Blackpink becomes first K-pop band to headline Coachella Music Fest

Blackpink will be the first K-pop act to headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2023. The South Korean quartet will perform on April 15 and 22 as headliners for the festival that takes place at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, California, according to the festival's promoter Goldenvoice on Tuesday.

Others headlining Coachella include Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican singer who will be the first Latino artiste to do so, and the feted alternative R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean.

Coachella, the largest music festival in North America that began in 1999, is held for two weeks and hosts around 300,000 attendees every year. The festival has sought to present a more diversified line-up in recent years.

In 2019, Blackpink was the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella.

The first South Korean act to take part in the celebrated music festival was the duo EE in 2011, followed by hip-hop group Epik High in 2016. Indie band Hyukoh and rock band Jambinai were invited to Coachella in 2019 along with Blackpink.

In 2020, K-pop bigwigs Bigbang were set to play at the festival but the project foundered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

in 2022, the second-generation K-pop girl group 2NE1 performed at Coachella as a full unit for the first time in six years. Fourth-generation K-pop girl group Aespa also took the stage that same year.

For Blackpink, their 2019 Coachella debut helped the group garner popularity in the United States. Shortly after, the girls peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and topped the same chart in September 2022 with their second full-length album, Born Pink.

Blackpink will also be the first K-pop artistes to headline the British Summer Time festival held at Hyde Park in London on July 2.