Coachella Weekend 1 Recap!

We’ve just seen the first weekend of probably the most famous music festival in the country, and we can’t stop talking about it. Coachella 2025 had everything you’d expect, cranked up to 11: fashion, music, and some moments that will go down in pop culture history.

Of course she’s stunningly talented, but Lisa was also straight-up stunning. The rapper and singer (and recent star of Season 3 of "The White Lotus") debuted in 2016 as a member of the K-Pop girl group BLACKPINK but has since become a pop star in her own right. In February, she released the album Alter Ego. Performing a lineup of her biggest hits, Lisa had a ton of costume changes to introduce her various alter egos. Our favorite is by designer Asher Levine, who created this alien suit inspired by his Alien Gel bags. This spiky but sleek costume is the perfect combination of sexy and scary for Lisa.

We knew that Benson Boone would come out in a glittery jumpsuit and wow the crowd, but we didn’t know that he would be joined by Brian May of Queen to sing a rendition of the band's iconic hit “Bohemian Rhapsody.” He scolded the audience later in a TikTok for their lukewarm reaction to the lead guitarist absolute rock legend. (We definitely can’t imagine being cool about that!)

Boone announced his upcoming album, releasing on June 20, American Heart, during his set, and he also debuted his new single “Mystical Magical” alongside his current hit “I’m Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else”.

Then came our headliner, the pop music monarch Lady Gaga. With about as many costume changes as she could cram in to 2+ hours, Lady Gaga has outdone herself. She played more than 20 songs -- a mashup of her new album Mayhem and older hits -- culminating in a rock-opera spectacle complete with dancing skeletons, suits of armor, and body doubles.

On Saturday, when Clairo performed at the Outside Theater, she was joined by a surprise guest. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced her, speaking briefly of his fears for the United States.

 “The future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation,” Sanders said. “You can turn away and ignore what goes on, but if you do, you do it at your own peril.”

Charli XCX played a contentious 7:15 set before the Saturday headliner set by Green Day. She brought out Billie Eilish, Troye Sivan, and Lorde to play their hit collabs “Guess”, “Talk talk”, and “Girl, so confusing”, respectively. Charli handed over the crown of Brat Summer to Lorde, declaring “Lorde Summer 2025!” Lorde has recently teased a solo music release for the first time since 2021.

At the afterparty, Charli wore a sash that read “Miss Should Be Headliner” over a cute little white dress. It was evocative of an outfit a bride-to-be would wear to her bachelorette party.

The actual headliner, Green Day, put on a classically punk show, complete with political advocacy. They delivered a career-spanning set, taking us through decades of hits from "American Idiot" (2004) to "Saviors" (2024) and proving why they are as relevant as ever and totally deserve to headline a huge festival like Coachella. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong opened the show with “American Idiot”, a song that was originally a political take-down of then-President George W. Bush, but for the 2025 crown, he changed the lyrics to take aim at Donald Trump with the lyrics, “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.” His second lyric change came during “Jesus of Suburbia”, where it went from “runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized” to “runnin’ away from pain like the kids from Palestine, tales from another broken home.”

On Sunday, we saw our second BLACKPINK star make her desert debut. Jennie stunned in a red leather two-piece set as she rocked the stage of the Outdoor Theatre.

At the end of an exhilarating but exhausting weekend, Post Malone took the stage to wind us down. Carrying a red solo cup and a cigarette, Malone started his 90 minutes with a fully country version of “Texas Tea”. The rest of his set was in the same style, consistent with his 2024 album F-1 Trillion. Amongst his country renditions of songs like “Rockstar” and “Better Now”, he teased his next album as another country project.

Fans are looking forward to the new album as much as they’re looking forward to Coachella Weekend 2, which is sure to bring a whole new brand of crazy!