Bieber’s Coachella Set Split Opinion
Justin Bieber’s April 11 headlining slot at Coachella produced a polarizing reaction online after he performed what outlets called a “laptop set,” a format that divided viewers. (yahoo.com) Time Out and other previews confirmed Bieber as a Day 2 headliner for the festival’s Weekend 1 billing. (timeout.com) Los Angeles Times listed him among Saturday’s anchors alongside acts like The Strokes, capturing how central his set was to Day 2 coverage. (latimes.com)
Justin Bieber’s Saturday night Coachella set split viewers after he spent part of his headlining show singing along to old clips on a laptop instead of delivering a conventional arena-scale production. (variety.com) Bieber headlined Day 2 of Coachella’s first weekend on April 11 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, with Time Out and Los Angeles Times listing him among the night’s main attractions before the show. (timeout.com) (latimes.com) Reviews described a stripped-down performance built around songs from his recent “Swag” releases, with a mid-show segment in which Bieber sat at a desk, opened a laptop and revisited old YouTube videos from earlier in his career. (hollywoodreporter.com) (variety.com) That format landed very differently depending on what viewers expected from a Coachella headliner. Rolling Stone called the set “a mixed bag,” while USA Today described it as a stripped-down comeback that mixed older hits with guest appearances from Dijon, Tems and Wizkid. (rollingstone.com) (usatoday.com) The reaction mattered because this was Bieber’s first Coachella headlining slot and one of his biggest full-scale live appearances since he stopped his 2022 Justice World Tour after revealing he had Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The Independent and Billboard both framed the set as a major comeback moment after years of limited performances. (independent.co.uk) (billboard.com) Coachella also magnified the contrast. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both noted how minimal Bieber’s staging looked after Sabrina Carpenter’s larger, more elaborate Friday-night headlining show. (variety.com) (hollywoodreporter.com) The set itself was not just the laptop segment. USA Today and setlist trackers reported that Bieber performed about 30 songs, moving between newer material and older hits, with guests including Dijon, Tems, Wizkid and the Kid Laroi. (usatoday.com) (setlist.fm) Some coverage treated the laptop portion as an intimate nostalgia play. Other outlets highlighted harsher online reactions, with Yahoo’s live blog saying the “laptop set” divided the internet and SFGATE reducing the experiment to Bieber scrolling YouTube onstage. (yahoo.com) (sfgate.com) Weekend 2 is scheduled for April 17 to April 19, and Bieber is billed to return on Saturday, April 18. The same set that played as reflective to some viewers now heads into a second Coachella crowd with a much clearer reputation. (timeout.com)
