Sonora\u2019s<\/a> typically indie and punk-leaning lineup: a growing wave of Spanish-language and Latin-adjacent artists carving out space on their own terms. From the Madrid-born indie rock of Carolina Durante, to the bilingual post-punk of Chicago\u2019s French Police, and the bedroom pop textures of Los Retros, the tent became a home for artists reshaping what \u201cLatin music\u201d can look and sound like at a festival like Coachella.<\/p>\nFor 54 Ultra, that moment carried both pride and intention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to elevate the standard of that stage and show really what Latino music can be like with this nine-piece, ten-piece band \u2014bongos, congas and timbales and horns and everything,\u201d he said just hours before his Weekend 2 set on the grounds at Coachella. \u201cI\u2019ll just do it how I want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where Sonora has long been a proving ground for emerging rock and indie acts since its debut in 2017, it\u2019s increasingly become a launchpad for artists who exist outside traditional genre or cultural boxes. For 54 Ultra, whose sound pulls from Dominican boleros, vintage soul records and indie rock textures, the stage felt less like a leap and more like a natural progression.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just felt right to be a part of that stepping stone. I don\u2019t like skipping steps,\u201d he said. \u201cA year ago I thought it\u2019d be too soon, but now it feels like I\u2019m right at the right spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sense of timing extended to the crowd itself. While he anticipated a strong turnout, the energy inside the tent reflected something broader, fans who already knew the music alongside newcomers discovering it in real time. \u201cI love the intimacy. I can pick out and yell at a kid from all the way down and say, \u2018Hey, you better be moving,\u2019\u201d he shared laughing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that intimacy \u2014 paired with the freedom to experiment \u2014 that continues to define Sonora. But this year, that experimentation came with a deeper cultural resonance.<\/p>\n
Raised in a Dominican household, 54 Ultra\u2019s sound has always been shaped by the music around him, whether intentional or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what I do, it comes out through that,\u201d he said. Over time, that influence evolved into something more deliberate, as he began pulling from salsa, boleros and rare soul records from the 1960s and \u201970s, blending them into a sound that feels both nostalgic and entirely his own. With that evolution has come a growing awareness of the role he plays onstage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means everything. It\u2019s my responsibility as an artist to represent Latinos, making sure that all these kids that come to the show are protected,\u201d he said. \u201cI always tell everybody to take care of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a band made up of musicians from across Latin America and beyond, that sense of community extended beyond the crowd and into the performance itself, a collective energy that mirrored the diversity unfolding within the tent. For first-time Coachella performer 54 Ultra, the moment wasn\u2019t overhelming, but marked by clarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never considered it. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d ever go to Coachella,\u201d he said. \u201cSo to be here, it\u2019s a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as Sonora<\/a> continues to evolve, moments like his suggest the tent is no longer just a space for discovery but a stage where new definitions of identity, sound and scale are beginning to take hold.<\/p>\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t the last you\u2019re gonna see of me,\u201d Rodriguez announced to the packed Sonora stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.pressenterprise.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside the dim, enclosed walls of the Sonora tent at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival\u00a0 \u2014 where the event\u2019s most underground acts typically cut their teeth \u2014 something shifted this year. By the time JohnAnthony Rodriguez, musically known as 54 Ultra, took the stage last weekend, the crowd had already begun to swell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2380496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[22691,368485,354471,90731,344422,445366,22482],"class_list":["post-2380495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-california","tag-coachella-festival","tag-coachella-valley","tag-indio","tag-music-concerts","tag-riverside-county","tag-things-to-do"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Coachella-2026-54-Ultra-leads-a-new-wave-of-Latin-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2380495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2380495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2380495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2380497,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2380495\/revisions\/2380497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2380496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2380495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2380495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2380495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}