Kanye West made Coachella history this weekend, when he brought his famous sunday service spectacle to the Southern Californian desert festival for a massive Easter morning celebration. Although the “Jesus Walks” rapper they have so far taken place in a secret Los Angeles location and have been invite-only, so this performance was the first time that the general public could attend. (Everyone with a Coachella wristband was welcome.) The full show was also live-streamed on YouTube through a fisheye-style peephole lens, for an especially intimate effect.
West has performed at Coachella three times previously, and was slated to headline this year until, according Billboard, he pulled out at the last minute because the festival would not accommodate his ambitious plan to appear on a giant, custom-built, dome-shaped stage. Instead, West ended up performing Sunday morning on a special hilltop stage at the festival’s camping area — marking the first time that a major event has taken place on the Coachella campground in the festival’s 20-year history. The site opened at 6 a.m. for the 9 a.m. service, and a reported 10,000 fans showed up to praise and worship, Kanye-style.