As Gwen Stefani sang on stage with No Doubt at Coachella, Susan Bernal sang along to practically every word from the spot she and her husband Jonathan Bernal had staked out on the field before the Main Stage on Saturday, April 13.
For her, as for thousands of fans of one of Southern California’s most popular ever rock bands, this was the moment they’d waited for since it was announced in January that No Doubt would reunite to play the festival. Or longer, given that the band hadn’t played a show together since 2015.
“It was so exciting,” Bernal said at the end of the 75-minute set. “I grew up listening to No Doubt because of my mother.”
She and her husband are regular Coachella-goers, but the addition of No Doubt, whom they’d never before seen live, made this year’s fest even sweeter.
“It was like healing my inner teen,” Susan Bernal said of the nostalgic vibe of finally watching one of her all-time favorite bands.
Earlier on Saturday, fans scattered across the festival grounds could be seen wearing No Doubt-themed shirts, making it easy to spot those who were there for Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young.
Shannon and Ryan Meckinstrie of Raleigh, N.C., had met and befriended Shelly Rustagi of Dayton, Ohio, for their mutual fandom of the band.
“It’s the only reason we’re here,” Shannon Meckinstrie said as she left the No Doubt merch tent with a haul that included a sweatshirt, T shirts, and a commemorative poster.
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“It just takes you back,” Rustagi said of a love for the band that started in grade school. “Sleepovers with my girlfriends. Obviously, getting over breakups.”
Amanda Wenek and Ranee Weselak, old friends from Canada, were also shopping for exclusive No Doubt Coachella merch hours before the show.
” ‘Tragic Kingdom’ was the first CD I ever bought when I was in fifth or sixth grade,” said Wenek, who lives in Toronto.
“They were kind of a punk band but she was really girly,” said Weselek, who lives in Los Angeles, of the initial appeal of No Doubt to her as a kid.
“The fact that there was a girl who could run with the boys,” Wenek added of the dynamic the band had then and now.