That’s officially a wrap on the first half of Coachella 2026. Weekend 1 came to a close on Sunday night with a history-making and awe-inspiring performance from Colombian superstar Karol G. And after three days of high highs and low lows, it was a relief to end the festival with a headlining set that won’t divide the internet… unlike the previous night’s controversial Bieberchella performance. Dare we say that Karol G actually saved this year’s Coachella?
Sunday also delivered a satisfying redemption arc for Anyma, who returned triumphantly after his Friday main stage set was canceled to play a surprise Do LaB back-to-back set with “Daddy Trance” DJ Marlon Hoffstadt. Plus, there were even more surprise guests and incredible sets throughout the day, which, for the first time all weekend, didn’t actually have any worst moments. Coachella clearly saved the best for last!
Before it all starts over again on Friday for weekend 2, check out our recap of all the best and worst moments you might have missed from Coachella 2026 weekend 1.
Karol G made history and showed everyone what a Coachella headlining set should be
Karol G didn’t have to do more than just step onto the main stage on Sunday to make history as the first Latina to headline the festival. But unlike another 2026 headliner we won’t name (okay, we named him below), the Colombian superstar didn’t rest on her laurels when it came to her set. In fact, despite a 30-minute delayed start, she took big swings with an ambitious, impressive performance that exhilarated the crowd from start to finish.
And that’s no easy feat for the Sunday headlining slot, when most attendees are sore, tired, and drained of energy after three full days of walking and dancing in the blazing desert heat. But Karol G had everyone, from the barricade diehards to the people all the way in the back of the massive field, up on their feet as they danced and sang along to her hit songs. She delivered crisp choreography and emotional vocals alongside an entire troupe of dancers, an all-female mariachi band, and surprise guests Becky G, Mariah Angeliq, Wisin, and Greg Gonzalez.
Karol G also galvanized the crowd with a powerful political speech near the end of her set, which she dedicated to her “Latina community.”
“This is about my people,” she declared into the microphone as everyone cheered. “At the same time this is about my Latinos who have been struggling in this country lately. We stand for them, I stand for my Latina community. I’m proud because this brings out the best of us, unity, resilience, a strong spirit. We don’t do this because we want to take everyone out, we do this because we want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, to our music. I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from. Please don’t feel scared, feel proud. Raise your flag.”
She earned massive cheers that seemed never-ending when she pointed out how it took Coachella 27 years to book a Latina headliner (Bad Bunny became the first Latino to headline the festival in 2023). “It feels late,” she said, as the cheering intensified. This was a monumental step forward for the festival, and Karol G more than lived up to the moment.
Wet Leg horse(giirl)ed around
English rock band Wet Leg took over the main stage in the early evening, and they more than proved they were deserving of the massive honor. With a jam-packed 45-minute set, they kept the energy high as they churned through song after song, with frontwoman Rhian Teasdale taking advantage of every inch of the stage. They even welcomed German DJ Horsegiirl to the stage for a fun collab. And for fans hoping to hear Wet Leg’s hit “Mangetout” — which was featured in a memorable scene from the overnight phenomenon TV series Heated Rivalry — the band saved the best for last.
Dueling dance parties
Attendees looking to boogie on Sunday evening were faced with an important decision: Major Lazer at the main stage, or Foster the People at Outdoor Theatre? With overlapping timeslots, the two very different acts presented a similar experience. While Diplo’s electronic group Major Lazer offered an aggressively high-energy dance party, indie pop band Foster the People curated a much groovier yet no less exciting one. No matter which set you chose, you couldn’t go wrong. Although if you watched Foster the People, then you missed out on seeing M.I.A. as a surprise guest singing “Paper Planes.”
A mini Warped Tour in the corner of Coachella
Pop-punk fans made the Heineken House a Heineken Home on Sunday evening, with back-to-back sets from Less Than Jake and Motion City Soundtrack creating a mini Warped Tour in the back corner of the festival. '90s ska punk band Less Than Jake kicked off the vibes in the smaller, secluded stage that’s seen some massive acts roll through in recent years.
And after a short break, pop-punk band Motion City Soundtrack played both new and classic songs to keep the party going. While the Heineken House stage is the smallest of the festival, diehard fans packed into the space, dancing hard and loudly singing the lyrics to all the songs, proving that there’s a desire for more acts like this on future lineups.
Young Thug and Camila Cabello took a trip to “Havana”
Young Thug had never actually performed his hit 2018 collab “Havana” live with Camila Cabello— until now. During the rapper’s main stage set on Sunday night, the familiar opening piano chords began to play and the reaction in the crowd was instantaneous. Loud cheers and screams erupted as Cabello joined Young Thug onstage to sing the entire song, and it’s not hard to remember how vastly different the crowd’s reaction to her was during her surprise appearance in Lana Del Rey’s set in 2024. This felt like redemption for her in a lot of ways, but it—along with the rest of his set—also represented a big moment for Young Thug.
The influential rapper took the crowd on a journey throughout his impressive career so far, filling his set with performances of his hit songs and collaborations that showcased his range on one of the biggest stages in music. He also welcomed surprise guests Ty Dolla $ign and NAV to join him in a few songs, and even called out One Battle After Another star Teyana Taylor (who was supposedly watching from the crowd) for ignoring his emails. To cap off the successful set, Young Thug got his own drone light show in the sky next to the stage.
FKA Twigs brought the ballroom—and hope—to Coachella
FKA Twigs delivered one hell of a powerful performance on Sunday night. She sang, danced, and twirled on a pole nonstop throughout her emotionally-charged closing Mojave set. And somehow, she also found time to share the stage with a group of icons to pay homage to ballroom culture.
With surprise guests Honey Balenciaga, Makayla Basquiat, Dashaun Wesley, and other “vogue-ers,” FKA Twigs built her own community onstage. And she extended that to everyone in the crowd, saying, “We’re open minded, beautiful, feeling people, and the way the world is today, we need that. Take just a second to say ‘hi’ to the person next to you, because the fact that we’re all here means that we’ve got something beautiful in common.”
Anyma returned triumphant
While Anyma still has yet to debut his new audiovisual project, ÆDEN, at least he finally got to play a set for weekend 1 attendees. After the DJ’s (who is one-half of the EDM duo Tale of Us) Friday night closing main stage set was canceled due to “strong wind conditions, he made a promise on social media that he was trying to figure out a way to still perform at some point this weekend.
And he pulled through at the last possible moment. Anyma was announced as the final surprise guest at the Do LaB on Sunday night, playing a back-to-back set with “Daddy Trance” DJ Marlon Hoffstadt (who played the Sahara stage on Saturday). It was no ÆDEN, but fans will get to experience that live Friday night of weekend 2, or on the Coachella livestream … of course, pending any more severe weather.
Bieberchella was … kind of a flop?
Listen, we’re just as shocked to say it as you are to read it. But seriously, what was that? It’s not clocking to us. Justin Bieber technically delivered a headlining set, but did he really? That felt more like an acoustic concert for his SWAG and SWAG II albums than a Coachella headlining performance—especially when you compare it to the showstopping spectacle attendees witnessed from Sabrina Carpenter the night before.
Sure, he eventually brought out surprise guests like The Kid Laroi for “Stay,” which was the first non-SWAG song after almost an hour, Dijon for “Devotion,” Tems for “I Think You’re Special,” Wizkid for “Essence,” and Mk.gee for the “Daisies” closer. But otherwise, it was just Bieber alone onstage singing slow ballads … and sitting on his laptop, browsing YouTube for his old music videos. It felt appropriate for who he is as an artist now, but it also felt low energy. Where was the production value? Where was anything to make this set stand out, as all Coachella headlining shows should?
After a seemingly never-ending set list of SWAG era songs (which he performed incredibly, it must be said), Bieber finally gave his fans who have been there since the beginning of his career what they wanted. Well, kind of. He played a medley of “snippets”—his own word choice!—of his most popular and oldest songs, but abruptly stopped every single one after just the first verse and chorus. It felt more like a tease of what he knew the crowd wanted than a celebration of where he came from and what led him to performing on one of music’s biggest stages. And the disappointment from the crowd was palpable, as people started leaving in droves once it became clear this was not Bieberchella, but rather the first SWAG tour date (no actual tour has been announced).
That said, there was a rather beautiful quality to when he finally played (part of) the hits, as he cued up the original music videos to play on the screens behind him as he sang along with his younger self. Watching him watch himself as a young artist was definitely a trip. And hearing Bieber’s current, mature voice singing the songs in lower keys while the original track of his younger voice played on the speakers made it feel like the kind of duet that would destroy the space-time continuum, like if today’s Bieber got to meet (and sing with) his younger self. It was a beautiful segment. If only it had spanned the entire set.
Jack White rocked the first Mojave set of the day
Legendary White Stripes rocker Jack White wasn’t even originally on this year’s lineup. But his set was not only a surprise addition—announced when the schedule came out earlier this week—to Saturday, it turned out to also be one of the day’s best performances. And maybe an all-time greatest Coachella set ever. No, we’re not exaggerating.
Utilizing every single moment of his tight 45-minute runtime, White played the hits and riffed on each one, giving what he knew the festival crowd wanted and then some. He barely took a second to wipe the sweat off his face or take a sip of water in between songs, making sure he didn’t waste any precious time. He delivered a masterclass of a rock set, and you could barely tell it was the first performance of the day at the Mojave stage with the way the crowd was headbanging and singing along to the iconic melodies of his career-spanning hits including “Seven Nation Army,” “Steady, as She Goes,” and “Icky Thump.” Now that’s how you play Coachella.
Saturday was for the rock n’ roll fans
It wasn’t just Jack White—rock n’ roll fans were treated to an embarrassment of riches when it came to Saturday’s lineup. With exhilarating performances from The Strokes, Interpol, David Byrne, and more, the day was chock full with mind-blowing, guitar-shredding sets.
But the clear winner was the first-ever full-length performance from Nine Inch Noize, a.k.a. the hardcore collaboration project between Nine Inch Nails’ Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor and electronic producer Boys Noize. The trio brought the house down in Sahara with a blistering, hellish (and we mean that in a good way) 45-minute set composed of remixes of Nine Inch Nails classics, including “Closer” and “Copy of A.”
The primal music combined with the demonic dancers climbing the set design throughout the performance made the entire set haunting, chilling, and completely mesmerizing. The only complaint? This should have been an hour longer. Regardless, it’s an immediate entry into the Coachella Hall of Fame.
Technical issues hit multiple sets
Something was definitely off on Saturday. We’re talking about the sound. There were technical issues galore throughout the day, and each one was more frustrating to witness than the last. When SOMBR brought out Smashing Pumpkins legend Billy Corgan to duet on “Speed” and “1979,” Corgan’s microphone didn’t work for the first half of his appearance. When the sound finally came through the speakers, it made the glitch all the more offensive, because he sounded exactly like he did at the height of his band’s fame in the ‘90s. You can’t cut this man’s mic!
On another stage, The Strokes suffered a similar problem as the sound kept glitching multiple times throughout their set. Frontman Julian Casablancas kept the crowd laughing with his random banter throughout the 70-minute show, but even he appeared visibly flustered every time the sound cut out momentarily. It wasn’t enough to derail the otherwise flawless set, but it was, well, not what should be happening at the main stage.
David Byrne, where were you?
When Talking Heads fans gathered at the Outdoor Stage on Saturday night, they thought, “This must be the place.” But when David Byrne’s set time came and went with no sight of the iconic rocker, people began to get antsy. “Where are you, David Byrne?” one guy kept shouting in the crowd. Another man could be heard loudly declaring as he walked away, “Is this happening or no? Not for me, I guess.”
Too bad for that one unlucky attendee, because Byrne finally took to the stage less than a minute later. But the singer never once mentioned his 25-minute delay during the otherwise lovely set, full of choreography, impressive set design, and overall vision. At least it was worth the wait.
Addison Rae sent a message to her haters
It’s safe to say that Addison Rae is truly a pop star now, regardless of how you feel about her TikTok roots. The singer dazzled the massive main stage crowd during sunset, churning out hit after hit with powerful vocals and crisp choreography (with an assist from surprise guest performer Maddie Ziegler during the “Aquamarine” dance break). She enlisted one lucky fan in the crowd to scream for her during her remix of Charli XCX’s “Von Dutch,” and she ended her set with an irreverent message for her haters: “Suck my d—!”
Royel Otis made their Coachella debut one for the books
Australian indie pop duo Royel Otis made Coachella look easy. Their first-ever time performing at the festival went off without a hitch and was a true highlight of Saturday. They drew in a massive crowd as the sun began to set, with fans pouring out of the sides and back of the Mojave tent for the chance to catch their hit covers “Linger” and “Murder on the Dancefloor.” Plus, the duo treated the crowd to their new single “Sweet Hallelujah,” along with sweet messages displayed on the screen behind them throughout the entire set. It’s not hard to imagine they’ll be back soon, and on a much bigger stage next time.
The Do LaB returned triumphant
After the Do LaB stage shut down early Friday night, with three sets getting canceled after an alleged incident with a lighting fixture falling on an attendee, it was back in full force on Saturday. The lights, music, and water canons were all business as usual as soon as the festival gates opened. And the stage even welcomed a surprise set from The XX’s Romy, proving that it came back stronger than ever.
Tinashe surprised campers during Discolines’ “day zero” Thursday night set
Coachella hadn’t even officially started yet and attendees were already treated to the first surprise guest of the weekend. After last year’s introduction of the “day zero” sets on Thursday night in the campgrounds, Coachella did it again with a highly-anticipated performance from Discolines. But the buzzy DJ leveled up from Chris Lake and Disco Dom’s 2025 day zero sets, because he brought out Tinashe as a surprise during his electric two-hour show.
As Discolines cued up his crowd-favorite song of the summer “No Broke Boys” near the end of his set, featured singer Tinashe hopped up on the table on the stage to sing the lyrics while jumping and dancing around. Clad in a black lace bodysuit and leather jacket, she kept the energy high as the packed crowd sang along to the earworm lyrics. After the song ended, Discolines finished his set by ripping off his white t-shirt, waving it over his head, and lobbing into the crowd to a grateful fan eager to catch the sweaty item of clothing. No better way to kick off Coachella 2026.
Teddy Swims won day 1 with a star-studded, nostalgic set
Teddy Swims understood the assignment for his first-ever Coachella set, and he more than delivered. In fact, his star-studded, nostalgic set was the stand-out winner of Friday. The soul/pop singer welcomed three major surprise guests, each one more jaw-dropping than the last, as they arrived by ringing the doorbell and entering through the door onstage.
First came Joe Jonas, who joined Teddy in a powerful duet of the Jonas Brothers’ 2007 ballad “When You Look Me In the Eyes.” As Joe walked through the door, it was as if an electric pulse went through the crowd. The screams were deafening, phones shot up in the air to record the unexpected duet, and the audience displayed a renewed energy that’s rare to see at a 5:20pm set in the blazing sun at the main stage.
And Teddy had more surprises in store. Next came Vanessa Carlton through the door, and she sat down at the piano to treat the crowd to a lively duet of her 2001 breakout hit “A Thousand Miles.” Then Teddy turned the clock back even further by welcoming 80’s rock legend David Lee Roth of Van Halen through the door to deliver a rousing rendition of “Jump.” As the frontman strutted around the stage, gyrating his hips, a visibly delighted Teddy followed him around to sing the lyrics together. By the time Teddy ended his set with “Lose Control,” it was clear he delivered a set that will be talked about for years to come.
Will Ferrell saved Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining set
When the power goes out, who you gonna call? Will Ferrell! During a planned break in Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining set on Friday night, the comedic actor suddenly appeared onstage dressed as an electrician to fix the fake power outage. He dragged a heavy plug across the stage, tried to light a cigarette (but failed due to the high winds), and ultimately plugged the cord in, resulting in sparks flying and lights flickering.
Carpenter went on with the show, delivering a few more (very random) surprise guests—and none of them actually performed with her. A couple pre-recorded videos included Sam Elliott, Susan Sarandon, and Carpenter’s former Girl Meets World costar Corey Fogelmanis in cameos. And while she didn’t arrest anyone during “Juno,” Samuel L. Jackson did provide a hilarious meditation voiceover during that bit instead.
John Summit surprised the Do LaB in more ways than one
EDM’s new golden boy John Summit surprised Coachella goers on Friday with an electric surprise set at the Do LaB. Announced only an hour before he was scheduled to go on, the DJ packed the smaller stage and delivered a set worthy of the top-secret reveal. However, there were less positive surprises following his legendary set.
Due to an alleged incident that left a Coachella attendee injured, John Summit was the last artist to play a full set at the Do LaB on Friday. The remaining three Friday sets were canceled, and caution tape cordoned off the entire stage the rest of the night. In a video posted to social media (that has since been deleted), a security guard claimed that a speaker fell and landed on a woman in the crowd. (Teen Vogue has reached out to the Do LaB, which operates independently from Coachella, for comment.) There is no word yet on whether this will affect Saturday and Sunday’s Do LaB schedule.
An anticlimactic ending without Anyma
Fans hoping to salvage their night with Anyma’s sure-to-be-mind-blowing closing main stage set after the unexpected Do LaB closure were left even more disappointed. The DJ (who is one-half of the EDM duo Tale of Us) was set to debut his new audiovisual project, ÆDEN, after Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining set. But after his start time came and went, it was clear something was wrong. The answer came nearly 20 minutes after he was supposed to begin, when a message appeared on the big screens (and was sent out as a push notification on the Coachella app) revealing that his set was canceled due to the high winds.
“Due to strong wind conditions affecting Anyma’s stage build, he is unable to perform,” the statement reads. “Coachella & Anyma have made this decision together with your safety as the priority. Further updates to come.”
There is no word yet on whether Anyma will be rescheduled for another day during weekend 1. He will return for his regularly scheduled Friday night set during weekend 2.
Katseye (minus one) drew one of the largest Sahara crowds in history
While the rumors were true about Katseye member Manon skipping the group’s Coachella performance, it didn’t seem to affect the amount of Eyekons who packed the Sahara stage—and far beyond, all the way into the next stage’s border. The K-pop girl group drew in one of the biggest crowds in history for that particular stage, and they did everything they could to live up to the hype. Along with high-intensity dance breaks helping to fill the 45-minute set, they also brought out K-Pop Demon Hunters singers Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami for a show-stopping performance of “Golden.” It’s safe to say the Honmoon was sealed after this set.
