Cactus Jack was always meant for the desert. Travis Scott told Complex he always wanted to headline Coachella — he even rapped about the decorated festival on ASTROWORLD’s “SKELETONS” and he took full advantage of the spotlight on Saturday night (April 12).
La Flame was tasked with designing the desert, and he continued to push the envelope with his innovative world-building when it comes to his performances, which are simply unmatched in hip-hop at the moment.
A 60-plus person marching band combining brass members from Jackson State’s Sonic Boom and Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 gave Scott’s “4×4” and anthems like “SICKO MODE” and “FE!N” a renewed texture and shelf life.
Scott had wrung about as much as he could out of the UTOPIA era and delivered on his promise of Coachella marking a “new chapter” for the Houston rapper.
La Flame previewed a pair of unreleased songs with the first being a lucid track that’s tentatively titled “She Goin Dumb.” “You getting wasted, just don’t waste mine,” he sings on the chorus. While the second finds Scott in a fun pocket on the smokey tune seemingly titled “On Jacques.” “We brought magic to the stu because it get tricky,” Trav raps.
It’s unclear if they’re intended to kick off Scott’s next solo effort or will end up on the JACKBOYS 2 compilation project, but it’s a welcome sign for where La Flame is headed sonically.
Scott is always looking for new ways to test the limits of what’s possible with his shows. He had dancers suspended in mid-air like the cover of NSYNC’s No Strings Attached album. They were flipped upside down like a pack of bats in the midst of the ethereal “Stargazing.” Tate McRae, a potent dancer in her own right, appreciated the theatrics and lent her stamp of approval on her IG Story from the crowd.
In a shoulder pad vest equipped with sunglasses and a Nike headband, Scott himself got in on the action to scale the stage’s stanchion wall while rappelling down and performing “Skyfall.”
The 33-year-old isn’t shy about how much Kanye West has meant to his career. Being a branch on the West artistic family tree, Scott having a model strut down the catwalk as the muse for “90210″ felt like something out of Ye’s “Runaway” playbook.
An interesting moment and perhaps olive branch to mend the fences with Drake came when Scott performed a mash-up of “Modern Jam” and Drizzy’s “NOKIA,” which comes on the heels of a “Modern Jam” and “NOKIA” blend that went viral on X from user Spectre earlier this year. It seemed to make it onto La Flame’s radar and he messed with it so much, it made the cut for his Coachella set.
The HBCU-led marching band gave Scott another avenue of creativity to explore as an orchestrator and made his performance art feel that much richer. Catalog anthems like “SICKO MODE” and “FE!N” felt like they received a fresh coat of paint with the brass band’s involvement in the arrangement meshing with Scott’s AutoTune-laced vocals. Of course, in typical Trav and DJ Chase B fashion, they had to run back the chaos of “FE!N” a few times.
The thrilling 70-minute solo set took fans on a rollercoaster ride through Scott’s career from when he was couchsurfing in the early 2010s looking for his break to becoming one of the most lucrative brands in all of music. Whether it was “Mamacita,” “Goosebumps,” the dreamy “My Eyes,” or his verses on Playboi Carti’s MUSIC, there was something representing every era of La Flame.
“That was a great set,” a fan was heard saying as “TELEKINESIS” and a firework show ended the night, while another attendee looked visibly emotional when the lights came on.
And perhaps the best part after everything? He’s still not satisfied, as the hunger for greatness remains. A photo emerged on social media shortly after Scott’s set of the Cactus Jack honcho back in the studio, tweaking tracks with the Coachella euphoria fueling him.
While Scott’s called arenas home for the majority of his past two U.S. treks, La Flame’s creativity thrives when the stakes are highest and venues are biggest. Buckle up, the next chapter is here.
