With lower ticket sales, grumbles about the star power of its line-up and so much competition for peoples’ dwindling entertainment budgets, Coachella is perhaps not the culture-defining event it once was.
Any criticisms of the festival’s ability to present the world’s key artists were proven unfounded over the weekend, as the Californian desert played host to yet another dazzling array of acts spanning just about all genres.
The headlines from its first weekend — it will be repeated with the same line-up this weekend coming — have been kind to the event this year, focused largely on celebrity spotting and fashion.
US politics is never far away from anything these days and a surprise appearance from 83-year-old Vermont senator Bernie Sanders before Clairo’s set brought a little of the current situation to the festival.
In his speech, Sanders urged the young audience to demand more from the current political class, and took a few swipes at US President Donald Trump’s stance on climate change.
But for most of us, Coachella remains about the music. If you’re looking at settling in to watch some of it this Easter weekend, here’s our take on some of the biggest sets.
Lady Gaga wows with pop opera epic
Lady Gaga’s Coachella performance included several costume changes, before ending on this feathered bodysuit for encore ‘Bad Romance’. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella)
You’d be forgiven for forgetting that Lady Gaga’s headlined Coachella before.
In 2017, she slotted in after Beyoncé, then-pregnant, pulled out from headlining. In the throes of denim-and-diamonds album Joanne, the set came at a limbo period — and while excellent, it left no major pop-culture mark. (It doesn’t help that Beyoncé returned the next year for Beychella.)
When announcing her 2025 return to the desert, Gaga wrote on Instagram that this performance would be “fully realised” in a way 2017 couldn’t be “for reasons beyond our control”. She wasn’t lying: Closing in on 20 years of pop-superstardom, Gaga shows signs of entering a new creative peak.
Performing off the back of March’s dipped-in-darkness pop album, Mayhem, Gaga’s set was decadently theatrical — a near-two-hour gothic pop opera where forces of light and evil fought for Gaga’s soul over five acts and 22 songs.
Beginning with ‘Bloody Mary’ — a 2011 album cut that had a 2023 TikTok resurgence — Gaga arrived centre-stage several storeys tall, her torso atop a blood-red hooped skirt.
Lady Gaga told crowds she wanted to bring the opera to Coachella, her set resembling a nightmarish version of a classical opera house complete with balconies. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella)
After screaming “dance or die” as the relentless industrial synths of Mayhem highlight ‘Abracadabra’ kicked in, she descended through her towering skirt before its pillowing fabric opened, revealing a cage with entrapped dancers.
It was just the first of many elaborate and awe-inspiring scenes, including a life-or-death chess match against a ‘Bad Romance’-era Gaga (but set to ‘Poker Face’), a sandbox with more creepy-crawlies than Dune (‘Perfect Celebrity’) and a dance with death (‘Zombieboy’, where a troupe of dancers hump skeletons).
Skipping a whole decade of albums — 2013’s Artpop, 2016’s Joanne and 2020’s Chromatica — Gaga kept things moody and atmospheric, with a nightmarish Alice-in-Wonderland journey through fame, celebrity and maintaining one’s own identity among it all.
Despite the darkness, Gaga’s set was pure light — especially as early hits such as ‘Born This Way’ or encore track ‘Bad Romance’ saw Coachella’s infamously tame crowds erupt.
Travis Scott has unlimited flames, yet we still feel cold
Travis Scott has wanted to headline Coachella for years, rapping about it on 2018 album ASTROWORLD. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella)
The massive marching band that appeared at the start of Travis Scott’s headline set on night two might have had a few of us dreaming about the best Coachella set of all time, but the Houston rapper offered something far darker and less impressive.
Barely acknowledging the crowd, Scott churned through a directionless 30-song set that saw his songs — mainly from latest album Utopia and 2018 breakthrough Astroworld — chopped and changed so much that it just ended up exhausting.
While the rationale behind dropping two brand-new tracks into the start of a set being watched by an enormous global audience is questionable, we do give him full marks for the set’s production.
Between the endless pyrotechnics, the moving stages, and the acrobatic dancers suspended in midair, there was plenty to look at even if Scott’s distant vibe and autotuned modern rap left your cold.
It’s hard to argue this is one of the great Coachella headline sets.
Charli XCX enlists Billie, Troye and Lorde to prove Brat summer should last forever
Teased as an end to Brat summer via a scratched-out billboard, Charli XCX’s set proved that her blend of bright and brash green electro-pop still has plenty of life in it.
Where Lady Gaga’s set was maximalist production, Charli kept to the pared-back performances of the Brat era, hitting the stage solo in sunglasses, thrashing around to her own songs in front of a strobing screen.
Well, for the most part she stood alone. Charli brought out a handful of best friends for some help, including: Troye Sivan appearing for the sinewy ‘Talk Talk’; Lorde strutting alongside Charli for their feud-ending ‘Girl, So Confusing’; and Billie Eilish for the irresistible, throbbing ‘Guess’.
Charli XCX has brought out Troye Sivan, Lorde and Billie Eilish to perform with her during the Brat era, but never all three during the one set. (Instagram/Charli xcx)
But it was the end of Charli’s set that offered the biggest surprises. While the singer danced to early EDM hit ‘I Love It’, her screens offered a slightly existential message.
“Does this mean that Brat summer is finally over?”, the screen asked. “Idk? Maybe? Wait was it? No?? Yeah cuz duh it was already over like last year. Wait. Was it? NO??? I don’t know who I am if it’s over???” F–KKKKKKKK.”
But then, a moment of clarity: “Wait. I remembered. I’m Charli… and honestly… I just want this moment to last forever.”
With a message “PLEASE DON’T LET IT BE OVER” taking over the screen as Charli left the stage, fans are speculating whether she’s teasing Brat 2.0, whatever that looks like.
In the meantime, there’s always weekend two. (Though a year of booked shows and festival slots suggests Brat is far from over just yet.)
A rare, mind-blowing set from a true trailblazer
For my money, the weekend’s highlight came from hip hop impresario Missy Elliott, who delivered a breathless career-spanning set packed with incredible costumes, choreography, and an unimpeachable set list.
She arrived onstage as a kind of Transformer, sauntered into the crowd mid-verse without dropping a beat, and gave us a dazzling array of dance moves that made it truly impossible to look away from her set.
But it was those songs that truly made the set special. While she will always be considered a musical trailblazer for the way she propelled the sound and attitude of hip hop in the 90s and 2000s, Missy Elliott’s songs are now genuine classics and seeing them rolled out in this overwhelming procession of brilliance was almost too much to bear.
It’s been 15 years since she toured down here. Australian promoters: give her a blank cheque.
Megan Thee Stallion brings lots of friends out to play
While her guests — Queen Latifah, Victoria Monet, Ciara, Spiritbox — were incredible, Megan Thee Stallion was the force of nature we know her to be in her main-stage slot on the final day of the festival.
Queen Latifah was one of several guests during Megan Thee Stallion’s set, alongside Ciara and Victoria Monét. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella)
Much like Missy’s the night before, the set was a seamless display of both the artist’s sheer star power and the quality of her output.
Whether you’re a fan or a naysayer, this set is worth catching on weekend two. Megan is quickly cementing herself as one of the better live performers in the new breed of rap stars and these might be her best sets yet.
Unfortunately, it might not have been timed out quite as well as it should have, as the rap star was cut off during her final song. A sour end to a very sweet set.
Green Day bring punk to stadium rock
Despite the fact they air three songs from their classic 1994 album Dookie, we must come to terms with the fact that Green Day are a very different band than they were when they first started visiting Australia in the 90s.
Their Saturday night Coachella performance was snotty punk dressed up as stadium rock, a lane the band have made their own for the past couple of decades. They do it well, but when you hear 90s songs like ‘Brain Stew’ and ‘Welcome To Paradise’, one can’t help but yearn for their simpler, snottier past.
Whether or not you approve of their change in musical direction, the band at least don’t betray their reputation as agitators, as Billie Joe Armstrong sings “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda” in ‘American Idiot’, and “running away from pain like the kids from Palestine” in ‘Jesus Of Suburbia’.
Small contributions, perhaps, but when made on a stage as big as this, in front of this big a global audience, it felt significant.
Amyl & The Sniffers put it all out there
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.
The Original Misfits fit in just nicely
Since their historic 2016 reformation, The Original Misfits have played just a couple of shows per year. Their first appearance at Coachella felt like a throwback to organisers Goldenvoice’s roots of promoting punk rock shows in Southern California, and the band delivered in spades.
A set list heavy on the band’s earliest material – almost the whole set was made up of the Static Age and Walk Among Us albums – reminded us just how much of an impact this band had on the development of punk and garage rock through the 80s, their influence still heard across the genre to this day.
It all started off a bit messy, but once the band were locked in, it’s hard to imagine a better punk rock show. At 69 years old, Glenn Danzig’s voice remains a treasure, while the band’s energy and aggression was as immense as any band of any age at Coachella this year.
If you don’t respect them for their music, at least give them props for being the only band in Coachella history to get their logo on the festival’s infamous poster.
Weekend two of Coachella 2025 streams on YouTube from Saturday morning Australian time.
