Jai Paul Performs First Concert Ever at Coachella 2023

Jai Paul performed live in concert for the first time ever at Coachella tonight (April 16). The show didn’t stream officially, but footage surfaced on social media. Coachella has also posted a recording of the performance, which you can find below (Paul’s set starts at around 7:33:29). After opening with “Higher Res” and “He,” he performed “BTSTU,” “Str8 Outta Mumbai,” “Crush,” and “Jasmine,” among others. He also debuted a new song called “So Long.” He brought out no guests and offered no between-songs banter.

Paul was joined on guitar by his brother AK Paul. The band also included Fabiana Palladino, Rocco Palladino, and Isaac Kizito. Find footage of the enigmatic producer’s long-await live debut, plus the full setlist, below.

Before the surprise Coachella announcement, Jai Paul had returned to relative obscurity since release Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones) in 2019. That album mostly comprised official versions of tracks leaked six years earlier, when Paul was preparing to release his debut album at the peak of his cult prestige. In the meantime, he has worked with his brother, AK Paul, on an operation known as Paul Institute, which released an EP called Summer 2020 in the summer of 2020; None of its songs were credited to Jai Paul himself.

Read about the man and myth on Pitchfork’s list of “The 200 Most Important Artists of Pitchfork’s First 25 Years,” and follow along with all of Pitchfork’s coverage of Coachella 2023.

Additional reporting by Paul A. Thompson.