Via:Thisis50.com
When the lineup for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival came out in January, there was a lot of grumbling about the headliners, including Friday night’s opening anchor, Jay-Z.
However, the hip-hop mogul proved why he was a headliner with a hit-packed performance Friday night at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, which included a duet with wife Beyonce on “Forever Young.”
The knockout performance also proved that the spirit of Coachella is alive and well, with Jay-Z on the main stage, experimental rockers Public Image Limited performing at the Outdoor Theatre, Brazilian singer Ceu in the Gobi Tent, Fever Ray on the Mojave Tent stage and revered electronic musician Deadmau5 anchoring the Sahara Tent–the festival is a true celebration of music.
The formula works. This year the festival is bigger than ever, with more land leased and the biggest audience in Coachella history (the festival sold out earlier this week with 75,000 tickets).
He came out and did his hit “Run This Town,” and also went through other big numbers such a s”99 Problems” and “Hard Knock Life” with the help of the audience.
Jay-Z even remarked about the bands–giving a shoutout to Yeasayer and encouraging the audience to cheer for everyone performing.
The high point was seeing the rumors come to fruition when Beyonce joined him on stage for “Forever Young.” She had been watching the show from the side of the stage and clad in a white off-the-shoulder “Flashdance”-style T-shirt, jean shorts and a hat that was somewhere between a fedora and Amish.
The crowd went wild.
Both were grinning from ear to ear and as the song ended, he bowed to her and tipped his imaginary hat to her.
“I know we gotta get out of here, but I don’t want to leave yet,” he told the crowd, smiling.
He wrapped his set with the song “Encore,” without actually coming back to do an encore.
