Noga Erez tells Coachella she’s ‘heartbroken’ about situation at home

Indie singer, first Israeli musician to perform at California music festival, shares thoughts onstage about war turmoil

Indie artist Noga Erez, while performing her first of her two shows at California music festival Coachella, shared thoughts with the audience about being an Israeli artist coming from a country at war.

“To get us all here took kind of, like, forces I didn’t know I had,” said Erez, who has shared on social media about the trials of getting out of Tel Aviv during the war with her partner Ori Rousso, their toddler daughter, and crew.

“I’m so fucking grateful to be here,” added Erez to the cheers of the crowd.

“I’m just heartbroken and sad because of things that are happening at home and around it,” she said. “I just love this music thing so much and right now doing this thing is exactly what I’m doing it for, to put a bunch of strangers together and make them feel like a family, united around something.”

“We’re doing it. This is Coachella, un-fucking-believable,” said Erez.

Erez is the first Israeli artist to perform at the festival, a pair of long weekends in the California desert with 100 acts across eight stages.

She and her band opened with their new song “Duck Season,” and went on to perform fan favorites “End of the Road,” “The Vandalist,” and “Dumb” during their 45-minute set.

At the end of the show, Erez and Rousso, along with the band, dancers and crew, stood onstage to thank the crowd.

“A quick one that says everything,” wrote Erez on Instagram, posting a photo of herself and Rousso with their daughter wearing noise-canceling headphones, and a bloody nose on Erez, which, according to some commenters, was caused by her daughter accidentally head-butting her chin.

Erez and Rousso have been posting glimpses of their odyssey to reach California during the war with Iran, along with the logistical, financial and bureaucratic snafus that nearly halted these long-planned performances.

The indie group continued performing throughout the US and Europe with their band after the bloody Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, bringing their brand of electro-pop to an ever-growing audience.