Grimes apologizes for disastrous Coachella set

Canadian singer Grimes apologized to fans on Saturday after her Coachella set earlier that evening was beset by technical issues that caused her to scream into the microphone in frustration.

“I want to apologize for the technical issues with the show tonight,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Usually I always handle every aspect of my show myself – to save time this was one of the first times I’ve outsourced essential things like rekordbox bpm’s and letting someone else organize the tracks on the sd card etc,” she added, referencing the DJ software required to play her music, which blends elements of synthpop and techno.

In videos posted on social media, Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, can be seen screaming with frustration multiple times, stopping songs, and explaining to the audience that all her tracks are “double the tempo,” making it difficult for her to mix them.

Eventually, the set was cut short early and Grimes left the stage partway through her popular song “Genesis,” according to media outlets such as Variety.

She later described it in her apology as “sonic chaos on my end trying to guess how stuff was sounding for u guys.”

The incident prompted a mixed reaction online, with one viral post on X expressing sympathy for Grimes experiencing the “musician’s version of nightmares where your teeth fall out and everyone laughs,” while others criticized for the singer for appearing unprepared at one of the biggest festivals of the year.

Grimes added in her apology that she “will personally organize all the files next week,” ahead of her performance at Coachella’s second weekend, and that there were some “good lessons learned.”

“I will not let such a thing happen again,” she said. “I’ve spent months on this show, making music and visuals, and admittedly am not in the best mood atm. But, yeh - next week will be flawless, everything will run thru my hands.”

“Plz forgive me! Love, always.”