Weekend 1: Rock Wins Day 2
The Desert Sun judged Coachella’s Day 2 stronger than Day 1, praising multiple rock acts while calling Addison Rae’s vocals ‘mediocre’ in the April 11 recap. (The local review contrasted the weekend’s rock highlights with pop vocal critiques.) (desertsun.com)
Coachella’s first Saturday landed harder than opening day, with The Desert Sun giving April 11 an A and singling out rock sets as the difference. (desertsun.com) The local review said Day 2 “surpassed” Friday and pointed to Jack White, Green Day and the Misfits as standouts in Indio. The paper said Addison Rae’s vocals fell flat even as it credited her choreography and stage presence. (desertsun.com) Saturday’s schedule put rock acts in prominent slots across the grounds, including Jack White at 3 p.m. on the Mojave stage, The Strokes at 9 p.m. on the Coachella Stage and Justin Bieber at 11:25 p.m. as the night’s headliner. Addison Rae played the Coachella Stage at 5:30 p.m. (hypebeast.com; timeout.com) Rae’s set was still one of the day’s most watched pop debuts. Rolling Stone reported that she brought out Maddie Ziegler during “Aquamarine” and used the show as her first full-length solo Coachella performance. (rollingstone.com) That split screen — rave notices for guitars, mixed notes for pop vocals — landed in a year when Coachella’s top line leaned heavily on mainstream star power. Goldenvoice announced 2026 with Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G and Anyma as headliners, plus major billing for The xx, The Strokes, Young Thug and BIGBANG. (coachellavalley.com; timeout.com) The festival is running two weekends at the Empire Polo Club in Indio: April 10 to 12 and April 17 to 19. YouTube returned as the exclusive livestream partner for both weekends, which turned the Saturday reviews into instant guidance for people deciding what to catch on replay and what to watch next weekend. (coachellavalley.com) Jack White’s presence also changed the shape of the day before a note was played. He was a late addition to the weekend-one schedule, with multiple outlets flagging the 3 p.m. Mojave set as one of the biggest surprises in the timetable release. (timeout.com; consequence.net) Rae, meanwhile, arrived with a clear pop narrative of her own. Setlist reports show she built the show around songs including “Diet Pepsi,” “Aquamarine,” “Headphones On” and “Fame Is a Gun,” the same material that has pushed her from influencer fame into a full festival slot. (setlist.fm; desertsun.com) Weekend 1 now moves to Sunday with Saturday’s verdict already set: Coachella’s rock muscle gave Day 2 more lift than Day 1, even as one of its biggest pop curiosities drew a split reaction. (desertsun.com; coachellavalley.com)
