Another year, another Coachella. The Southern California music festival annually introduces new artists to the world while cementing legends with brilliant headline sets. 2016 was an up year for the desert gathering, dusting off retired acts and providing dazzling audio and visual experiences no other festival has matched. But as live events are known to do, not everything went according to plan, while other plans were made better with the help of some special guests. We spent a weekend in the heat so you didn’t have to, now enjoy the top 8 surprises of Coachella 2016’s first weekend!

Mother Nature Played Nicely

Coachella is a beautiful place, but it’s also located in a valley. This means high winds and dust storms are just a part of life, and can often wreak havoc on otherwise stellar performances. So when the official Coachella app forced a notification to everyone’s phone on Thursday night with a warning of high winds that were to continue through Saturday, some up to 65 mph, a feeling of doubt rested on the shoulders of those with wristbands. And while tents and structures rattled around like a paint can mixer for 48 hours, nearly every set went off without a hitch and sound quality for the biggest sets of the weekend were not affected. Ironically, Sufjan Stevens’ epic opener “Seven Swans” was slightly impacted, as the song’s grand finale saw him having a bit of trouble unfurling a large pair of angel wings, which the wind almost used to lift and carry the singer/songwriter away.

EDM Takeover

For some, EDM is what Coachella is all about. The Sahara tent has become a shrine to the genre, hosting some of the most important artists, and was home to what many consider the greatest live show of all time, when Daft Punk tore the roof off in 2006. And while a few acts have crept over to the outdoor stages, this year was the first time EDM made itself known by not only having Calvin Harris headlining Sunday’s final slot, but Jack U, Zedd, and Flume closed out the Outdoor Theatre each night. The Sahara still housed many great acts, including a reformed Underworld, but the expansion to the rest of the festival help cut through the compression and hordes of people all crammed into one corner of the polo fields all weekend.

Actual Surprise Guests 

Rihanna, Lorde, Kanye West, and everyone Ice Cube brought out were all pretty obvious guests for their respective collaborator’s sets, but a few acts actually pulled some people from left field. First and foremost, The Do LaB literally had a surprise headliner every night, which turned out to be What So Not, The Glitch Mob, and Bob Moses. Juliette Lewis introducing A$AP Rocky was all kinds of bizarre, Paul Wall joining Major Lazer was also weird, but the highlight of the guest star variety was seeing international superstar Seal performing with Gallant on Friday. The two worked together on his single “Weight in Gold,” but seeing the British legend actually on stage in the desert was tremendous, especially with how amazing of a performance the two put on together.

Nosaj Thing’s Visuals Didn’t Live Up To The Hype

Anyone that follows LA-based producer Nosaj Thing knew that he had something big planned for Sunday night. He was the final act, after all, closing out the Mojave tent opposite Calvin Harris’ fist-pumping across the field. He worked with visual artist Daito Manabe to set up something unique, but it just wasn’t up to the rest of Coachella’s snuff. Using a series of Microsoft’s Kinect cameras, normally used for the Xbox gaming system, the duo was 3D mapped onto the screen behind their deck. The trick was wowing at first, as Manabe was able to shift perspectives in real time and give the crowd a unique take on their performance. From there, the screen showed the two in a series of other settings, mostly minimal in nature with some cool lights. But on stage, it was just two guys and an array of lights. Making cool stuff happen on screen is nice and all, but actually having something tactile in front of your face will always be more entertaining.

Sia Gambled Big and it Paid Off

When Sia came out on Sunday night, the crowd didn’t quite know what to expect. The always-elusive songstress stood perched on a table in the back left corner of the stage, using shadows and her iconic wig to shield her face. With each song, anywhere from one to four dancers would come on stage and perform a beautifully choreographed piece alongside Sia’s untarnished vocals, recreating the moves in her widely seen music videos. But on the side screens, she had previously recorded the entire show and the dance routines and blasted that performance across the ultra HD monitors for all to see. It created a level of dual-layered entertainment and a dash of polished art that could have easily flopped had it not been so well done.

Coachella Has The Technology And They Can Rebuild

Goldenvoice and company don’t skimp on many things, but a few of the stages and tents have felt stagnant in the past few years. That all changed this year, with huge technology upgrades across the entire festival. The Sahara tent was a hall of cubes, creating dazzling visual effects with a multitude of lights, screens, and lasers that felt more immersive than nearly any setup they have ever had. The main stage sounded better than ever and extended the side screens to wrap around the inside of the stage, creating an almost panorama-esque look that would be the perfect fit for Roger Waters’ The Wall tour. Add in the fact that all vendors now used a Square device to accept debit payments and this was a much more tech friendly festival overall.

Guns N’ Roses Played. On Time. And Well.

This actually requires three separate points of demarcation. First, Guns N Roses, a band that has basically been a musical hornet’s nest filled with knives and cocaine, has not officially been a group in almost a decade. And that was a decade after the original lineup broke apart, which is what made seeing Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan all together fairly amazing. Even more amazing was that they actually showed up on time, something Coachella is militant about. Their April 1 show at the Troubadour could have been a flop that never came to fruition and it would just be another disappointment in a career filled to the brim with the stuff, but bailing on a headline festival spot would be top-tier insanity. Also, they sounded amazing. Yes, Axl’s broken foot kept him from slithering across the stage, but Slash’ guitar, always cocked at 107.5 degrees and pointed straight at the sky, sounded like it was plugged into the earth and amplified by the air. Who knows if this whole thing is a cash grab or just another shot at the spotlight, but for one night, we no longer lived in a post-GNR world and it was worth every damn penny.

A Few Warm Up Shows Never Hurt Anyone (Except Axl Rose)

LCD Soundsystem is playing just about every festival on Earth this year. But Coachella got them first and plenty were miffed when the reunited New Yorkers put on a couple gigs in Pomona and their hometown, taking away some of the charm and magic of a reunion headliner set. In reality, those sets knocked off any ring rust that may have settled over the past five years. And while the set lists were around the same for all four shows, the extra little November Rain moment during “New York I Love You” was completely out of the blue, as was their powerful cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” It goes to show that even the most professional bands can use a little practice but still have a few surprises up their sleeve for the big shows.