Kanye West’s Sunday Service commemorating the Easter holiday at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival provided attendees with a morning pick-me-up filled with funky up-tempo grooves, soaring worship anthems and some of Yeezy’s own songs, as the event wrapped up its two-weekend run Sunday.
West directed his traveling choir group atop “The Mountain,” a man-made knoll in the campground area, surrounded by thousands of onlookers in a highly anticipated performance announced just a few weeks ago.
Throughout the two-hour performance that blended gospel hymns and hip-hop, some of the musicians and vocalists were seen wiping away tears, including West, as the band moved through renditions of “As” by Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” and West’s own “Jesus Walks.”
The rapper, who reportedly pulled out of headlining the festival this year due to a stage design disagreement with the event’s producers, also made an unexpected appearance late Saturday night during part of Kid Cudi’s set.
Officials performances inside the festival’s main venue, the Empire Polo Club, begin at 3:05 p.m. Sunday and include the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter H.E.R., the rapper and flautist Lizzo, Khalid, Dillon Francis and Blood Orange.
Headliner Ariana Grande is expected to begin her set at 10:25 p.m.
Festivalgoers were encouraged to use the shuttle service from the Renaissance Palm Springs, the Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa, the JW Marriott, La Quinta Resort & Club, Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Albertsons Palm Desert, among other locations.
Indio city officials said motorists should expect traffic delays on:
— southbound Jefferson, Washington and Monroe streets from Interstate 10 to Avenue 52;
— Avenue 48 between Jefferson and Jackson streets;
— Highway 111 at Jefferson and Monroe streets; and
— eastbound Interstate 10 exits at Jefferson, Monroe and Washington streets.
The following street closures are planned through Monday:
— Avenue 49 between Hjorth and Monroe streets;
— Avenue 50 between Madison and Jackson streets;
— Hjorth Street between Avenue 49 and Avenue 50; and
— Madison Street between Avenue 49 and Avenue 52
City officials recommend that north- and south-bound motorists use Washington, Jackson and Calhoun streets as well as Golf Center Parkway; while east-west travelers were advised to use Highway 111, Fred Waring Drive, Miles Avenue, Dr. Carreon Boulevard and Avenue 54.
When the festival ends early Monday, the departures of nearly 40,000 campers are expected to cause significant congestion on Interstate 10, authorities warned.