INDIO, Calif.—Electronic music is tapping an unlikely ally to help it stay relevant: actual musical instruments.

Nearly a decade after a craze for electronic dance music, or EDM, swept the U.S. festival scene, the genre has evolved as fans demand more from their live experiences than a DJ on a laptop. The shift is playing out at musical festival Coachella, where live electronic acts like Odesza and Kygo are performing with keys, vocals, strings and horns in addition to electronic equipment, on the festival’s high-profile main stage.

“Live instruments bring an energy and timbre to our music that is impossible to re-create digitally,” says Odesza’s Harrison Mills. “They give the show a certain presence and connection for the listener. It’s one of the ways we translate our recorded music, which we consider very personal and intimate, into a more communal live experience.”

Coachella kicked off last Friday and continues this weekend. On Sunday at the Sahara tent, where the music festival typically schedules its EDM performances, the 18-year-old French producer Mehdi Benjelloun, aka Petit Biscuit, played a live set surrounded by electronic gear, his guitar and drums.

“It’s not just a synthesizer and a drum machine. I try to create something more organic,” says Mr. Benjelloun, who is classically trained on piano, guitar and cello.