In news that surprises no one, the main draw for many of the tens of thousands of people attending the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was one performer in particular.

For Atlanta native Sade Douay, the impetus behind coming out was a no-brainer.

"Beyoncé of course, hello," said the 32-year-old. She said the "music and the vibes" were also a major draw.

Coachella has worked hard over its nearly two decades to make itself known as a place to see emerging talent — and as a place that can boost that talent to the next level.

But the festival typically saves room for some influential old-timers too, and Saturday it presented memorable performances by Nile Rodgers’ Chic and David Byrne of Talking Heads.

Leading a smartly attired version of the disco band he and the late Bernard Edwards founded in the mid-1970s, Rodgers structured his set as a kind of history lesson laying out the many, many pop hits he’s responsible for writing or producing, including Chic’s “Everybody Dance” and “Good Times,” as well as David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross. 

“Time cannot pass!” screamed one shirtless fan as he ran across the main Coachella concourse around 5 p.m. Saturday. He embraced his other shirtless dude friend. “Please let this day last forever.”

Well, sir, if time didn’t pass we wouldn’t get Beyoncé later. Your premise is flawed.  But hey, the sentiment’s accepted.

On the afternoon of perhaps the most anticipated Coachella set in the festival’s history, it was all smiles as the logistical hiccups of the first day (brutally long entry lines, a confusing new layout) eased up a bit and everyone found their old Coachella groove again. The early-shift sets were well-suited to a day when everyone knows the epochal event to come but still is riding high with the anticipation.

Prepare to lose yourself in spaghetti.

Eminem (the artist and actor whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III), has opened a Mom's spaghetti pop-up restaurant at this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. 

The name, of course, is a reference to the famous line in his 2002 song "Lose Yourself." It goes: "His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti." And fans everywhere have been singing about soiled sweaters and Eminem's mom's spaghetti ever since. 

Sorry, flower crowns.

You were the reigning boho-chic accessory for countless Coachellas past thanks to Paris Hilton, Vanessa Hudgens and hundreds of others channeling their inner flower child. But at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, it appears you have lost some of your petal power.

Perhaps you have become a victim of overexposure — too much Instagram play thanks to those Snapchat-filtered photos. And yet, there may be hope. If anyone can cause a crown revival to happen during the second weekend of Coachella that would be Saturday night’s headliner, Beyoncé, who favors wearing crowns in general. We’ll be watching when she takes the stage.

With so many acts on so many stages, Coachella — a festival where Saturday’s headliner, Beyoncé, is expected to bring approximately 100 dancers with her — can feel inhospitable to the idea of a solo performer doing her thing up there all by herself.

But that’s what Sudan Archives did Saturday afternoon in the Gobi tent.

Dressed in queenly red-and-gold garb, the L.A.-based artist sang and played violin accompanied by clattering yet hypnotic percussion grooves, which she triggered on a small electronic box that served as her only bandmate.

The first thing the Weeknd did when he came onstage Friday at Coachella — having emerged through a crack in an enormous mask that made the stage look like some otherworldly ruin — was grin.

And why not?

Headlining the festival's first night, the Canadian R&B singer was peering out at a vast audience numbering in the tens of thousands, many of whom had watched him ascend Coachella's ranks over the past six years — from shaky newcomer in 2012 to aspiring pop star in 2015 to the established A-lister who just topped the Billboard chart with an EP he released mere hours after announcing its existence.

The countdown to the moment Beyoncé takes the main stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is officially on. How should you occupy yourself while you wait?

Maybe two scoops of Van Leeuwen ice cream in a waffle cone. Or a mutli-course dinner from chef Curtis Stone's Gwen pop-up restaurant. Tacos from Guerrilla Tacos.

Feel like a burger? Christian Page is cooking up cheeseburgers at the Cassell's booth. And chef Shirley Chung (who is opening her restaurant Ms Chi in downtown L.A. soon) is making dumplings lashed with chile oil.