hits interspersed with classical music, including LL Cool J’s medley with the climactic “Rock the Bells.” The mash-up marked a first in the symphony’s long and glorious history.

“LL Cool J has been invited for as many years as Coachella’s been around, and he’s never been to Coachella, as a guest or anything,” noted Joanna Rees, Vice President of Programming at the LA Phil.

“And so it was Gustavo and the Philharmonic and this opportunity that is bringing him out to the desert. The way he did with orchestral collaboration came out of this amazing [Zoom meeting] we were on with Todd —LL Cool J —and Gustavo talking this idea through, and watching the two of them go through what was in their minds, you could just see it happening live. They were both getting each other super excited about the ideas and the possibilities—and now it’s happened.”

“He actually has basically sampled, in his medley, Beethoven’s Fifth and Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird,’” said Megan Umber, LA Phil Chief Programming Officer. “And I’ve never seen anybody do it, actually, for all the years that we’ve done pop collaborations—properly fitting the orchestral music (of great composers) into his songs.”

In addition to its Coachella sets this weekend and last, the LA Phil is keeping its regular spring schedule at Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA, where they’re currently presenting Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”

The Coachella crowd got a nice taste of that, with Dudamel leading an excerpt from the work as rearranged by Max Richter. This was interspersed with traditional pieces from the classical songbook, such as the Strauss cue best known by modern audiences from its placement at the beginning of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”