Punjabi-Canadian Artists AP Dhillon and NAV to Play Coachella 2024
After Diljit Dosanjh made history playing the first Coachella set entirely in Punjabi in 2023, the Vancouver-based Dhillon will take the California festival's stage this summer.
AP Dhillon
The 2024 Coachella lineup arrived on last night (Jan. 16). Beyond headliners like Lana Del Rey, Tyler, The Creator, Doja Cat and the No Doubt reunion are a pair of major Punjabi-Canadian stars.
AP Dhillon and NAV are both playing this year's festival, which takes place on the weekends of April 12-14 and April 19-21 in Indio, California.
This represents another sign of the swelling Punjabi Wave. Coachella is one of the biggest North American music festivals on the calendar, and a spot on the lineup can be a big rite of passage.
Last year, Indian singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh made history as the first artist to play a set at Coachella entirely in Punjabi. It wasn't a one-off.
This year, Vancouver-based AP Dhillon — who blends Punjabi lyrics with trap and hip-hop beats — will take the Coachella stage on its final day (April 14 & 21). It's a big step for the artist, but not an unexpected one. His very first North American tour took place at arenas, and when Billboard Canada interviewed him in October, he was already plotting ways to go bigger. There are few stages as big as Coachella's.
Toronto-based rapper NAV, whose family came to Canada from Punjab, India, is also playing Coachella 2024 on the same day as Dhillon. The artist, who is signed to The Weeknd's XO Records, has played the festival once before in 2017. But he's sure to graduate to an even bigger stage this year. This past year, NAV was featured on Metro Boomin's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack and debuted at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with his album Demons Protected by Angels.
India-based Def Jam artist Sid Sriram is also playing on the first day of this year's festival.
Diljit Dosanjh's 2023 Coachella performance was evidently a watershed moment. While more Punjabi and South Asian artists perform at the major festival, Dosanjh himself is also riding the momentum. This April, he'll play a sold-out show at Vancouver's BC Place, which is set to be the biggest Punjabi concert ever outside of India. It's one of the biggest tours coming to Canada this year.
Coachella 2024 also features Peso Pluma, Lil Uzi Vert, Justice, Deftones, ATEEZ, Blur, Ice Spice, Sublime, J Balvin, Jhené Aiko, Lil Yachty, Canadian-born artist Grimes and many more.
See the full Coachella lineup via the festival’s Instagram post below.
