Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl, Cynthia Erivo join Gustavo Dudamel in a surprise Coachella set

Los Angeles, April 20 (IANS) Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil stuck to their promise as they performed with surprise guests for the second of their two Coachella 2025 performances.

The Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl joined the symphony for two Foo Fighters songs followed by actor-singer Cynthia Erivo serenading the desert masses, reports ‘Variety’.

Grohl did not tone anything down for the orchestral setting, belting ‘The World Is a Neighborhood’ at the top of his lungs, followed by the more familiar Foo’s classic ‘Everlong’.

In closing the set, Erivo did not get too wicked, singing a ballad that was unknown to most of the audience followed by Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’.

As per ‘Variety’, another performer who joined the Phil only for the second weekend was Natasha Bedingfield, singing her 2004 international hit ]Unwritten’ with the help of a choir as well as the full complement of strings.

Dudamel told the crowd the Phil being at Coachella represented “maybe the best two weekends of our lives, enjoying your energy”.

The philharmonic’s set did feature some holdover guests from the previous weekend, like Venezuelan duo Cat7riel and Paco rejoining the symphony for an exciting Latin-symphonic mashup. Jazz-pop star Laufey, who again sang her biggest hit, the bossa nova single ‘From the Start’, followed by her brand new song, ‘Silver Lining’.

Laufey has a strong track record with Dudamel and the Phil; a show she did with the orchestra last summer was released as a feature film in December and came out as a live double-album for Record Store Day.

“I was an orchestra kid growing up, so this was my actual dream”, Laufey told the crowd about singing with the LA Phil. “The fact that there are so many people here for an orchestra makes me so happy for music”.

The Coachella sets weren’t Laufey’s first time performing with a symphony at a major pop festival; she also pulled off that feat last summer at Lollapalooza.

--IANS

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