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Coachella 2022 lineup: Epik High 1st K-pop act to perform twice, no sign of BIGBANG

Epik High is the first Korean act to be invited thrice to Coachella while BIGBANG was supposed to reunite after 5 years at the music festival

With Coachella announcing that Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Ye aka Kanye West and Swedish House Mafia headlining their 2022 music festival, it was only a matter of time before we got the full lineup. And the wait was worth it. We have the likes of Pink Sweat$, Epik High, Flume, Megan Thee Stallion, Rich Brian, Doja Cat, Joji, Fatboy Slim, Alec Benjamin and more performing at Coachella 2022. But this lineup means happy and sad news for some K-pop fans.

Before the pandemic, it was revealed that for Coachella 2020, Epik High and BIGBANG would be part of the lineup. Epik High is an indie K-hip hop group and can also be considered a K-pop group as they have also made a name in the K-pop industry. They were the first Korean act to perform at the huge American music festival in 2016 and will now become the first K-pop act to perform twice at Coachella with their appearance for 2022 confirmed. 

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BIGBANG’s reunion at Coachella falls through

Epik High and BIGBANG’s labelmates, Blackpink were the second Korean act and first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella 2019. With YG Entertainment partnering up with the organizers of the music festival, it seems they used their influence to have BIGBANG reunite with much pomp and fanfare. The iconic boy group went on a hiatus to complete their military enlistment in 2016. Having finished their mandatory military service, they were supposed to have their reunion in 2020 at Coachella.

Unfortunately, with the postponement of Coachella 2020, BIGBANG is now not part of the new lineup of 2022. Fans who were looking forward to their reunion were disappointed. However, there is still some hope of a comeback. After member Taeyang welcomed his first child in December 2021, an insider who met up with Korean media outlets to announce the news also revealed that BIGBANG had got together and were working on their next album after 5 years.

Epik High attends Coachella twice

But we have Epik High, who is also under YG set to appear at Coachella 2022 after their 2016 stint, which has K-pop fans excited. They are the first K-pop act to be invited thrice if we count Coachella 2020’s lineup. They will be performing on day 1 of both weeks, i.e., April 15 and 22. Coachella has also announced that the pre-sale tickets of weekend 1 are already all sold out and the pre-sale of weekend 2 tickets will begin on January 14 at 10 am PT on their website. It will be held at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.

Epik High fans were excited as they made tweets like, “Congrats!!! deserve!! can't wait to see what y'all have prepared!!” and “Our boys EPIK HIGH invited back to @coachella ! 🥳 Congrats!” However, BIGBANG fans handled the disappointing news with hilarious memes like, “Maybe bigbang isn’t going to coachella in april because they’re making a comeba—” and “I will just keep waiting for BIGBANG like i always do.”