Coachella surprise guests
Coachella Weekend One featured a heavy guest-list: surprise appearances included David Lee Roth, Joe Jonas, Vanessa Carlton, Snoop Dogg, Ejae and Lizzo, while major sets and long lines clustered around Justin Bieber and The Strokes. (Desert Sun: surprise guests; LA Times: day coverage) ( ).
Coachella’s first weekend turned into a guest-heavy sprint, with surprise appearances spread across sets before Justin Bieber and The Strokes drew Saturday’s biggest crowds. (desertsun.com) (latimes.com) On Friday, April 10, Teddy Swims brought out David Lee Roth for “Jump,” Vanessa Carlton for “A Thousand Miles,” and Joe Jonas during an early main-stage set in Indio. The Desert Sun reported that the run of cameos started with a staged doorbell ring and quickly became one of Day 1’s most talked-about moments. (desertsun.com) (stereogum.com) Other drop-ins stacked up across the grounds: Snoop Dogg appeared during Three 6 Mafia’s set, and Forbes’ Weekend 1 roundup listed Ejae and Lizzo among the festival’s early surprise guests. That guest traffic started before Saturday night, when Yahoo and USA Today previewed Justin Bieber’s headlining set for 11:25 p.m. Pacific time on April 11. (desertsun.com) (forbes.com) (ftw.usatoday.com) Saturday’s center of gravity shifted to the top of the bill. The Los Angeles Times said the longest lines and biggest clusters formed around Bieber’s first Coachella headline set and The Strokes’ return, turning the festival’s second day into a traffic test as much as a music schedule. (latimes.com) (yahoo.com) That split screen — constant cameos in the afternoon, bottlenecks around marquee names at night — fits how Coachella now works in its 25th anniversary year. The 2026 lineup already leaned on headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G, and the set-times rollout added Jack White as a late booking before Weekend 1 opened. (latimes.com) (ocregister.com) (nme.com) Coachella has long sold the chance that a daytime set can suddenly become a one-off reunion, crossover or nostalgia hit. Weekend 1 kept that formula intact, with legacy names like Roth and Carlton sharing space with current pop acts and internet-era performers on the same festival map. (desertsun.com) (forbes.com) Weekend 1 runs April 10 through April 12 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, with Weekend 2 scheduled for April 17 through April 19. After a first weekend built on walk-ons and crowd surges, the main question for the second round is which surprises are left. (usatoday.com) (coachella.com)
