Bieber’s Coachella comeback

Justin Bieber used Coachella’s main stage on Saturday, April 11, to deliver his biggest live set in years and his first billed headlining slot at the festival. (hollywoodreporter.com) He went on around 11:30 p.m. Pacific time in Indio, California, and opened with songs from *Swag* before bringing out The Kid Laroi, Tems, Wizkid, Dijon and Mk.gee during the set. (hollywoodreporter.com) Midway through the show, Bieber sat at a laptop and pulled up old YouTube clips of himself, then sang along to early hits instead of staging full versions with a band. Variety described that section as a real-time scroll through clips including “Baby,” turning the set into a nostalgia segment built from internet footage. (variety.com) The set was also notably stripped down for a Coachella headliner. The Hollywood Reporter said Bieber performed mostly alone on a stage dominated by a halfpipe-like structure, with no backup dancers, no major prop changes and only a few musicians joining him. (hollywoodreporter.com) That format landed after several years in which Bieber canceled tour dates over health issues, including the remainder of his Justice World Tour in September 2022 after saying the road had taken “a real toll” on him. (upi.com) Since then, his public career has shifted in visible ways. The Hollywood Reporter noted that the period between the tour cancellation and Saturday’s set included a publishing-catalog sale, the birth of his first child and a split from longtime manager Scooter Braun. (hollywoodreporter.com) Coachella gave him a stage large enough to test a different version of a comeback: less arena spectacle, more new material and selective looks back at the songs that made him famous. Yahoo’s festival live blog had framed the performance beforehand as his first Coachella appearance as a billed headliner, even after years of guest spots. (yahoo.com) The guest sequence supplied the clearest crowd-pleasing moments late in the night. Variety reported that Tems joined Bieber for “I Think You’re Special,” then Wizkid came out for “Essence,” before Mk.gee appeared for the closing “Daisies.” (variety.com) Bieber told the crowd the night was one he had “dreamed about for a long time,” and the show played like a reset on his terms: one man, a laptop, a handful of guests and a catalog big enough to turn old YouTube uploads into a headlining device. (hollywoodreporter.com)