Coachella
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Deadmau5 is acknowledging a weekend two Coachella set where he appeared onstage looking drunk and slurring his words, writing on social media that “I don’t remember a thing” from the performance. The producer’s post from Saturday (April 19) goes on to say that the Friday night (April 18) set was “probably my last Coachella show.” […]
One week after they claimed Coachella censored the pro-Palestinian messaging during their debut at the event, Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap ended their second festival date with strong anti-Israel sentiments.
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The Belfast trio performed at the festival’s second weekend on Friday (April 18), closing their set by projecting strong messaging in support of Palestinians. “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” the projected messages read. “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F–k Israel; free Palestine.”
Reportedly, Kneecap’s first weekend performance on April 11 was also set to feature the messages, though their sentiments did not appear. The absent messages were brought to the band’s attention after word that their chant celebrating the 2013 death of former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was not broadcast during the festival’s livestream.
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“Not the only thing that was cut – our messaging on the US-backed genocide in Gaza somehow never appeared on screens either,” Kneecap wrote on socials in response to the incident. “Back next Friday Coachella and it’ll be sorted.” According to Variety, the Sonora tent’s performances were not broadcast for the second weekend of the festival.
Alongside the promised return of the messages, the trio also increased their sentiments for the second weekend. While their pro-Palestine and anti-Israel chants remained, the group also used their latest performance to tell the crowd “the Irish are not so longer persecuted under the Brits, but we were never bombed under the f–king skies with nowhere to go.”
This year’s edition of Coachella has not been lacking in terms of artists protesting Israel and sharing their support of Palestine. While Green Day have altered lyrics to reflect the plight of Palestinian children, names such as Bob Vylan and Blonde Redhead have also displayed Palestinian flags during their sets. In the case of the latter, the onstage event was soundtracked by audio of Mahmoud Khalil – the detained Columbia University graduate student currently being held in an immigration detention center following his role in on-campus protests.
Kneecap’s messaging has generated the most notoriety, however, with many artists and fans calling on Coachella organizers Goldenvoice and parent company AEG Presents to comment on the situation. The Hollywood Reporter notes that insiders have claimed Goldenvoice CEO Paul Tollett was “blindsided” by Kneecap’s actions.
In a post shared on social media, HYBE America CEO and former talent manager Scooter Braun – who previously staged exhibits in Los Angeles and Israel about the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel – defended Tollett.
“This is my friend Paul Tollett, the founder of @coachella,” Braun wrote. “He is someone who lives and breathes the festival community. He fights for artists and he fights for all people. When I invited him to the opening of the Nova music exhibit in Los Angeles, he was the first person from the industry to accept.
“He came on his own time and spent five hours in the exhibit and then met with survivors of nova and invited them to the festival this year as his guest. He cried with them, he laughed with them, and he continues to advocate for them.
“Let’s not lose sight of who this man is, and let us stand with him in this moment when a group, without his knowing, took advantage of his festival and created hate in a place that’s filled with love,” Braun added.
Green Day and Charli XCX are playfully beefing at Coachella 2025.
During the music festival’s opening weekend in Indio, Calif., the pop star was spotted at an afterparty wearing a sash that read “Miss Should Be Headliner” — a cheeky statement many on social media interpreted as a jab at the veteran rock band, who headlined the main stage just before her set on Saturday (April 12).
Charli’s tongue-in-cheek dig didn’t go unnoticed by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. On Saturday (April 19), during the trio’s closing set on weekend two of the festival, Armstrong stepped onto the stage wearing a neon green baseball cap emblazoned with the word “Brat,” a clear nod to the British singer-songwriter’s 2024 studio album of the same name.
To further play along, Green Day drummer Tré Cool was also spotted backstage rocking a handmade white sash that read “Actual Headliner” while flashing a smirk as he held his hands up.
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Despite the playful nature of the situation, Green Day’s fanbase quickly took offense to Charli’s “Miss Should Be Headliner” jab and rallied to defend the punk icons on social media.
During Coachella’s opening weekend, Armstrong altered the lyrics to “Jesus of Suburbia” to reference the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. “Runnin’ away from pain like the kids from Palestine/ Tales from another broken home,” he sang, swapping out the original line, “Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized.”
“green day making a political statement about s— that actually matters > pop girlies singing about coke,” one fan wrote on X. Another user added, “Charli xcx letting hype get to her head. Green Day used their Coachella headliner slot to speak up for good. They are still bigger than her.”
During Green Day’s weekend two set, Armstrong again altered the lyrics to “Jesus of Suburbia,” this time taking aim at the vice president. “Am I (stupid) or am I just overjoyed?” became “Am I (stupid) or am I just J.D. Vance?” as he sang it to the crowd.
Weekend two of Coachella wraps up Sunday (April 20) with performances by Post Malone, Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion, JENNIE, Zedd, Kraftwerk, and more.
Dave Grohl made a surprise appearance during weekend two of Coachella 2025.
On Saturday (April 19), the Foo Fighters frontman took the stage with his guitar to join Venezuelan maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for powerful orchestral renditions of Foos songs “The Sky Is a Neighborhood” and “Everlong” at the Outdoor Theatre of the Indio, Calif., music festival.
The occasion marked Grohl’s first time performing Foo Fighters tracks since revealing last fall that he had fathered a child outside his marriage.
“I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness,” the musician shared in a September 2024 Instagram post.
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In the months since, Grohl has returned to the stage for several high-profile appearances, including performances with former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear — joined by guest vocalists — at the FireAid LA Benefit Concert in January and the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in February.
Grohl wasn’t the only surprise during Saturday’s star-studded Coachella set. Wicked actress Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande’s Glinda in the live-action adaptation of the Broadway musical, also appeared to perform what is believed to be “Brick by Brick,” a ballad from her forthcoming sophomore album, I Forgive You, according to Rolling Stone.
Erivo followed up with a soulful rendition of Prince’s “Purple Rain.” “Hello Coachella, nice to see you. Would you like a little Prince?” she asked the crowd, who erupted in cheers. “OK, Prince for you then.”
Other guest performers included Natasha Bedingfield, who sang her 2004 hit “Unwritten,” as well as Laufey and Argentine duo Paco Amoroso and Ca7riel.
Dudamel and the LA Phil made their Coachella debut during weekend one on April 12, with an eclectic lineup of special guests including Becky G and LL Cool J. This appearance marks a historic moment for the orchestra, as it’s their first time performing at the festival. The 2025–2026 season will also be Dudamel’s final year as music and artistic director of the LA Phil.
Weekend two of Coachella wraps up Sunday with performances by Post Malone, Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion, JENNIE, Zedd, Kraftwerk, and more.
Lady Gaga didn’t let a technical hiccup put a damper on her Coachella 2025 performance. During her headlining set on the second weekend of the Indio, Calif., festival on Friday (April 18), the 39-year-old pop icon’s microphone began to cut out during just the second song of her set, “Abracadabra.” But ever the professional, Gaga […]
To decorate their Coachella stage like a beach party in their seaside home region of La Guaira, Venezuela, Rawayana hauled in inflatable SUVs, palm trees and tiki huts — all designed to make the Grammy-winning band’s YouTube festival livestream last weekend more colorful and magnetic. “It’s a live TV broadcast,” says Carlos Framil, Rawayana’s co-manager. “They knew it was going to be livestreamed. It was a prominent part of the strategic planning.”
The plan paid off. Rawayana’s streams, and ticket sales for its upcoming tour, spiked in the days after the first-weekend performance, narrated as part of YouTube’s new “Watch With” program by influencers Bryan and Eddy Skabeche. “We’re seeing it as a Coachella bump,” says Framil, of Miami-based Sound of Light. “And we’re attributing that to the livestream.”
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Coachella’s live YouTube feed, now in its 13th year, is the “gold standard” of festival livestreaming, according to Lee Anderson, president of Wasserman, the talent agency whose many Coachella acts this year include Ravyn Lenae, Viagra Boys and A.G. Cook. “When the streams started, most people didn’t want them, or thought they should be compensated. It was a big fight,” he says, adding that the Coachella livestream really took off just before the pandemic, which then boosted the popularity of watching live events at home. “The Coachella one went from people being upset that they were on it to being upset that they weren’t on it.”
Music festivals have live streamed performances since the early 2000s, when Bonnaroo partnered with America Online; YouTube then helped turn live performances into music-business revenue in 2010, when it removed its 15-minute cap on video lengths, thus enabling long concert videos that could be festooned with money-making advertising clips. Artists’ initial reluctance has “long been resolved and it’s an old issue,” says Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s head of music and a longtime ex-major-label exec, referring to a “super-valuable” partnership with AEG-owned Goldenvoice, Coachella’s promoter. “The Goldenvoice team feel like it’s a two plus two equals five opportunity.”
Coachella performances often boost headliners’ streaming numbers — this year, Charli XCX earned 12.7 million on-demand streams in the days after her Saturday performance, a 27% increase. Lady Gaga scored a similar spike; Green Day‘s jump was 17%. As for the livestream, YouTube reps won’t provide viewer metrics, but the Google-owned streaming giant reports huge bumps in international consumption. Over the past three Coachellas, more than half of the views came from outside the U.S., as Brazil views doubled, Mexico views jumped fivefold, India views increased 900% and Korea views increased 1,400%. The festival has scored more than 1 billion YouTube views overall.
Cohen suggests Goldenvoice has booked more international acts in recent years due to the livestream’s global-viewership increases — this year’s lineup includes Thailand-born K-pop star Lisa, Nigeria’s Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 and Egypt’s Mohamed Ramadan, among many others. “I don’t think there’s actually science in representing the amount of people sitting in any given living room in Mexico or Nigeria or Korea,” Cohen says. “They’re not watching alone. You can bring your friends over.”
The Watch With collaboration, adds Christian Oestlien, YouTube’s vp of product management, was inspired by “watch-along” commentary by social-media creators for soccer and other sporting events. YouTube’s research showed 50% of viewers preferred “hearing a creator walk them through a live event than watching the live event themselves,” according to Oestlien, and Coachella posted regional YouTube curators in Brazil and elsewhere for commentary on top headliners like Lady Gaga. “In every market, we’re trying to appeal to local fandom,” he says.
For Alok, a Brazilian DJ and producer, last weekend’s Watch With show with Bloguerinha was a way of linking the Coachella livestream audience with the influencer’s 4.3 million Instagram followers and 1.8 million YouTube subscribers. “This enriches and enhances the experience we can offer around an artist, so this is a very powerful tool,” says Fabio Soares, Alok’s creative director. Filipi Minatel, manager of Alok’s label, adds that the first-week Coachella livestream has led to more social-media and streaming activity. “Coachella makes this massive exposure,” he says. “It’s not only the live broadcast. It is everything that happens after that.”
The Weeknd is planning a unique kind of Coachella appearance during the festival’s second weekend. He announced on Wednesday (April 16) that he’s hosting a “ferris wheel takeover” from Friday to Sunday. “SEE YOU IN THE DESERT @coachella,” he wrote on Instagram underneath a poster promoting his upcoming psychological thriller film Hurry Up Tomorrow and featuring […]
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. As an acutely hot Friday […]
April 12 will remain etched in the memory of El Malilla, the reggaetón mexa star who brought the Sonora stage at Coachella to a thrilling close on Saturday night.
Representing urban music, Fernando Hernández Flores (real name) — currently one of Mexico’s most influential artists in the genre with 8.7 million monthly Spotify listeners — turned the stage into a vibrant party with dancers, choreography and infectious energy.
“It’s very exciting, it’s crazy, I can’t believe it,” he tells Billboard Español from his backstage dressing room at the festival after a successful night performing hits like “Beiby,” “Mami Tú,” and “Vaquero,” which the crowd sang along to from start to finish. “Where I grew up, my neighbors were mechanics and construction workers, anything but artists. It’s a point of pride for me to come from there and have made it.
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“For this first performance, I wanted to showcase my music and what I know how to do. It was a night for my fans, but also for people to discover what I’m all about. For next Saturday, April 19, I’ll have two surprise guests,” adds the 25-year-old star, who will also perform two days prior at the legendary Roxy Theater in West Hollywood.
Born in Valle de Chalco, a neighborhood notorious for its high crime rates in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, El Malilla always dreamed of being a singer. But not even in his wildest dreams did he imagine making it to Coachella, let alone closing out a stage like Sonora.
His career began 10 years ago when, inspired by Puerto Rican urbano stars Arcángel and Farruko, he decided to write his own songs. By 2023, having earned a reputation in the underground scene, he started being invited to major festivals in Mexico City, such as La Santa Fiesta at Foro Sol, Axe Ceremonia and Flow Fest, as part of the mexa movement (Mexican reggaetón). Since then, he’s collaborated with stars like Yeri Mua, Dani Flow, El Bogueto, Uzielito Mix, Bellakath, and Blessd, as well as J Balvin, who, drawn to the booming urban scene in Mexico, worked with all of them on “Glow Kitty Remix” in 2024.
Also knows as El Chamako de Valle (The Kid from Valley), El Malilla is preparing for a new phase in his career. “I, Fernando, am a big fan of romantic salsa from legends like Willie Colón and Maelo Ruiz, so I’m already working on creating beautiful reggaetón, more commercial stuff, and later on, I’d love to make cumbias,” he explains. “The genre doesn’t matter as long as the music comes from the heart.”
Just a few days ago, the Mexican singer who now basks in his success at Coachella experienced a disappointing moment at Lollapalooza Chile, where his performance saw very low attendance.
“I take it as a learning experience… Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he says. “Just like I started in Mexico singing for ten people, then came a hundred, then thousands, I want the same to happen in Chile in two or three years. That’s how the best stories are told.”
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If you aren’t able to make it out to weekend one or two of Coachella 2025, Meta Quest’s virtual reality headset is coming to your rescue.
Having just launched the Meta Quest 3 and the 3S, the brand has two ways to make it incredibly easy to get that festival feel from the comfort of your couch. Specializing in “mixed reality,” both headsets make it easy to scroll and do multiple things at once — whether that’s scrolling on Instagram or watching a sporting event at the same time as you’re catching, say, Lady Gaga performing “Abracadabra.” For Coachella, the headset makes it easy to arrange your screen to either feel like you’re in the theater or at the festival while watching it live on YouTube.
The entire experience is much more elevated than simply watching a YouTube video on your phone. The YouTube app that you download from the Meta Quest allows you to explore all of the videos in 8K resolution. This also goes for 3D and 360-degree content, so it’s truly like being there in the crowd.
The headset itself is super comfortable and the visuals can be adjusted very specifically to your preferences so that you’re seeing it as clearly and as vibrantly as possible. You’ll also be seriously impressed by the huge field of vision, which really makes it feel like you’re there.
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If there’s a particular artist who you and your friends love, you can even invite them to watch with YouTube Co-Watch. This allows you to view the same content at the same time as friends, so it’s like you’re there together — even if you couldn’t afford the price or time off for a ticket to go to Coachella together this year. The co-watch feature allows you to invite up to seven people to watch content with you.
If you’re wondering what it will be like before weekend two, check out all of the playlists of performances on YouTube, but make sure you download the app from the Meta Quest for the full experience.
Here are both versions of the Meta Quest — both of which are cheaper than a ticket to Coachella.
Meta Quest 3
Meta Quest 3
$499.99
$499.99
If you’ve tried the Meta Quest 2, you’ll be super impressed with the upgrades, especially in terms of visuals. In fact, the resolution is nearly 30% better than it was in the Quest 2, and this version also features 4K and Infinite Display.
This headset is also equipped with a high-quality pancake lens that offers improved sharpness for all visuals. The display is super enhanced, which is great for Coachella — you’ll feel like you’re there in the desert. It has a 110-degree horizontal display and a 96-degree vertical display.
There are also improved comfort features such as the new headset and strap design. The strap is soft and adjustable to avoid putting pressure on your face while you’re wearing the headset. The sound is incredibly loud and crisp — even bass notes — which is particularly exciting for Coachella viewing.
Finally, it has 512GBs of storage space, so whether you want to game or watch movies on your headset in the future, it has the capacity to display and store them without interruptions.
Meta Quest 3S
Meta Quest 3S
$269.99
$299.99
10% off
$269.99
$299.99
10% off
If you’re not looking to invest fully in the 3, the 3S is still a truly solid option. It offers 128GB or 256GB storage options, so you’ll be able to accommodate any games or apps you want. For resolution, it offers 1832×1920 pixels per eye, and it has an adjustable fresnel lens.
It also has a 96-degree by 90-degree field of view, which means you’ll still be able to feel like you’re there in the moment.