Under the desert sun in Indio, the 25th edition of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is unfolding as both spectacle and statement, blending record-breaking performances, cultural firsts and unpredictable celebrity moments across two sold-out weekends in April.

Running from April 10-12 and April 17-19, the festival has drawn more than 100,000 attendees daily, reaffirming its place as one of the world’s most visible pop culture stages while presenting a line-up headlined by Karol G, Justin Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter.

Carpenter opened the first weekend with a theatrical, Hollywood-inspired set that leaned heavily into cinematic storytelling, complete with appearances by Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell and Sam Elliott, transforming the stage into a stylised “Sabrinawood” fantasy.

The performance was not without disruption. Strong desert winds forced organisers to cancel a scheduled set by DJ Anyma, citing safety concerns, while weather officials warned of gusts reaching 40 kilometres per hour alongside air quality alerts tied to windblown dust.

Health advisories cautioned that airborne particle pollution could aggravate respiratory and cardiac conditions, underscoring the environmental challenges that continue to shadow large-scale outdoor events in California’s desert landscape despite otherwise moderate pollution readings during the opening days.

If Carpenter’s set leaned into spectacle, Bieber’s headline performance veered sharply toward introspection and experimentation, delivering a 90-minute set of more than 30 songs that fused nostalgia with digital interactivity in ways that divided audience opinion.

In an unconventional move, Bieber incorporated YouTube livestream elements, taking fan requests in real time and even harmonising with footage of his younger self during renditions of early hits like ‘Baby’ and ‘Never Say Never’, creating one of the weekend’s most discussed moments.

The set also featured collaborations with artists including The Kid Laroi, Dijon, Tems and Wizkid, while covers of tracks by Chris Brown and Ne-Yo added another layer to a performance that oscillated between personal reflection and crowd-pleasing familiarity.

Among those watching closely was Katy Perry, whose reactions from the crowd quickly went viral, particularly a quip about avoiding ads during Bieber’s onstage YouTube use, reinforcing her reputation for playful commentary even offstage.

Perry’s presence at the festival extended beyond music. Accompanied by Justin Trudeau, the pair drew widespread attention as one of the most unexpected celebrity sightings, with social media dubbing their appearance “Traudeauchella”.

Their public outing, marked by casual moments of walking hand-in-hand and sharing food, added a distinctly human layer to the high-gloss festival environment, while online reactions – particularly from Canadian audiences – ranged from surprise to enthusiastic support.

Elsewhere, the festival’s global reach was evident in a series of milestone performances. South Korean artist Taemin made history as the first Korean male solo act to deliver an official solo set at Coachella, unveiling six new songs during a tightly choreographed performance.

Blending live instrumentation with striking visual production, Taemin’s set incorporated thematic storytelling and multilingual elements, with projected translations accompanying songs like ‘Parasite’, reflecting broader narratives about modern society while engaging a diverse audience.

Similarly, Filipino girl group BINI broke new ground as the first pop act from the Philippines to perform at the festival, presenting a 45-minute set that fused contemporary pop with traditional design influences in costume and staging.

Their appearance, which included performances of tracks like ‘Pantropiko’ and the debut of new single ‘Blush’, was framed by expressions of national pride, with members emphasising their role in representing Filipino music on a global stage.

Yet it was Karol G’s closing set that arguably defined the festival’s first weekend, marking a historic moment as she became the first Latina to headline Coachella, a milestone she acknowledged as both overdue and deeply symbolic.

Performing largely in Spanish, she used her platform to highlight themes of identity, migration and cultural pride, telling the audience that Latino communities had long contributed to the festival’s legacy even if recognition had lagged behind.

Her 90-minute performance combined high-energy reggaeton with more reflective, historically rooted material, supported by an all-female band and elaborate stage design that included mythic imagery and references to Latin musical traditions.

Guest appearances, including Becky G and Wisin, alongside a cover of ‘Mi Tierra’ by Gloria Estefan, underscored her connection to both peers and influences, while newer material expanded her artistic range beyond club-driven hits.

As fireworks closed her set, Karol G’s command of the stage felt less like a breakthrough and more like a long-delayed correction, cementing her place within the festival’s evolving narrative of global representation and artistic legitimacy.

Offstage, the festival has continued to generate its own share of headlines, from Adele making a rare public appearance to watch Bieber’s set, to the steady stream of celebrity sightings that blur the line between audience and performer.

With its second weekend set to mirror the first, Coachella 2026 stands not merely as a music festival but as a cultural barometer, capturing shifts in global pop, identity politics and the increasingly porous boundaries between performance, technology and everyday life.