Music

Watch Idris Elba, A Perfect Human, Absolutely Smash His Coachella DJ Set

What can't he do?

by David James Young  16 April 2019
Turn Up Charlie

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Idris fucking Elba, man.

It wasn’t enough to be voted Sexiest Man Alive. It wasn’t enough to have made singles with Macklemore and Wiley. It wasn’t enough to launch a record label, win a kickboxing match, direct his debut film and score a role in the Cats reboot.

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No no, man’s got to have his finger in every pie – and so it came to be at Coachella over the weekend, where our hero took to the decks on the Sunday night both at the festival and an after-party.

One could easily view this as a cynical plug for Elba’s new Netflix series Turn Up Charlie, in which the Sexiest Man Alive plays a Sexy, Alive DJ named – imaginatively enough – Charlie. What you might not know, however, is that Elba has been DJing for over a decade at this point. The Luther star has DJed some seriously high-end places, including an NBA party, Harry and Meghan’s wedding and as the warm-up act for Madonna.

Oh, and his DJ name is Big Driis The Londoner. Go figure.

According to Pitchfork, the crowd loved his sets at the festival. One punter described the 46-year-old as “in the zone” while mixing a set primarily consisting of house music. Another described Elba’s after-party set as “mind-blowing” on their Instagram – which has to be up there as one of the best reviews of his career.

Catch some photos and videos from Elba’s busy weekend below, all while gritting your teeth at this stupid, sexy over-achiever. Check out our 10 other highlights of Coachella 2019’s first week here.

Photo via Turn Up Charlie/Netflix