When No Doubt broke out with “Just a Girl” nearly 30 years ago, it was instantly clear that lead singer Gwen Stefani wasn’t “just” anything. And at a reunion concert on Coachella’s main stage on Saturday night (April 13), Stefani proved that the band’s first hit, and the band itself, remain as vital as ever in their third decade.
“You guys will tell me, but I feel like this song might be more relevant now than ever,” Stefani said as she introduced “Just a Girl,” which includes lines like “I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite/So don’t leave me have no rights.”
It’s hard to understand how anyone could underestimate Stefani, or the woman in general, after seeing the show she put on Saturday along with her band: bassist Tony Kanal, drummer Adrian Young, guitarist Tom Dumont, trombonist/keyboardist Gabrial McNair and trumpeter/keyboardist Stephen Bradley, during the one hour and 20 minute set. He was constantly running across the stage, or stalking the catwalk toward the crowd, or high kicking the air, or climbing the scaffolding, all while maintaining the powerful voice that made No Doubt’s songs stand out among the noise in the mid-teens. from the 90s and beyond.
Although they weren’t a Day 2 headliner (that was Tyler, The Creator), No Doubt treated their set like Saturday night’s main event, offering a history lesson on the ska music that inspired their early sound to dominance. on the radio with Rock Steady. And her influence is still evident, especially on surprise guest Olivia Rodrigo, who had just enthusiastically told the magazine Nylon in a story published last week that Stefani’s songs all seem like they were “ripped from the diary of the coolest girl you know.”
Below, discover our five favorite moments from No Doubt’s Coachella reunion, from Rodrigo’s surprise appearance to the band’s endearing group photo.
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A “favorite” duet with Olivia Rodrigo
When Olivia Rodrigo was tasked with choosing her “18 favorite songs” To celebrate his 18th birthday in 2021, No Doubt’s “Bathwater” was one of his picks. Three years later, Rodrigo, wearing a short white T-shirt that said “I [corazón] ND,” appeared on the Coachella stage for a surprise duet on the single Return of Saturn, exchanging verses with Stefani and sharing the chorus. The two were playful throughout the song, with Stefani saying before the bridge: “Olivia Rodrigo, why do good girls, like you and me, always want to…?”
“…to the bad guys!” Rodrigo completed the sentence with drama. Stefani even called out to her fellow singer-songwriter at the end of the song saying, “Come here, my little Vampira!”
Rodrigo has recently paid tribute to several of his heroes, from Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette to Jewel and The Breeders, and this latest show of appreciation couldn’t have been more fitting.
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A ska history lesson
No Doubt made sure to pay homage to their ska roots during the show, playing songs that weren’t singles from their hit album Tragic Kingdom as “Different People” and performing a cover of Madness’ “One Step Beyond” for the first time, which kept the band busy while Stefani underwent a mid-set wardrobe change. No Doubt has often pointed to the British ska revivalists of the late ’70s and early ’80s as inspirations behind their own early ska sound.
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‘Just a Girl’, yesterday and always
When Stefani took the stage to do push-ups while the band played the intro to “Just a Girl,” we couldn’t help but think of Gwen also doing push-ups in the song’s 1995 music video. And when she climbed the scaffolding to start a call and response during the song (first for the men and then for the girls), he recalled a similar trick he performs in a concert video from the late ’90s, only this time, he didn’t tell the women to shout: ” “F–k you, I’m a girl!”
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Gwen and Tony dance together in ‘Don’t Speak’
While it doesn’t live up to the tense romantic drama between members of groups like Fleetwood Mac, No Doubt has its own tangled web, thanks to a seven-year relationship between Stefani and Kanal before achieving the fame that inspired the band’s biggest hit. band on the Pop Airplay chart: “Don’t Speak,” No. 1 for 10 weeks in 1996. But if anyone thought there might still be some animosity between them, the cute slow dance the former couple shared during the guitar solo Dumont’s song Saturday night made it clear that he didn’t.
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A group photo to close the night
Image Credit: John Shearer/Getty Images for No Doubt
The No Doubt reunion was, of course, a big deal for fans who hadn’t seen the band play together in almost 10 years, but it was also a big deal for the group. Once they finished their set with “Spiderwebs,” the six bandmates turned their backs to the crowd to face the drums and take a group photo with their epic Coachella crowd behind them. As they say in their song “New,” which they also performed on Saturday, “Don’t let it go/This feeling has to stay.”
They will definitely want to immortalize this night forever.