Bieber anchors Day 2

Justin Bieber closed Coachella’s second night on Saturday, April 11, with his first headlining set at the festival’s main stage in Indio. (latimes.com) Coachella’s 2026 festival is running April 10-12 and April 17-19 at the Empire Polo Club, and Bieber was one of three top-billed headliners announced for this year alongside Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G. (coachella.com) (coachellavalley.com) Bieber’s Saturday set was scheduled for 11:25 p.m. Pacific time on April 11, with the same slot set for Weekend 2 on April 18, and Coachella’s official YouTube channel carried the festival livestream. (yahoo.com) (youtube.com) The booking put Bieber at the center of a comeback stretch after years of limited live appearances. Billboard reported that he played West Hollywood shows at the Roxy and the Troubadour before Coachella, his first performances in four years. (billboard.com) Los Angeles Times critics described the Coachella set as “YouTube karaoke,” with Bieber leaning on early-career imagery and a stripped-down stage instead of a large festival production. (latimes.com) Billboard said the performance opened with material from *SWAG* and *SWAG II* before moving into older hits, and said The Kid Laroi joined Bieber onstage for “Stay.” (billboard.com) Bieber has been part of Coachella before, but not as the main event. Billboard noted that he appeared as a guest in Ariana Grande’s 2019 headlining set and joined Tems and Wizkid at the 2024 festival for “Essence.” (billboard.com) A fan-shot clip from the set spread quickly on X and showed about 23,000 likes and 2,778 reposts by Sunday, a sign that Bieber’s return was driving much of the night’s online reaction. (x.com) Weekend 1 continues Sunday, April 12, with Karol G set to close the festival’s final night before Coachella repeats its lineup next weekend. (coachellavalley.com)