Bieber Brings Big Guests

Justin Bieber stretched his second Coachella headlining set past midnight Saturday and turned it into a guest-filled finale with Billie Eilish and SZA. (hollywoodreporter.com) The cameos landed during Weekend Two, Day 2 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, where Bieber’s April 18 set closed the festival’s Saturday program. The Hollywood Reporter said Eilish joined him for “One Less Lonely Girl,” and SZA returned for their duet version of “Snooze.” (hollywoodreporter.com) Other outlets reported that Bieber also brought out Sexyy Red and Big Sean, turning the set into a run of surprise entrances rather than a standard solo headliner show. The Los Angeles Times listed all four names in its live Weekend Two coverage. (latimes.com) Coachella has long trained fans to expect unannounced guests, but Weekend Two often carries extra pressure because social clips from the first weekend have already set expectations. USA Today called surprise appearances a defining part of the festival’s second weekend coverage this year. (usatoday.com) Bieber’s set also played as a contrast with his first Saturday at the festival a week earlier, when coverage focused more on the retrospective feel of the performance than on guest volume. The Press-Telegram described Weekend One’s Day 2 as “Bieberchella,” with Bieber anchoring the night through older hits and newer material. (presstelegram.com) Weekend Two reaction centered on the crowd response to the drop-ins, especially the Eilish moment, which folded Bieber’s 2009 teen-pop catalog into a set built for fans who grew up on it. Variety said he framed the show as a look back through his discography before closing with the guest-heavy run. (variety.com) The festival itself is in its 25th-anniversary edition this year, with Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G and Anyma topping the 2026 bill across the two Indio weekends, April 10-12 and April 17-19. That made Bieber’s late-night guest parade one of the biggest pop moments left on the schedule as the festival headed into its final Sunday. (timeout.com) By early Sunday, the headline from Bieber’s second desert set was not just that he closed late. It was that he closed Coachella Saturday by making surprise guests the main event. (desertsun.com)