The festival books its lineup, trying to have the most widespread appeal possible, so of course, there are plenty of artists we're excited about. But we can't help but consider this year's lineup a little bit of a letdown compared to years past, with less hip-hop than before, leaning heavy on pop stars and no BigXThaPlug returning for a hip-hop country set.
Coachella 2026 Lineup Reactions
The top comment on Coachella's Instagram announcement reads "this gotta be the worst lineup in music festival history," from @eduardo002_. A little dramatic, but we're with you in spirit. @lil2inch wrote: "Did you guys forget it’s your 25th anniversary…this is terrible. Half of this lineup has played the last 2 years." This is more where we've landed. With the exception of Bieber, whose inclusion we're still reeling from, we'd think the 25th celebration of Coachella would yield something more special, or at least something special at all. Instead, we got a pretty standard lineup for the festival, and one that's even on the less enthusiastic side.Carpenter makes for the most unsurprising pick, headlining both Fridays with support throughout the day from a number of extremely 2025 names like Teddy Swims and Sexyy Red. We’re not saying that as a knock, at least not exactly, but we would like to point out that Jack “Upside Down” Johnson headlined America’s biggest music festival in 2008, which is a sentence that could’ve only ever existed in exactly the year 2008. Take that as you will.
Friday’s lineup comes with two big surprises, namely The xx being second-billed for the day, marking an official comeback since playing their final shows in 2018. Next to them, not Nine Inch Nails, but Nine Inch Noize, which we can only assume will be the three-headed monster of Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Boys Noize, who performed four songs together at the center of Dickies Arena last weekend. German DJ Alexander Ridha, who performs as Boys Noize, has been on tour with NIN this year and is set for his own solo performance at Coachella on Saturday.
Turnstile, Dijon, Ethel Cain and Foster the People round out the rest of Friday’s bill, plus a surprise festival appearance from Moby.
Saturday’s headliner is also the primary headline for this week's news. You heard correctly, Justin Bieber is headlining Coachella in 2025. The somehow only 31-year-old pop singer has released two albums this year, SWAG and SWAG II, but remains in the zeitgeist moreso for the memes and viral videos shared at his expense. He hasn’t played a show in America since 2022, but will no doubt draw thousands to the festival, if not just for the jokes or to shout-along to the chorus of “Baby” one more time.
The Strokes are taking second billing on Saturday at Coachella and will also play alongside Sabrina Carpenter at this year’s Austin City Limits. Addison Rae, Labrinth and Sombr round out Saturday’s festival-mandated selection of “artists that we’re really trying to force into being a thing, but just aren’t.”
We are quite excited for David Byrne to get his spotlight without having to crash Olivia Rodrigo’s set, even though that made for one of the best music videos of the year. Further down the bill, we were thrilled to see Austin-based punk outfit, Die Spitz, get the opportunity to tear it up at Coachella. The all-girl band just released a new album, Something To Consume, on Friday, and announced a small Texas tour this December, with a Dallas date at Trees on the 20th.
Sunday’s headliner is Karol G, the Colombian pop star who made history as the first Latina singer to headline Coachella. Her evening at Coachella leans considerably more hip-hop/electronic, with appearances by Young Thug, Clipse, Kaskade and Major Lazer rounding out the evening. Iggy Pop, who has already begun to remove his shirt for the event, is also set to perform, plus FKA twigs' second consecutive appearance at the festival.
If you’re flying out, passes for Coachella go on sale this Friday, Sept. 19, at 1 p.m. CST, and you can register at Coachella.com. Or you can hold out for the fantastically produced Coachella YouTube livestreams in April.
