Coachella 2025 Highlights: Must-See Moments from the First Weekend!

The Coachella festival, arguably the most closely watched music event globally, did not disappoint this year. This weekend, the festival reopened its doors with the 2025 edition living up to its reputation for an extensive lineup and increasingly spectacular concerts.

It’s hard to overlook the sensation that is Charli XCX. In a fiery performance, the British artist brought onstage Billie Eilish, Troye Sivan, and Lorde to perform their hit collaborations live — a gathering that felt very much like the 2025 version of the Avengers of pop music.

Extended Brat Summer

At the end of her set, the creator of Brat displayed several scrolling messages on giant screens questioning the survival of “Brat Summer”, followed by a call to make it last forever. A high-energy performance that hints at what to expect at We Love Green in June.

Following Charli XCX, her collaborator A.G. Cook, who has become one of the world’s most influential pop producers (having worked with Beyoncé, Caroline Polachek, Oneohtrix Point Never, and more recently Oklou), brought rapper Danny Brown, signed to Warp, for an unexpected remix of Party 4 U.

Spotlight on Bernie Sanders and Gorillaz

In a different vein, Clairo impressed the audience with a special guest. She and her band were joined by none other than Bernie Sanders himself (not his first rodeo), following an impassioned speech by the Democrat about activism and the importance of mobilizing the youth.

Japanese Breakfast, back with a new album, provided a mesmerizing moment by incorporating a smooth cover of Gorillaz’s On Melancholy Hill into her set.

Headliners Deliver

The headliners also brought their A-game. Lady Gaga, during the opening night, performed a true dark opera in four distinct acts, mixing her greatest hits with new tracks from her latest album Mayhem, which has stirred up her fans online.

And of course, there was Travis Scott, dubbed the “desert-designer” for this edition, tasked with handling the closing performance. He brilliantly met the challenge: presenting a monumental set from Days Before Rodeo to Utopia, in an almost mythological atmosphere.