The Saturday, April 15 Coachella lineup was filled with strong female performers.

Early in the day, young Los Angeles-based band The Linda Lindas charmed the audience inside the packed Sonora Tent with their poppy punk rock. The four women, which range in age from 12-18, each took turns singing lead vocals.

Highlights from the set included the opener “Linda Linda,” a cover of The Blue Hearts song that provided the band’s name. It featured bassist Eloise Wong singing lead as Mila de la Garza pounded the drums and guitarists Bela Salazar and Lucia de la Garza thrashed their strings. Lucia was bouncing around the stage so wildly that she fell flat onto her back, but she kept on playing.

“Growing Up,” the Go-Go’s cover “Tonite” and “Racist, Sexist Boy” were also great, the band’s appeal shining through despite audio problems that plagued the microphones throughout.

Singer-songwriter Ethel Cain also packed the Sonora Tent with melancholy tales of Southern gothic appeal, highlights including “American Teenager” and “Sun-Bleached Flies.”

Dinner Party, a hip-hop infused jazz band that includes keyboardist Robert Glasper and saxophonist Kamasi Washington, provided a tasty different flavor in the mid-afternoon Gobi tent.

And Destroy Boys, a female-led band from Sacramento, demonstrated why their younger punk sisters in the Linda Lindas all recently said that was one of the bands they hoped to catch here. Destroy Boys also won the great song title of the day with “I Threw Glass in My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Parole.”

If you didn’t know what to expect when Remi Wolf walked on stage at Coachella on Saturday evening you might have looked at the orange road worker’s vest and the eight or so men’s neckties dangling from her belt and wonder what was in store. But fans who packed the Mojave Tent knew, and as the powerhouse singer from L.A. by way of Palo Alto opened her mouth and sang, the crowd grew and grew and grew, sprawling behind the tent, more people found out, too.

Wolf is one of those artists who come to Coachella right at that moment they’re about to explode like a supernova into the pop music culture. Friend Desert Jeff pointed to Lizzo’s debut at Coachella as a comparison and he’s spot-on there. Fronting a large band of excellent musicians, Wolf wailed her heart out during a 45-minute set filled with funk-and-soul-infused rock.

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Highlights included songs such as “Michael,” which ended with Wolf sprawled on her back, legs twitching in the air and a cover of the Gotye and Kimbra hit “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which that pair played on the very same stage more than a dozen years ago.

After the live debut of “Cake,” played mostly acoustic, she blazed through “Woo!” and “Photo ID,” the latter with the crowd singing loudly along, to close out this special set in the desert.

Rapper Flo Milli also brought the fire with her 40-minute set at 3:20 p.m. in the Sahara Tent. Since bursting onto the scene in 2019 with the single “Beef Flo Mix,” she proved during her turn at Coachella that she’s no longer just a rising-rapper, but a true force to be reckoned with that can take a seat at the table alongside artists like Rico Nasty, Ice Spice and Megan Thee Stallion.

Flo Milli made sure the short set was all about the ladies. “Where are my bad girls at,” she asked the crowd over a dozen times, creating a call and response as the women yelled back.

Her set consisted mostly of the 2020 debut mixtape “Ho, Why Is You Here?” which caught the crowds attention as she rapped through “May I,” “Weak” and “Beef Flo Mix.” Milli was joined by fellow rapper Monaleo for “We Not Humping.”

“Thank you Flo, you inspire me, I appreciate you,” Monaleo, who announced her pregnancy on Twitter just hours before the set, said. Milli closed with her latest hit, “Conceited.” She called out to the women one last time: “Ladies, I wanna hear y’all!” And, of course, they happily obliged.

Pop princess Charli XCX was another early-day standout with a set on the main Coachella Stage, which she dedicated to her loyal LGBTQ+ fan base. Her backup dancers, which consist of only LGBTQ+ identifying men, was impressive. The entire show was everything a diehard fan could possibly want. It was over-the-top with the outfits, the choreography, the show was everything a die hard fan could possibly want: over the top outfits, choreography and visuals with some more personal banter with the crowd.

Charli gave the fans what they wanted and sang “Constant Repeat,” “I Love It,” “Baby” and “Beg For You,” a collaboration with past Coachella performer Rina Sawayama.

“Y’all thought I was slowing down, huh? Well I got a friend I wanna bring out if that’s OK,” Charli shouted as she danced to the start of “1999” and her co-singer Troye Sivan appeared on stage in all black attire to compliment Charli’s black, bedazzled swimsuit. The two sang, roamed the stage together and shared a hug or two.

“This is for all my gay men, I love you all so much,” she said as she sang the song “Boys.” The crowd went wild and a dozen or so began waving LGBTQ+ and transgender pride flags that they’d brought from home.

Charli wrapped her set with “Unlock It (Lock It)” and “Good Ones,” keeping the familiar and danceable choreography straight from the music videos.

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