Well, it’s my favorite time of year again. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival took place on Apr. 10-12 and 17-19 for the 25th iteration of the event, and it quickly became one of the festival’s most talked-about editions in recent years. Headlined by Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and KAROL G, the 2026 festival was the first since 2022 to instantly sell out both weekends.
This year was my second time attending the second weekend of Coachella, and it was definitely my favorite between the two. Aside from the fact that I had much more experience navigating the grounds, the lineup and overall quality of performances were substantially better than my first experience. Performances from FKA twigs, Nine Inch Noize, and TOMORA were particular standouts due to their unique creative directions, strong stage presences and high-energy performances.
As far as headliners go, they were mostly great this year. I opted to skip the majority of Sabrina Carpenter’s set in favor of camping out to get front row spots for my favorite artist, Ethel Cain, but I saw Carpenter’s first few songs, and I was very impressed. She has a great stage presence, and her on-stage confidence seems to become more electric with each passing show.
Saturday night was the “main event” of the weekend: Justin Bieber. After the first weekend, Bieber faced criticism from many for being “lazy” with his performance, as he sat by his computer playing the songs on YouTube and often not even singing. Going into the performance, I had low expectations as I was preparing for a karaoke session with the energy coming from the crowd, not him, but wow, did he turn it around. Not only was there a huge shift in his energy and performance quality, but he brought out SZA, Sexxy Red, Big Sean and Dijon to perform with him and featured a cameo from Billie Eilish during “One Less Lonely Girl.” Weekend two usually gets the short end of the stick when it comes to cool special guests and energetic performances, so it was about time for weekend one to get the lesser of the two performances from a headliner. Bieber’s set pleasantly surprised me and as someone who enjoyed “SWAG” quite a bit, his performance was a great mix between his old classics and his new sound and era.
I’m a bit biased, as KAROL G is one of my favorite artists, but she killed it as well. The set design was an expansive, cave-like stage, and the crowd, at least around me, was one of the best of the weekend. Everyone was dancing; the liveliness never subsided and only amplified when she brought out J Balvin, Ryan Castro, Becky G and Peso Pluma.
As much as I love Coachella, it can be a difficult cost to swallow. For me, it’s my Christmas and birthday present wrapped into one. What once started as a cheap festival to counteract high ticket prices became quite an expense in a short amount of time. Throw in an Airbnb for the weekend, and the experience quickly becomes a small fortune. According to the LA Times, the average Coachellagoer spends anywhere between $2,000 and $3,000 for the weekend, depending on the quality and proximity of their accomodations. I’m lucky enough that I don’t have to spend an exorbitant amount of money on my stay for the weekend and that I bike to the festival, but for the majority of festivalgoers, the price point jumps up immensely. However, while it comes at a steep price tag, there’s an argument to be made that the ticket pays for itself. Nowadays, one spends hundreds of dollars on a concert to see one artist. But, just by seeing the headliners, you would “make your money back,” and any artist you see from there is essentially a free concert.
My only criticism of the festival this year was that there was a decent amount of artists on stages that did not match their stardom; either being on stages that were completely overfilled with people or stages that were barely full. Usually, the time you perform and the size of the stage directly correspond to your level of popularity. But I had to leave PinkPantheress early because her crowd was so packed that I could not even see the giant screens behind the stage. Not being able to finish her set was the singular regret of my weekend, one that could have easily been adjusted by swapping the schedule around slightly after seeing how the acts during the first weekend fared. Slayyyter’s set was extremely early at 3:00 PM, and while usually the earlier sets are not very packed; this was not the case for her. It filled out, and there was a huge amount of overflow into the area around the tent. Conversely, the rap duo Clipse put on a fantastic visual performance on the second-largest stage, and it was loosely attended. I got to their set thirty minutes past the start, and I easily was able to get up to the front. Granted, it’s not a perfect science, and it’s probably more complicated than just switching stages, but the festival has more than enough time between weekends to at least have an idea of the demand for each artist after seeing their crowds on the first round of performances.
The festival is incredibly expansive and there is so much to do that you would not be able to possibly do all of it, even if you arrived as soon as the gates opened and left after the final set. There are secret food vendors, pop-up brand activations, ten stages, art exhibits, and cool food vendors from the local area and Los Angeles. The food options were very diverse, but naturally were incredibly expensive. $20 for a plain cheeseburger and $14 for a single slice of cheese pizza were on the cheaper side, and it only got more expensive from there. However, I will give them credit because while a lemonade costs $13, the waters are only $2 to ensure that everyone stays hydrated, and there are tons of free cold water refill stations all around the grounds. I go from stage to stage, so I unfortunately miss out on a lot of the other aspects of the overall Coachella experience. In my two years of attending the festival, I have been to exactly one brand activation, so hopefully in the coming years I will be able to experience that part of Coachella, too.
All in all, Coachella is an experience that everyone should do at least once in their life, and if you can afford to go, it is an event absolutely worth the hefty price tag attached to it. Coachella 2026 completely lived up to the expectations and was a weekend that I will never forget.
