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\n\tYouTube\u2019s annual Coachella livestream <\/a>is the single best place to experience new and contemporary music on the Internet: For three days, it is packed with career-defining sets for some of the most important, influential and up-and-coming artists in the world, exquisitely choreographed, stage-managed and filmed, and broadcast all over the globe. It\u2019s essentially a giant Grammy Awards, but with full sets, seven stages and three multi-hour nights of entertainment.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cCouchella\u201d is dramatically different from being at the festival, and if you care most about the music (as opposed to the scene or being seen), it\u2019s better: There\u2019s no dust, wind, distances to drive and walk; there\u2019s no waiting outside a packed tent; there\u2019s no sprinting across a crowded field to catch a set (or get into one before it\u2019s too crowded); and most of all, there\u2019s no trying to figure out the annual dark art of obtaining a coveted \u201cartist pass,\u201d which guarantees good views.<\/p>\n \n\tHowever, for legal reasons, those videos are available for only 24 hours before essentially vanishing forever\u00a0except in janky clips on social media and deep in dark web territory and on private hard drives (although excerpts from some performances can be seen here<\/a>, along with super-annoying commercials). So, every year, many of us plunk ourselves down in front of the laptop for almost the entire weekend, scrolling through multiple feeds of incredible performances before they disappear, and circle back for Weekend 2 to catch the sets we missed, or the ones that were so great we had to see them again.<\/p>\n \n\tThe weekend one streams were neuralyzed by YouTube at around noon ET on Monday, but there\u2019s always weekend two! For people going or staying on the couch, here are our picks for the best shows of the first weekend, and the must-sees (or must-streams) for weekend two.<\/p>\n \n\tWe\u2019ve already written about headliners Sabrina Carpenter, <\/a>who brought a whole new production and special guest actors to her \u201cSabrinawood\u201d set on Friday; Justin Bieber,<\/a> who largely performed solo and with minimal production but whose singing was absolutely stunning; and Karol G<\/a>, who soared through a stunning, female-and-Latin-empowering celebration of multiple genres of music to close out the festival on Sunday; we also covered Huntr\/x\u2019s surprise appearance during Katseye\u2019s set <\/a>on Friday and David Byrne\u2019s brilliant show<\/a> at an earlier date. But here\u2019s the best of the dozens of other performances we caught \u2014 which by no means is to say that these were the only great performances, just the ones we caught before the livestream disappeared on Monday.<\/p>\n \n\tFRIDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tDijon<\/strong> was one of the most buzzed-about acts of the festival and his solo set on Friday did not disappoint (he also joined Bieber for a song on Saturday). Accompanied by an eight-piece band \u2014 which meant that at one point he had five people playing guitar, including himself \u2014\u00a0Dijon\u2019s songs take on an added dimension in a live setting, especially the ones from his latest album, \u201cBaby,\u201d which here transcended their intentionally lo-fi recorded versions. Most unusual is Dijon\u2019s stage presence: With a headset microphone, he paces around onstage while he\u2019s singing as if he were talking on the phone, barely looking at the audience.<\/p>\n \n\tThe xx<\/strong>\u2019s somber, electronic-based music is so low-key that some may find it hard to imagine them being compelling in a live setting, but the reunited group \u2014 which first played the festival in 2010 \u2014\u00a0showed just how compelling they can be. A trio, singer\/guitarist Romy, singer\/bassist TK and master DJ-producer Jamie xx (who was anchored behind a desk on decks and percussion) commanded the stage with a dazzling white light show and a set that combined the best tracks from their three albums along with highlights from their solo projects (with the most exciting being a medley from Jamie\u2019s excellent 2024 album \u201cIn Waves\u201d). The group was visibly overwhelmed by the ecstatic response from the crowd.<\/p>\n