Post Malone closed out the first weekend of this year’s Coachella festival on Sunday night with a 90-minute performance in which he remade some of his smash pop-rap hits as down-home country jams.
Sauntering onstage holding a red plastic cup and a cigarette, the 29-year-old singer — who went Nashville in 2024 with the chart-topping “F-1 Trillion” after years of dominating pop and hip-hop radio — opened his set with twangy renditions of “Texas Tea,” “Wow” and “Better Now” that felt like they could’ve been performed at Coachella’s country cousin, Stagecoach (where in fact Malone launched his country phase last year).
“I apologize for being pitchy,” he said later in the show. “Auto-Tune is a hell of a drug.”
Dressed in tight jeans and a weathered ball cap, Malone put across his usual self-effacing vibe as he ran through oldies like “Go Flex,” “Goodbyes,” “Lemon Tree” and “Psycho,” the last of which had him yowling on his knees. He also did solo versions of some of the country songs from “F-1 Trillion,” including “I Had Some Help” (which features Morgan Wallen on record), “Losers” (which features Jelly Roll on record) and “M-E-X-I-C-O” (which features Billy Strings on record).
Despite his many friends in Nashville, Malone didn’t bring out any surprise guests on Friday — a decision in keeping this year with his fellow headliners Lady Gaga, who brought only her producer Gesaffelstein, and Green Day, whose set featured no guests.
Before jumping into the crowd to shake fans’ hands as he finished his set with “Sunflower,” Malone gave a little motivational speech to introduce his song “Congratulations,” telling the audience that he remembered when a “lot of motherf—” were calling him a one-hit wonder.
But just look at him now, he seemed to be arguing: a rapper who’d made himself into a country star at pop’s most important music festival.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
