The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of Coachella 2025

 

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coa

No Coachella is complete without chaos. This year’s edition kicked off with a big ol’ traffic jam. By day two, the wristband scanners briefly stopped working. Also, temperatures occasionally soared over 100 degrees. Once folks finally made it to the grounds — and hopefully cooled off — they got what they came for: Free Erewhon food great performances from their favorite artists. The 2025 Indio-set event featured headlining sets from Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, and Post Malone; cameos from Billie Eilish, Lorde, and Danny Brown; and, for some wonderful reason, the entire cast of Yo Gabba Gabba singing “Rainbow Connection.” Before we do it all again next weekend, you can read all about the best, worst, and wildest Coachella Weekend One had to offer.

LOW: Coachella carmageddon

Cars running out of gas, people walking miles to bathrooms, over 12 hours in gridlock — getting to Coachella 2025 was an immersive Mad Max prequel for thousands of campers. Per Billboard, that’s mostly the fault of new parking rules, including a pricier “preferred front row” area that used to be first-come, first-served. As one attendee quipped, “I didn’t know Fyre Festival tickets were included in admission.” —Dan Reilly

HIGH: Fela-chella

Flanked by a visual with the faces of Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Marcus Garvey, Seun Kuti and his band Egypt 80 tore through a blistering Afrobeat setlist. It was refreshing to see a multigenerational, pan-African project take center stage at the fest, bringing the gospel, politics, and sounds of Fela Kuti to a younger audience. —Reanna Cruz

WHOA: Weezer ignores Scott Shriner’s less-than-perfect situation

Weird week for Weezer. They were only added to Coachella’s lineup the prior Saturday, filling a slot vacated by FKA Twigs. Then, on Tuesday, bassist Scott Shriner’s wife, author Jillian Lauren, was shot by the LAPD and charged with attempted murder. But that didn’t stop Shriner from missing Weezer’s 12-song set, which included the band’s hits and a cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” —D.R.

HIGH: Optimus Missy

The rap heroine’s futuristic set began with an alien spaceship beaming down a sleek silver car onto a centerstage platform as the beat to “Take It Back” blared. But the auto was no prop — Elliott was just in a transformer costume, the most intricate of the multiple outfits she donned during her hit-filled performance. —D.R.

LOW: Stay fly and quiet

Three 6 Mafia threw a little bit of Memphis twang on the desert, breezing through a 6-song set of their most iconic songs and features, including “Slob on My Knob” and “Weak Azz Bitch.” But when the music was cut at the end of “Stay Fly” for the audience to sing back the chorus, it was painfully silent. The Academy Award winners deserve better! —R.C.

HIGH: Billie Joe Armstrong pulls double duty

In 2014, Billie Joe Armstrong joined the Replacements on guitar to allow their leader, Paul Westerberg, to sing while resting his injured back. It seems Armstrong enjoyed the Indio experience, as this year he showed up a day before Green Day’s Saturday night slot to sing “Head Over Heels” with the Go-Go’s. Then, when the spotlight was on his band, they gave a typically energetic set, inviting fans to guest on “Know Your Enemy” and “Good Riddance,” before adding modern politics to the lyrics to “Jesus of Suburbia”: “Runnin’ away from pain like the kids from Palestine / Tales from another broken home.” —D.R.

WHOA: Benson Rhapsody

Benson Boone took his Freddie Mercury cosplay to its most extreme conclusion by covering Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” alongside guitarist Brian May. (Docked 10 points for making May stick around to perform “Beautiful Things.”)

LOW: D4VD’s attempted backflip

HIGH: Gaga

Lady Gaga’s headlining set was a masterclass in pop performance. Turning the stage into an opera house, she delivered an equal amount of theatrics and vocal prowess. Debuting most of Mayhem was a given, with especially rousing performances of “Perfect Celebrity,” “The Beast,” and “Shadow of a Man,” but Gaga’s back catalog also played a part — “Alejandro,” “Judas,” “Bloody Mary,” and “Scheiße” were all included for the first time in her show in at least five years. —R.C.

LOW: Lack of “Just Dance”

But Gaga’s set was also her first in 17 years to not feature “Just Dance.” We’ll miss the keytar! —R.C.

HIGH: Yo! Gabba! Gabba!!

The highest energy set of the weekend didn’t come from the clubby Yuma tent but from the cast of a beloved children’s TV show. Everyone who turned up at the early afternoon set Yo Gabba Gabba got to access their inner child. There were songs about bugs, broccoli, and not biting your friends; audience participation games; and Flavor Flav delivering the “beat of the day.” It was all capped off by the final number, “Rainbow Connection,” featuring “Weird Al” Yankovic, Paul Williams, and Portugal. The Man — along with what seemed like every costumed character in Southern California. —R.C.

LOW: The Travis Scott Experience

Some … interesting choices were made at Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack pop-up. The venue was an odd mix of a soccer arena, a tattoo parlor, and State Farm representatives desperately trying to get festival-goers to enter for a chance to win a State Farm-branded letterman jacket. There were also free Erewhon shots. —Rebecca Castillo

HIGH: Japanese Breakfast’s Gorillaz cover

Japanese Breakfast brought out Ginger Root for a rousing cover of Gorillaz’s “On Melancholy Hill.” Ginger Root had to mumble the lyrics off his phone, but he was at least able to joke about it later on Instagram. —Rebecca Castillo

WHOA: Fight the Oligarchy comes to desert

Fresh off his Fight the Oligarchy L.A. tour stop with AOC, Senator Bernie Sanders made a quick visit to Coachella to introduce his fave, Clairo, and criticize the current dummy in the White House. “I’m here because Clairo has used her prominence to fight for women’s rights and to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza, where thousands of women and children are being killed,” said Sanders. —Alex Suskind

LOW: Rema’s Coachella debut

Sometimes Coachella performances are underwhelming and sometimes they’re beset by offstage issues. Nigerian singer Rema experienced both, taking the Mojave stage 30 minutes late and mostly lip-synching through an abbreviated, disappointing set. Whether it was technical difficulties or something going on with Rema himself, at least the first-timer has another weekend to redeem himself. —D.R.

HIGH: Speed kills

On Friday, the Sonora Tent was the perfect spot to unwind and stage-dive like nobody was catching. Speed, the first Australian hardcore band to play the festival, inspired more than a few people to hurl themselves into no-fan’s land, but the good news is that many more were successfully caught during the frenetic set. Frontman Jem Siow, who was making a living as a classical flute teacher when he started Speed, exhorted the sweaty mob to both treat each other with love and get the fuck in the pit. —D.R.

WHOA: The Prodigy

U.K. big beat legends the Prodigy delivered one of the most high-octane performances of the weekend. Coachella is notable for having unmovable crowds, but when the group launched into “Breathe” to kick things off, there wasn’t a still body in the house. There were also three encores and a bittersweet tribute to deceased vocalist Keith Flint during “Firestarter.” —R.C.

LOW: The energy

Speed pit and Prodigy crowd aside, most of the Weekend One audiences were a drag (it seemed like everyone was too preoccupied holding up their phones recording Charli’s performance to actually do the “Apple” dance). Maybe it was just heat exhaustion, but the low energy brought the vibe down. — Rebecca Castillo

WOAH: Yeat sounded somewhat coherent

Yeat doesn’t spit so much as he squeaks and bleats like a goat. That’s why it was surprising to hear him step out of his usual mumbly lane to take on Drake in such a directly sentimental fashion. Singing “Feel No Ways,” Yeat got straight into his emo pocket. —E.M.

LOW: Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic

The Los Angeles Philharmonic played their first ever set at Coachella this weekend — or rather, they played in the background for a number of featured artists like Zedd, Becky G, and LL Cool J. It’s not the first time Coachella has appealed to big, loud classical music but the wide-opened nature of the program was like putting two diametrically opposed playlists on a joint shuffle. The LA Phil got to play some Wagner, Beethoven, and John Williams for a few minutes at a time before the set would give way to a poppier feature. Some of those cameos, like Laufey and hip-hop duo Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso, felt like a genuine collaboration, but the rest felt scattered and anti-climactic – Fran Hoepfner

HIGH:  Marina Walked so Chappell Roan could run (to see her set)

While Marina walked around the Coachella stage, singing songs that made a pantomime of Tumblr girls’ deep feelings in the early 2010s, Chappell Roan raced to the front of the crowd.  In a way, Chappell is like Marina if Marina grew up eating Cheetos and sour cream instead of pita and tzatziki. It was heartening to see the Midwestern Pop Girl of the moment honor the star. —Emma Madden

LOW: Let Tyla work

Benson Boone’s bombastic set was so loud it drowned out the “Water” singer’s performance one stage over. —R.C.

HIGH: HorsegiirL had hay on the brain

HorsegiirL clopped her way to the desert for her performance on Saturday night, tossing her mane back and forth. Throughout her set, it was her barns, her rules. She reigned in the crowd with a galloping mix of gabber, synthpop and eurotrance. That’s how you get Coachella into the horsey spirit. —E.M.

LOW: The Original Misfits misfire

The Misfits — billed on the lineup as the Original Misfits in their own famous typeface — closed out the Outdoor Theater stage Saturday, promising some real punk to follow a near-immaculate set from the debatably punk Green Day. But the group started late and had some technical issues; also, in typical Misfits fashion, frontman Glenn Danzig started complaining (“It’s motherfucking dry out here, I can tell you that right now”.) On one hand, the age-old argument could be made that punk music shouldn’t sound good. But there’s a difference between delivering a good show and just huffing and puffing across the stage. —R.C.

HIGH: Megan Thee Stallion body-ody-odied her star-studded set

Yes, Megan Thee Stallion had a couple issues with her mic, but the pleasant surprises far outweighed the technical difficulties. In addition to high-energy performances of her hits, Meg made time to bring out several surprise guests: Queen Latifah rapped verses from “Name Callin’ Part II” and “U.N.I.T.Y.,” Ciara sang and danced to a mashup of “Roc Steady” and “Goodies,” and Courtney LaPlante of Spiritbox stopped by to debut the first live performance of “TYG.” Megan also took fellow bisexual icon Victoria Monét for a “Spin,” dancing skin-to-skin with her during their collab before Meg took a seat by Monét for part of “On My Mama.” They looked fly, they looked good. —Jennifer Zhan

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 Yo Gabba Gabba!, Benson Boone flips, and free Erewhon shots. 

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