Get your crown of flowers and glitter butts ready, because the annual Coachella Music Festival is just months away. Reportedly Kanye West was going to headline one of the three nights, but negotiations collapsed over stage design. Apparently Yeezy found the 60x40 foot stage "artistically limiting." What did he want to build? Another 'floating stage'? A shrine to Donald Trump? I guess we'll never know.
But have no fear, festival-goers. There's still plenty of exciting performers for you to check out, while rolling so hard you won't remember any of them. Coachella recently announced their full lineup, which includes Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, Janelle Monáe, Solange, Weezer, Pusha T and PEOPLE'S 'Sexiest Man Alive' Idris Elba. "See you in the desert," he tweeted, along with a photo of the full line-up.
That's right, Elba is making his Coachella debut as a DJ on April 13. You know the 46-year-old actor best from his many, many TV shows and movies, including The Wire, Luther, Beast Of No Nation, Thor, Pacific Rim and The Dark Tower. However, he actually has worked as a DJ and a producer since he was a teenager, occasionally under the moniker 'DJ Big Driis.'
Previously Elba performed at the Glastonbury and Creamfield music festivals in the UK. He also DJ'ed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's star-studded royal reception following their royal wedding last May. "It was a beautiful experience, like all weddings are," the Prometheus star told The Guardian. "I try not to talk too much about it, because it was a private day, but it remains one of the highlights of my life, for sure. ... Harry’s a friend of mine."
And it's not just festivals - the potential first Black James Bond has produced several bodies of work as a musician. In 2006, he dropped his first EP, entitled Big Man. He followed this up with three more EP's - Kings Among Kings (2009), High Class Problems Vol. 1 (2010) and Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela (2014). He also released Merry DriisMas Holiday Mixtape (2011), and an album, Murdah Loves John (The John Luther Character Album) (2015).
If you're too broke to go to Coachella, just wait, and check out Elba's DJ skills on the Netflix comedy series Turn Up Charlie. According to IMDB, the synopsis reads: "Charlie, a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor is given a final chance at success when he reluctantly becomes a manny to his famous best friend's problem-child daughter." With this project, his passions collide as a musician and actor.
General admission passes are still available on Coachella's website for the low-low-low-okay-not-low-at-all price of $429, of $529, if you want to take a fancy shuttle (ooh-la-la). Of course, for that price you get three days of concerts on multiple stages spanning multiple genres of music, so it's not that ridiculous. Just make sure you bring a crown of flowers and glitter butt, or you'll be quite the pariah.
