Bieber’s Coachella headline

Justin Bieber closed Coachella’s second night on April 11 with his first headlining set at the festival, ending Saturday as the main story of the 25th-anniversary weekend. (latimes.com) He was scheduled for 11:25 p.m. Pacific time on the Coachella Stage in Indio, California, the top slot on Day 2 of weekend one. Time Out Los Angeles called it his first major live set in years before he took the stage. (timeout.com) Early setlist reports split on the exact count: USA Today listed 30 songs, while fan-compiled tracklists and other entertainment outlets counted 34 songs in the performance. Those reports agree that the show ran through both older hits and newer material. (usatoday.com ) (1001tracklists.com) The booking put Bieber in a new spot at Coachella. He had appeared at the festival before as a guest, but 2026 was his first time headlining the event. (chicagotribune.com) The set also landed after a long gap in large-scale performances. Billboard and USA Today both reported that Bieber had played warm-up shows at the Roxy and the Troubadour in West Hollywood before Coachella, his first return to the stage in about four years. (billboard.com) (usatoday.com) Reviews described a set built less like a stadium-pop spectacle and more like a retrospective. The Hollywood Reporter said the show leaned heavily on his recent “Swag” era, while other coverage described a calmer performance style than the giant productions often tied to Coachella headliners. (hollywoodreporter.com) (jsonline.com) Reaction was mixed within hours. Yahoo’s live coverage said the set “divides the internet,” while harsher tabloid-style coverage focused on criticism of the livestream and stage setup. (yahoo.com) (ladbible.com) Coachella’s second weekend begins April 17, and Bieber is scheduled to return to the same Saturday-night headlining slot on April 18. That gives one of the festival’s biggest debuts an immediate second run in the desert. (setlist.fm) (yahoo.com)