The Weeknd

After all the intrigue swirling around Abel Tesfaye’s dark R&B project, it’s fascinating to see the band and the songs laid bare in the baking sunshine. Tesfaye’s got incredible pipes, and it’s wonderful hearing him mix up tracks from across the trilogy. This performance feels like a big turning point for Tesfaye – now he’s out in the open, what sort of artist is The Weeknd going to be?

At The Drive-In

Newly reformed, the high-impact Texan combo were always going to be one of the big draws of the weekend. The clip of ‘One Armed Scissor’ reinforces the perils of the V.I.P area – who wants to spend an evening watching a famously incendiary live act from behind? – but, even if seats aren’t the best in the house, ATD-I sound phenomenally tight.

Azealia Banks

Sure, there’s a fair bit of naffness about proceedings (That DJ? Those covers?). But Banks’ principal strength has always been her infectiousness, and she’s on especially ebullient form for her debut Coachella performance. Considering how cutesy a lot of her press has been, it’s bracing to watch her going hell for leather on tracks like ‘212’ and ‘Fuck Up The Fun’

Radiohead

As ever, props to Radiohead for keeping things interesting: rather than plumping for the usual succession of crowd-pleasers, the group opt for a diverse and electronica-heavy set. There were goodies for the more baffled fans: Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold Rush’ segueing into ‘Everything In Its Right Place’ provides a lovely moment, and they had the good grace to close with a scabrous ‘Paranoid Android’.

Frank Ocean

Poor Francis Ocean had to deal with a slew of technical issues during his set, but he brings plenty of smooth to balance out the rough. Bandana’d and intense, he’s a compelling figure on stage: a little nervous, but clearly acclimatising himself to being a proper star. The Nostalgia, Ultra tracks sound brilliant, and Tyler makes a typically impish guest appearance.

Flying Lotus

FlyLo is a canny festival operator: his sets are often flecked with fragments of big crowd-pleasers (Jay-Z and Kanye in this case), and there’s a flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants quality that keeps things spontaneous. As the above clip demonstrates, his Coachella set contained a range of promising material from his forthcoming Until The Quiet Comes LP. FlyLo’s got some famous friends now: Dre was watching from the wings, and Earl Sweatshirt makes the second big OFWGKTA walk-on of the weekend.

SBTRKT

SBTRKT is a habitual straddler. His music draws links between genres and fan bases; his on-stage role falls halfway between drummer and knob-twiddler; and his live arrangements pull his source material in all sorts of different directions. This brilliant version of signature track ‘Wildfire’, stretched out over seven minute, is testament to his pioneer spirit.

araabMUZIK

Time was when a virtuoso festival performance meant some noodly guitar work on a speaker-stack. Not in 2012: if you wanted to see jaw-dropping technical skills, you had to head straight for the pint-sized man hunched over a square grid. araabMUZIK’s session was part DJ set, part percussive workout, part sideshow. Mesmerising.

Pulp

In a line-up packed with bands giving it a second go (At The Drive-In, Refused), Pulp are the most convincing of the bunch. Their set cranked up the drama, and closed with a triumphant ‘Common People’. All in all, it’s a hopelessly romantic, endlessly entertaining performance. Yes, holograms are wonderful – but we’re very happy with a flesh’n’blood Jarvis for now, thanks.