Coachella 2026: Indie Minimalists The Xx Come Back Bigger, Brasher Than Ever

It’s been 8 years since The xx performed together arsenic a band, but it judge didn’t consciousness for illustration it erstwhile nan U.K. trio took nan Main shape connected Friday.

For one, nan members haven’t precisely disappeared. Producer/drummer Jamie xx is simply a show champion and 1 of nan astir sophisticated, exultant DJ’s working. Romy Madley Croft became a sapphic-nightlife sovereign successful 2023 pinch nan clubby “Mid Air,” aft Sim’s ain minimalist, horror-streaked “Hideous Bastard.”

The band’s songs are among nan astir timeless of their procreation of indie rock. Forward-thinking capable to reinvent nan guitar-bass-drums palette for nan EDM boom; yet stark and lovelorn capable to walk for Motown successful different era.

Yet their return was among nan astir buzzed-about sets of nan show this year, a in installments to really good their catalog has stood up connected nan merits. At their debut, they almost singlehandedly inaugurated a displacement towards hyper-intimate headphone popular - it’s difficult to ideate Billie Eilish sounding rather nan aforesaid without them.

Yet connected Friday, they bolstered that purity pinch nan confidence, swagger and precision of nan seasoned stone enactment they’ve become.

Dressed successful their emblematic all-black palette, their faces carrying a small much gravity and composure pinch age, nan group slipped betwixt nan ships-in-the-night duets of “Shelter” and “VCR” to nan after-hours whomp of Romy’s “Enjoy Your Life.” “On Hold” champion joined nan band’s 2 worlds, sample-soaked yet stone driven; “Angels” remained a peerless devotional ballad.

There was a saccharine irony watching them adjacent nan group pinch “Intro,” a humble instrumental jam from their debut that has, done well-paying commercialized placements, go their calling paper to mainstream pop. It still rips. They moreover wrapped it up pinch into a noise-staggered breakdown that felt for illustration existent stadium rock. Leave it to these 3 to drift into nan murk of a storage nine for a adjacent decade, and travel backmost bigger stone stars and much powerful a set than ever.