Outkast at Coachella review 'One of the most anticipated reunions proves underwhelming'

Poor sound, poor production values, poor choice of guests – Outkast's return to the stage at Coachella was a crushing disappointment

It was one of the most anticipated musical reunions in years: Andre 3000 and Big Boi would be performing together as Outkast for the first time since 2002. Yet their Coachella headlining slot, which saw them at the top of Friday’s bill, proved underwhelming for many fans, with a large amount of the audience deserting the performance before it reached its climax of Hey Ya!

It began promisingly, with what seemed like all 75,000 festival-goers attempting to find their own space to dance in the crowd. The pair took to the stage and immediately launched into Bombs Over Baghdad, the usually dapper Andre dressed less fancily than might have been expected for such an occasion, in a dungarees-and-cap combination that made him resemble a long-lost Super Mario brother. But that initial excitement at simply seeing Outkast on stage, together – for many of the young spectators, this will have been their first time – quickly ebbed away, and soon with it, the audience.

Though their rapping was, of course, impeccable, the sound was loose and thin, sent this way and that by desert winds, a treatment such a killer back catalogue does not deserve. The production, too, lacked oomph – one prop was simply a kitchen table with two chairs (though Big Boi later explained its sweet significance, telling us it reminded him of walking around the table at his aunt’s house, practising his flow until he got it just right). There was a bicycle, a stuffed polar bear, the kind of ephemera you’d find in a pub down the road. The guest stars were at best predictable (Janelle Monáe, who frequently collaborates with Big Boi), and at worst, baffling – Future’s appearance was used to promote his forthcoming album, which felt like a jarring intrusion into what should have been an Outkast party.

It’s hard to say what went wrong. At times it felt like two solo shows attempting awkwardly to become one, with Big Boi doing the bulk of the heavy lifting – and Shutterbugg, one of his solo tracks, received one of the best receptions of the night. Andre 3000 repeatedly asked the crowd “You still here?” and “Are y’all alive?”, which suggests that perhaps he knew something wasn’t connecting. By the time Hey Ya! came around in a depressingly unceremonious finale, he appeared to have given up.

The social media response was rapid, with some hardcore fans suggesting the poppier Coachella crowd hadn’t wanted to see an Outkast back catalogue show, they only wanted to hear the big hit. But perhaps people only wanted to hear an act that had been worth waiting 12 years for. That wasn’t what they got in the Coachella valley.

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