Coachella 2025 Weekend One Recap: Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, Post Malone & More Perform
The 2025 edition of Coachella has wrapped up its first weekend. It was one must-see set after another, and there were plenty of buzzworthy highlights to keep guests energized. Fans were treated to incredible stage production design, live debuts of new songs, and special guests galore.
Day One
Notable performances from the first day of Coachella included sets from LISA (who had White Lotus co-star Patrick Schwarzenegger in the crowd), Benson Boone (who brought out Brian May to perform "Bohemian Rhapsody"), Missy Elliott, FKA twigs, and GloRilla.
Lady Gaga was the headlining act, and brought her Mayhem era to the Indio crowd. She performed at the California festival for the first time since her 2017 debut at the event, when she famously replaced a then-pregnant Beyoncé as a headliner. Billed as “The Art of Personal Chaos,” Gaga’s set was broken into four “acts” - “Of Velvet and Vice,” “And She Fell Into a Gothic Dream,” “The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name,” and “To Wake Her Is to Lose Her”- plus a finale. She first appeared onstage at the top of a massive, multi-story gown, singing an a cappella rendition of Born This Way’s “Bloody Mary” before launching into the Mayhem single “Abracadabra” as dancers emerged from her skirt. Gaga picked up a guitar for “Garden of Eden,” and held a dance battle onstage to a Gesaffelstein remix of “Abracadabra.” Later in the evening, Gaga brought Gesaffelstein out to accompany her on “Killah,” then danced with a life-sized skeleton for “Zombieboy,” giving the latter its live debut.
The entire production featured numerous homages to past Gaga iconography, including her Alexander McQueen dress from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, and a recreation of her leg brace armor from the “Paparazzi” music video. Gaga’s setlist drew largely on her new album and her run of releases from The Fame through Born This Way, omitting any selections from Artpop, Joanne, or Chromatica. She closed out the night with Mayhem’s “Vanish Into You,” “Shallow,” from A Star Is Born, and “Bad Romance.”
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Day Two
Even though Coachella Day 2 was a bit overcast - allowing for a break from the intense heat of day one - Charli XCX’s talked-about set more than made up for the temperature drop. ‘Bratchella’ turned up the heat as Charli writhed and strutted onstage, all the while welcoming a revolving door of guests including Troye Sivan for “Talk Talk,” Lorde for “Girl, So Confusing” (during which Charli declared “Lorde Summer 2025”) and Billie Eilish for “Guess.”
Enhypen and Green Day ushered in the evening, and though the latter was billed as Saturday’s headlining act, the rockers were followed by The Original Misfits and a near-midnight set from Travis Scott. Scott in particular used his set to usher in a "new chapter" for his music. Saturday also featured a heavy rotation of dance acts, including Darkside, horsegiirL, Barry Can’t Swim and Above & Beyond all in succession of one another.
Other notable moments from Day Two of Coachella included T-Pain's fun happy hour set (“It took me 20 years to get to this stage,” T-Pain reflected to the sea of fans from Coachella’s main stage,) Japanese Breakfast covering the Gorillaz song "On Melancholy Hill," and Clairo having Vermont senator Bernie Sanders introduce her before she appeared onstage.
Day Three
Weekend one of Coachella 2025 wrapped up on Sunday night (April 13). The weekend send-off had a little bit of everything for music lovers.
Megan Thee Stallion rocked the stage, but had her set cut short a she appeared to go over on her set time. She brought out a few special guests to make the night memorable, including Queen Latifah, Victoria Monét and Ciara.
Jennie held her own as well with her solo Coachella debut. “It feels great to be back here in the desert,” the BLACKPINK star humbly told the crowd before surprising them with a Kali Uchis appearance. Besides Jennie, XG and Shaboozey also made their Coachella debuts Sunday.
Ty Dolla $ign performed on Sunday as well, and it doubled as the versatile artist’s 43rd birthday. His set was a powerful one, which revolved around a jail cell and prison yard while spotlighting his brother, Big T.C.’s case (he’s currently serving a life sentence).
Post Malone served as the headlining act, closing out the night. It was the second time Post had performed at the music festival, following his 2018 set. Post fittingly brought a reimagined Forumla 1 racetrack to the desert that extended all the way from the stage through the crowd. He also leaned into his love for pyro, with various trash bins spread across the stage that, of course, would catch fire throughout the performance.
After opening with Austin single “Texas Tea," he played an F-1 Trillion–themed set that left plenty of room for his earlier rap-forward material. Though he apologized twice for “pitchy” vocals (“Auto-Tune is a hell of a drug,” he joked mid-set), fans noticed no technical problems. Hours before taking the stage, Post Malone revealed to Billboard he’s got a new album on the way and he’s “made probably 35 songs; it’s just a matter of which one’s rock, and which one’s sock.”
Weekend Two of Coachella will take place April 18-20. You can visit the festival's official website here, and discover more information about tickets here.
If you're unable to attend the festival, have no fear: various livestreams from different stages are available to watch on YouTube.
See the full Coachella schedule for Weekends One and Two below.
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Article Image: Photos of Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, and Post Malone while performing. (m.iacobucci.tiscali.it, ChinaImages and surfphoto via DepositPhotos.)