SoCal’s high holiday of music festivals, Coachella, returned to Indio, California, this past weekend, April 10-13.
As always, the event offered far more music than one person can possibly consume, with some of the biggest music stars in the world turning up and turning out across the festival’s many stages.
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As an acutely hot Friday afternoon turned into balmy evening, Lady Gaga gave what will likely come to be remembered as one of the all-time great Coachella headline performances, dazzling the crowd with a stunning multi-act show that transformed the stage into an opera house. Saturday headliners Green Day reminded the giant crowd assembled to see just how many hits they’ve accumulated over the last 30-plus years, and Post Malone closed out the main stage on Sunday with a show that highlighted his talent, charm and expansive catalog.
The very weekend one phenomenon of artists bringing out other artists as surprise guests was also in full effect. Zedd brought out stars including Maren Morris and John Mayer, Zedd himself was a guest during a performance by Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic, Charli xcx brought out a gaggle of Brat-adjacent friends including Lorde, Billie Eilish and Troye Sivan during her main stage show, Benson Boone brought out Queen’s Brian May, Addison Rae made a surprise appearance during Arca’s set and — in one of the weekend’s buzziest surprise appearances — Senator Bernie Sanders introduced Clairo during her Saturday night show and told the crowd that “We need you to stand up and fight for justice, to fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice.”
K-pop and J-pop also had a strong presence at the festival, with big shows from LISA (who joked that her dazzling stage outfits are what the character she played on The White Lotus wears when she’s not working), JENNIE, XG and ENHYPEN.
All in all, the weekend was a reminder why Coachella’s prestige and influence is unparalleled. See some of the sights from the first weekend of Coachella 2025 below.
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