When he did perform, he seemed unrehearsed, despite the fact that many of the songs have been featured at previous Sunday Services.

When Kanye finally arrived, he mostly just stood around with Kid Cudi, Chance the Rapper, and Ty Dolla $ign. Michelle and Musiq Soulchild, the band began by playing instrumental renditions of songs by Stevie Wonder and the Gap Band for nearly 20 minutes. Led by keyboardist Philip Cornish, whose credits include R&B stars K. Watching the set online was particularly distancing-for whatever reason, the whole thing was shot through a pinhole lens, as if the viewer had one eye pressed against the small end of a telescope.

Yet those Coachella attendees and YouTube live streamers hoping to share in the holy spirit on Easter Sunday instead got something that was both light on Kanye and light on miracles. In light of his notoriously self-immolating 2018, these chill prayer parties have registered as atonements, or cleansings. The Coachella set capped off a run of weekly, invite-only Sunday Service performances that Kanye has been holding near his home in Calabasas, California since January. Sometimes, the choir seemed as perplexed as the audience often was. But at his Sunday Service performance at Coachella yesterday morning, which featured West atop a hillside surrounded by famous collaborators, a small band, and a large group of tunicked singers, no such potency was ever reached, no supernal energy tapped into.

From “Jesus Walks” to “Ultralight Beam,” he has used choirs to emancipate himself from sin as he’s wandered back and forth between God-like self-deification and being, as he once put it, “the guy who believes in God but still likes pussy.” More often than not, this strategy has worked. When so many heavenly voices lock into place-the harmonies, power, and precision, all surging forward in a rush-the effect can be transcendent. Kanye West knows this better than anyone. Nothing elevates a song quite like a gospel choir.

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