Coachella 2025 Weekend One Recap
- Apr 15
- 15 min read
When it comes to music festivals, it doesn't get bigger than Coachella.
This year's lineup includes Lady Gaga's grand return to the desert as well as highly anticipated performances. At Coachella, one should always expect the unexpected; thank goodness the festival spans two weekends so music lovers can get their full fix. Ahead, we've broken down a few of the standout moments from Coachella 2025 Weekend One.
Weekend One - Day 1 - Friday, April 11, 2025.
Coachella 2025 got off to both a literal and figurative hot start on Friday, with daytime temperatures in the desert hitting 100-degrees and a cavalcade of stars gracing the festival’s many stages.
Among them were hip-hop legend Missy Elliott, South African star Tyla, pop queen LISA, rapper GloRilla and many others including Lady Gaga, who brought her new album Mayhem to Coachella with a headlining set that featured big hits, many dancers and opulent costumes on a stage designed to look like an opera house.
Tyla & Becky G
Tyla made us sweat with her fiery Coachella debut performance during Friday’s sunset. Fresh off her Impact Award win at Billboard’s Women in Music, she kicked off her set with “Push 2 Start.” Rocking a sparkling gold top matching her microphone, the South African artist gave fans a surprise when Becky G hit the stage to perform their “On My Body” duet. Tyla paid tribute to Aaliyah mixing “On and On” with Baby Girl’s “Rock the Boat” hit. Jumping across her discography, she moved into “Truth or Dare” before having a dance party on top of her giant on-stage tiger. She even spray-painted her name on the animal in Brat green. “It’s my first time at Coachella and I’m really excited to be here,” she admitted during a break in the action. The 23-year-old finished off with “Jump” and a slower acoustic intro to her “Water” anthem before taking a bath in the kiddie pool on stage. The hard work is paying off as Tyla continues to make strides as a performer.
GloRilla
If the aliens ever came down and landed at Coachella, GloRilla was ready to make them feel at home. In the midst of her Glorious Tour, Big Glo emerged from the Sahara stage rocking an alien mask, which threw off some of the crowd while others enjoyed the extra-terrestrial gimmick.
The Memphis rapper ran through staples like “Hollon” and “Wanna Be” before being brought a new mic to fix up her sound issues. She even previewed an unreleased thumping track that should arrive later this year. Following “TGIF” and “F.N.F.,” she had everyone light up the stage and gave a shout-out to Ye’s “All of the Lights,” which she kept on repeat throughout high school. Glo couldn’t head out without ending her set with top 40 hit “Yeah Glo” as she carries her banner 2024 into Glochella.
Benson Boone
Despite being catapulted to the top of a staircase to open his dusk set, Benson Boone managed to take his performance — and his eyebrow-raising vocals — to even greater heights. It’s as if performing in the spacious desert allowed his voice to boom louder and crisper than ever — especially on his surprise one-two punch of a closer.
After welcoming the great Brian May of Queen onstage for a stellar cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody” complete with a choir — during which Boone perfectly channeled his inner Freddie Mercury — the two wrapped the high-energy set with Boone’s breakout hit, “Beautiful Things.” And yes, it truly was a beautiful thing to witness.
The Marías
The Marías set was a showing in perfect timing, as their moody, sultry music soundtracked dusk over the desert. Frontwoman María Zardoya’s enticing, calm demeanor helped the crowd transition from the day’s heat into a cooler setting — a mission that the band took quite seriously, as they even made it “snow” in the desert (thanks to engineered flakes that fell over fans, including Troye Sivan who was in attendance).
Lola Young
The temperature had already dropped to 100 degrees on Friday afternoon when Lola Young stepped onto the Mojave Stage, backed by her band and a vintage recording studio setup. Dressed in fingerless green gloves and matching olive green pants, a layered bikini top and a hood tied around her neck, Young played cuts from her latest LP, This Wasn’t Meant for You Anyway, plus never-before-heard singles like “Spiders.” Young brought the house down with her soulful, powerhouse vocals and got the crowd singing every word on tracks like “Big Brown Eyes” and the viral hit “Messy.” Nerves aside, it was a Coachella debut to remember.
MARINA
Channeling her inner Marie Antoinette with blonde curls piled as high as her falsetto, Marina Lambrini Diamandis, known mononymously as MARINA, delivered a theatrical performance that quite literally helped set the stage for her upcoming anticipated album, Princess of Power. And while she live debuted her new single “CUNTISSIMO” it was her breakout hit, “How To Be a Heartbreaker” (and “Primadonna”) that got the crowd going the most — and offered a glimpse into her growth and evolution as an artist.
The Go-Go’s
One of the more delightful legacy acts to see on the Coachella lineup this year was The Go-Go’s. The ’80s new wave rock queens were in fine form on Friday evening, as singer Belinda Carlisle performed barefoot and the rest of the band rocked out in the late afternoon heat, with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong joining them onstage for “Head Over Heels.” Sounding tight throughout, the group gave the crowd a special and nostalgic thrill by closing the show with their classics “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed,” both from their 1981 No. 1 album Beauty And The Beat.
Lady Gaga
The superstar headlined the festival's first night, leaning heavily on Mayhem material and leaving fans with much to dissect. Almost a decade ago, in 2017, Lady Gaga headlined Coachella — but not on purpose. The superstar stepped in to replace Beyoncé, who had then just revealed her pregnancy to the public. Beyoncé returned to headline the festival in 2018 but tonight, on the first night of Coachella 2025, it was Gaga’s turn. And this time, everything was intentional.
On Friday (April 11), Gaga celebrated “Mayhem In the Desert” — as her own on-site merchandise pop-up teased — with a spellbinding and ominous set. Titled “The Art Of Personal Chaos,” the two-hour show may have been disguised as a concert, but what took place was nothing short of a carefully crafted commentary on fame and performance — and the toll of keeping both up.
Or, as two Gagas from different eras said on screens bookending the stage, staring at one another but speaking to the masses: “This is the manifesto of mayhem.” It’s a fitting concept for a headlining show that follows an album of the same name; Gaga’s Mayhem arrived in March and debuted atop the Billboard 200. And for an artist like Lady Gaga, it’s a concept that is rich in inspiration. It seems she was so inspired, in fact, that the only way to clearly organize and present her ideas was through five distinct acts, including an anticipated finale — but all seamlessly woven together thanks to stunning and challenging choreography from Parris Goebel. And, of course, Gaga’s catalog.
Weekend One - Day 2 - Saturday, April 12, 2025
Coachella’s second day, Saturday, April 12, was backloaded with one must-see set after another, with T-Pain’s hits-filled performance leading into stellar sunset sets from both Charli xcx as well as Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (featuring a handful of special guests).
And even though day two was a bit overcast, allowing for a break from the intense heat of day one, Charli’s set more than made up for the temperature drop; While her show was its own creation, existing separately from her joint Sweat tour with Troye Sivan, sweat is what many did. ‘Bratchella’ turned up the heat as Charli writhed and strutted onstage, all the while welcoming a revolving door of guests including Sivan for “Talk Talk,” Lorde for “Girl, So Confusing” (during which Charli declared “Lorde Summer 2025”) and Billie Eilish for “Guess.”
Charli XCX
The long tail of Brat is visible to the naked eye at Coachella 2025, where this weekend a not insignificant portion of the crowd was dressed in the kind of asymmetrical ruffled skirts, wraparound sunglasses and black knee high boots that Charli XCX has popularized during her culture-shaking marathon run around the album, which came out two months after last year’s Coachella. Given that we’ve all been living through the many seasons of Brat ever since, it felt fitting that Charli kept her Saturday night performance almost entirely album-centric, using the slot on the Coachella main stage — where she last appeared in 2023 — to spotlight the LP’s music, collaborators, aesthetic and attitude. The show’s special guests only helped Charli deliver another peak moment for the project.
Ivan Cornejo
Mexican music was doubly represented, with hitmakers Ivan Cornejo and Junior H each having their own moment to shine: the former on Saturday at the Mojave tent, and the latter on Sunday at the Coachella Stage. Ivan Cornejo, known for blending sierreño elements with alternative and pop, delighted his fans with a romantic set that included hits like “La Última Vez,” “Sale Para Ser Feliz,” “Ya Te Perdí” and “Mirada.” He also brought out Greg Gonzalez, vocalist of the indie rock band Cigarettes After Sex, to perform the band’s sensual track “K.”
Clairo
Before Clairo kicked off her Coachella set on Saturday night, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost brought Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on the stage for one of the festival’s most memorable moments of Weekend One. “I’m here because Clairo has used her prominence to fight for women’s rights, to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza, where thousands of women and children are being killed,” Sanders told the crowd. “So I want to thank Clairo not only for being in a great band, but for the great work she is doing.” As for Clairo’s set, the singer-songwriter delivered a stunning performance backed by her stellar band and a Roland synth, glasses of wine by their sides for grooving cuts off her latest LP Charm like “Juna,” to a rocking “Amoeba.” Great work, indeed.
Green Day
“Coachella 2025, are you ready?!” asked Billie Joe Armstrong while ferociously playing the riff to “American Idiot,” which opened the band’s headlining set. And the thing was, in the year 2025, the crowd had never been more ready for this moment. Because at a time like this, an act like Green Day is exactly what so many need. (Including Flava Flav and Cara Delevingne, who took selfies and danced together during the show.) Throughout its high-energy, hits-filled set, Green Day gave the crowd permission to be angry about the current state of affairs.
In “American Idiot” the band continued its tradition of changing a particular lyric, choosing Coachella to declare: “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda” (the original line is: “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda). And later, toward the end of the nearly two-hour-long set, the band made another lyrical swap; on “Jesus of Suburbia,” Armstrong sang, “Runnin’ away from pain, like the kids from Palestine (the original line is: “Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized”). Otherwise, Armstrong didn’t say much outside of the music – though he did repeat, “Coachella!” upwards of 20 times. And that’s what Green Day’s set was really all about – the fact that a punk-rock band formed in the late ‘80s was headlining Coachella nearly 40 years later with a catalog that felt just as, if not more relevant than ever before is an incredible feat. At one point, a small blimp reading “bad news” floated across the crowd – and while that may feel true of the world, tonight Green Day made sure to deliver something great.
Weezer
Weezer may have not been on the Coachella bill when the lineup first got announced, but their packed Saturday afternoon set proved to be one of the most-anticipated shows of Day Two. All four members of the group made it to stage for a 3:10 p.m. slot, opening with “My Name Is Jonas” behind a large W logo and playing a greatest hits-worthy run of tracks that fans knew every word to, from a cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” to “Beverly Hills,” “Say It Ain’t So,” and wrapping with a rocking “Buddy Holly.” “When Coachella called us up,” said ‘Hey, Weezer, can you guys make it up for a surprise appearance?’ We were like, ‘Heck, yeah!’” frontman Rivers Cuomo told the crowd in the middle of their set.
Japanese Breakfast
This year marked Japanese Breakfast’s third time at Coachella, but something about the band’s show at the Outdoor Theatre on Saturday felt completely new and refreshed. Part of it could be that the group, led by effervescent frontwoman Michelle Zauner, was playing a lot of the material from their gorgeous and gutting new album For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) in the desert for the first time. The set was upbeat, styled like a clam shell in the middle of a wavy ocean, and Zauner bounced around gleefully onstage, but that energy was juxtaposed with the deep emotion in songs like “Orlando In Love” and “Picture Window.” All of it made for a happy-sad combination that packed a wallop and made for one of the best sets of the day.
Sam Fender
Backed by his energetic band, U.K. rocker Sam Fender moved through his anthemic songs like some kind of Springsteen apostle, from his stadium-worthy cut “Seventeen Going Under” to the title track from his latest LP People Watching. With just a few Marshall and Fender amps behind him and wielding a black-and-white striped electric guitar, Fender’s rollicking performance felt like a rush, bursting with electricity from his crew, larger-than-life sound, and the passionate fans that filled into the Mojave Stage for his late afternoon Saturday set. Fender summed it up best: “This is fun, isn’t it?”
Weekend One - Day 3 - Sunday, April 13, 2025
Weekend one of Coachella 2025 wrapped up on Sunday night, April 13, with Post Malone delivering an inspirational set from the main stage and XG making their desert debut on the Sahara stage. Fans rallied to the desert for a third consecutive day, as Sunday didn’t disappoint with additional performances from Megan Thee Stallion, Jennie, Zedd, Muni Long, Arca, Tokischa, FCUKERS, Peso Pluma, Still Woozy and more.
The weekend send-off had a little bit of everything. Meg rocked the stage but had her set cut short a she appeared to go over on her set time after bringing out a few special guests to make the night memorable, including Queen Latifah, Victoria Monét and Ciara.
Arca
Dressed in custom Rick Owens and black leather, Arca started the set with exactly the level of drama we expect from her. She rose from the ground slowly and then shouted at the crowd, “Where are the Venezuelan dolls at?” Immediately, she dove into the brash “Rakata,” from Kick II.
Partway through the set, she brought out Dominican singer Tokischa, and the two of them traded celestial vocals while performing “Chama,” and then Addison Rae came out to perform “Aquamarine / Arcamarine”— and to announce that her album is coming out on June 6th.
Muni Long
Pulling from both ancient Greece and pop icons, Long’s performance and wardrobe were divine. For her first-ever Coachella set, R&B queen Muni Long channeled some divine inspiration. No, really. When she hit the stage she looked like a Grecian goddess, draped in a gold cloth with matching laurels on her head. She was joined by dancers in gladiator sandals and backup singers who could have easily been mistaken for muses, making a successful debut at the festival.
But Long was influenced by goddesses of pop music as well, channeling Britney Spears and Diana Ross in her second look of the performance. While delivering smooth runs and sultry vocals, she did a showgirl-like outfit change, revealing a sheer bodysuit with a glittery pink two-piece set.
Zedd
Backed by a light show, Zedd’s set started like many other EDM performances. But no one in the crowd expected the German DJ to bring out this many gets to his Outdoor Theatre set.
Dressed in a turquoise butterfly top and matching wig, Elley Duhé was the first guest of the night to play “Happy Now,” as Zedd jumped from behind the DJ booth as he brought out John Mayer, who took over the set for a jam session, that included “New Light” and “Stop This Train.”
The Beaches
“This is a dream come true,” Canadian rock band The Beaches told the crowd at their rocking Coachella debut performance on Sunday afternoon. The festival mainstays kept the Gobi Stage singing and moving to every line, track after track, from “Everything Is Boring” to a surprise G Flip-featured track to their closing banger “Blame Brett.” (Are you ready to blame your exes?” they asked before tearing into the song.) Fans flashed the band, beers were delivered to the stage, and, of course, exes were blamed.
Shaboozey
Stagecoach might be two weeks away, but Shaboozey brought “Country Hour” to the desert. The Nigerian American country star took the stage in an Elvis Presley-reminiscent look as he played a nine-song set, introduced by RJ Cyler, who played an old-school TV host.
Shaboozey brought Noah Cyrus, dressed in a gorgeous white dress, to the stage for a banjo-backed rendition of their collaboration “My Fault.” And of course, the country star closed his “Let’s turn this shit the fuck up,” Shaboozey said onstage.
Jennie
That pretty girl mantra was in full swing during Jennie’s set. Dressed in a wine-red two-piece and chunky boots, the Blackpink star took the stage for a stunning, choreography-filled set of songs from her excellent album Ruby. Surrounded by numerous dancers, the Korean singer played “Handlebars” and “Zen” before welcoming Kali Uchis for an ethereal rendition of “Damn Right.” Jennie also brought a hint of JLo to the Polo Fields as performed “with the IE (way up),” which samples the iconic “Jenny From the Block.” “Y’all keeping up?” Jennie told the crowd throughout the night.
Addison Rae
Addison Rae made a surprise appearance during Arca’s set where she performed “Aquamarine.” The bubbly TikTok star bounced around the stage in a lace white dress, but made sure the focus was on her backside before leaving the stage. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that Rae’s pink lingerie said June 6 to signify that the emerging singer’s debut album will be here just before the summer.
Post Malone
Post Malone could’ve relied on a star-studded lineup of guests for his Coachella headlining debut Sunday night. Instead, the singer-songwriter relied on himself and his decade-long catalogue for a jaw-dropping, pyrotechnics-heavy set that saw the rockstar playing country hits from F-1 Trillion (“I Had Some Help,” “Losers”) to classics from his early days (“White Iverson”).
Beabadoobee
A 5:30 mainstage show isn’t always the easiest slot to pull off, particularly for an artist who’s not necessarily spectacle-oriented. But Beabadoobee’s golden-hour performance felt both well-placed and well-timed. Her voice sounded fantastic as she played music both accessible and interesting, drawing a crowd to her and more than carrying Coachella’s biggest stage.
XG
In three years, XG went from its first song, to hitting one of Coachella’s biggest stages, to closing out the first weekend. The Japanese girl group took the stage in leopard space suits and performed tracks like “XGENE,” “Woke Up,” and “GRL GVNG.” A live band arrangement gave some of the cuts a refreshed feel throughout the set. One thing of note was not just how impressive the dancers were, but that one of them was Dream Academy‘s Emily Kelavos. The girls switched out into some white fluffy track suits and ran through favorites like “Left Right,” “In The Rain” and “TGIF.”
Amyl & The Sniffers
Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers made Green Day's political stance look pretty insignificant at their set late on the festival's final day. While their ferocious, high-energy performance was as strong as ever, the most memorable moment was a short, heartfelt speech from frontwoman Amy Taylor as she addressed the present social and political climate. "It's a super-tough time all across America and I just want to extend my love and support to all the trans people, all the gay people, all the black people, all the immigrants — illegal and legal — and everybody else including women and the f***in' men, because everybody's getting f***ed up from it. "I'd also like to extend my heart to the people in Palestine and the people in Ukraine, because f**k dying in any capacity and f**k getting murdered by other people for bullshit." The band delivered another scintillating set, giving American audiences yet another reason to fall in love with the now-LA-based quartet.
Megan Thee Stallion
Megan Thee Stallion was on the verge of having one of the weekend’s best sets before Coachella turned her mics off as she appeared to go over on her set time. The Houston Hottie stepped out sporting a dominatrix cowgirl-themed fit as she showcased hits like “Thot S—t” and “Savage.”
There was no shortage of surprise special guests as Queen Latifah joined Meg to perform “U.N.I.T.Y.” Being a student of the game, Megan had Ciara pop out for “Goodies,” which she samples on “Roc Steady.” Thee Stallion even learned the choreography for CiCi’s return to the festival main stage.
Victoria Monèt was next on the guest list, as the Grammy-winning powerhouses teamed up for “Spin,” and Monèt finished off with her “On My Mama” hit. After “Body,” it appeared Meg’s microphones were cut off, but she didn’t have any idea as she continued to perform.
The set ended shortly thereafter, around 9:28 PM. Who knows, maybe Cardi B was in line for “WAP,” which would’ve been a Coachella moment. We’ll see what happens next weekend.
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