For the second year in a row, Junior H and Peso Pluma stir the Coachella crowd
As the first música Mexicana act to grace the main stage all weekend, Junior H brought his sad boy energy to Coachella’s biggest stage. The “Y Lloro” singer had performed on the same stage last year, as a guest of one his closest friends, Peso Pluma. Now it was his turn to reciprocate.
During “Luna,” a slow burn off Pluma’s 2023 album “Génesis,” the corrido tumbado singers join forces to deliver the a heartfelt performance of the romantic ballad.
“It’s not really a favor because we are friends,” said Junior H moments before he took the stage from the comfort of his artist trailer. “But at the same time I feel good giving back that opportunity that he first gave to me.”
Dusk in the desert
Times photographer Allen J. Schaben has been capturing all the action at Coachella. See his full gallery of photos from the fest.
Festivalgoer Emma Liu poses for pictures under as the sun sets at Coachella.
The best place to cool off at Coachella
The hidden tiki bar inside Coachella’s 12 Peaks VIP area is a great place to cool off with a tropical cocktail.
It’s the final day of Coachella Weekend 1 and we’re all struggling to match the pace we set at the beginning of it. But it’s in the mid-90s without a cloud in the sky, and the now-brittle grass at the Empire Polo Club grounds seems to stretch on forever. Frequent breaks, icy drinks and constant shade are required for a day like this.
I found respite at the tiki bar that’s hidden toward the back of the 12 Peaks VIP area, next to the Menotti coffee stand.
Once you’re granted entry, you’ll find yourself under a cover of leaning palm trees, with a pond that laps up against a palapa with a bar serving tropical, fruity cocktails to a reggaeton-pop soundtrack that bounces between Sean Paul and Calvin Harris.
A breeze flows through the windows, and shaded benches border the pond-lake. It’s tempting to wait out the afternoon heat in this clandestine oasis, evidenced by the long line of impatient festival-goers waiting for more people to leave so they could finally make their way in. Visit early to beat the crowds.
Up close and personal with Soft Play in the Sonora tent
Seeking some respite from the heat and a pick-me-up on the energy front, I made my way to the air-conditioned Sonora tent, which is essentially a rock club within Coachella. It’s where you can catch most of the punk bands on the festival bill and it is one of the coolest spots, literally and figuratively.
I caught a beautifully chaotic punk set from British punk duo Soft Play. Both drummer Isaac Holman and guitarist Laurie Vincent hopped off the stage and into the crowd and seemed to be having so much fun that they lost track of time and had to revamp their set to fit Coachella’s schedule.
I appreciated that the band asked the guys to stay out of the mosh pit so women could have their own pit for the song “Girl Fight” — even if the song was only a few seconds long. Other set highlights included “Punk’s Dead” and “Everything and Nothing.”
Bright sunshine and bright smiles at Coachella
Food worth trying in Coachella’s general admission spaces
Shaboozey brings country music to Coachella
Dressed in a form-fitting Nudie-style suit in spite of the 100-degree heat, Shaboozey brought an hour of country music to Coachella on Sunday afternoon, two weeks before he’s booked for the festival’s country cousin, Stagecoach. (A sign on his stage set literally said “Coachella’s Country Hour.”) The singer-songwriter welcomed Noah Cyrus to the stage to do their song “My Fault,” and he sang “Blink Twice,” a new single from the deluxe edition of his Grammy-nominated 2024 LP. But this crowd was clearly waiting for “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey’s Hot 100-topping smash from last year, which inspired a hearty singalong from folks wearing cowboy hats and faux-vintage crop tops.
The hottest act playing Coachella on Sunday afternoon is Meute, literally
Meute performs at the Outdoor Theatre at Coachella.
Meute is already a spectacle live — they’re a German marching band playing techno music, but they also had to be among the hottest acts at Coachella on Sunday afternoon in part because the members wore their band uniforms, including long-sleeved red jackets.
They still got a sizable crowd to dancing under the punishing heat and sunshine.
However, if you find yourself seeking some shade and still catching Outdoor Theatre action for Weekend 2, the move is to watch from inside Indio Central Market, preferably with a sandwich from All’Antico Vinaio, which was delicious and one of the most affordable food options at the fest.
Coachella celebrates 20 years of the Do Lab’s water guns, surprise sets and continuous dance parties
Aqutie performs at Do Lab on Day 1 of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
If you were to go to the Do Lab 20 years ago, you would’ve been greeted with orange slices, water guns and the sounds of unsanctioned DJ sets under a small geometric dome.
“Our life was a lot more simple back then. We just wanted to make art and create things. We were living in the moment and wanted to have fun with our friends,” said Josh Flemming, who founded the stage alongside his two brothers Jesse and Dede. “That’s how we pitched it to Coachella.”
Interested in holding the balloon chain? You may be a ‘balloon-atic’
A man holds a string of balloons on the field at Coachella.
Flying high all throughout the festival, the balloon chain has been a staple in Coachella geography for the past 13 years. Moving around the grounds, different people take turns holding onto either end of the daunting string.
The artist behind the chain, Robert Bose first got the idea when attending Burning Man. He kept losing his wife, so he started tying balloons to her bike. When he saw their shadow, the idea came to him.
Moonshine Shorey is a self-described “balloon-tic.” He along with the other members of the balloon chain community travel to festivals around the world to share the flying chain.
“Balloons have an interesting effect on people. They often try to grab them and almost always engage with them. It has such a very visceral response,” said Shorey. “Everything you see here is on the ground but we take over the sky.”
When asked about how they choose the colors every day, Moonshine Shorey said, “I can’t give you all the secrets, girl.”
Very fair.
Finding cheap eats at Coachella
Finding affordable options at Coachella is no easy feat. This year, with inflation and a looming recession in mind, I kept an eye out for meals under $20.
I found less than I’d like, but didn’t come up entirely empty-handed. In the block of food vendors next to Sonora tent, I gravitated to Mano Po Filipino Kitchen, which I recognized from Smorgasburg L.A., held every Sunday at the Row in downtown. The Coachella pop-up offers the signature longanisa lumpia, with six fried rolls for $14 (a vegetarian option is also available). The lumpia are filling enough to make a decent sized meal or can be shared, depending on your appetite. The garlic butter shrimp is another worthy contender, crispy but not overly battered or heavy, served with rice flecked with crispy garlic and nori.
Just a few stalls down, Gerard’s Paella was ready with several large, shallow, wide pans for mixing up the Spanish dish with yellow rice, shrimp and chicken. It’s $20 but is big enough to share.
Next door to Gerard’s was College Boy Cheesesteaks, an altogether unassuming spot, but I’m always curious to try takes on Philadelphia’s prime culinary export. Here you can get your cheesesteak with thin-sliced Wagyu or halal chicken — I opted for the first, with sautéed mushrooms and pepperoncini. The bread was squishy and soft, with hot melted cheese and soft caramelized onions. Anticipating a full day of eating, I ordered my sandwich a la carte, a decision I regretted when I saw the thick-cut French fries come out generously seasoned with salt and pepper. The sandwich on its own is just $18, but my customizations bumped it up to $25 — the same amount as a combo with fries.
Coachella 2025 art: ‘Taffy’
Alexis Thompson of Orlando stands in front of the “Taffy” art installation at Coachella.
Between the outdoor and main stages, seven mesh-like cylinders divide the space. The installation ranges from 25 to 50 feet tall and is regarded as a piece of “mid century desert modernism.” Creating a forest-like feel, the artist Stephanie Lin included benches below the structure for attendees to enjoy.
“I feel like me and this piece were kind of coordinating today, that’s why I came to this spot. I wanted to take a picture with her,” said Bell Ghum, who was wearing the same shade of green as one of the cylinders. “She’s gorgeous. I’m gorgeous. We look good together. It’s perfect.”
Coachella 2025 art: ‘Take Flight’
A few feet from the fluffy flower bouquets, a 60-foot angular structure looks as if it’s about to take off. It comes from the London-based minds of Isabel + Helen. The sculpture is marked by dozens of windmills that catch each Coachella Valley breeze. Looking to 19th century flying machines and the spirit of adventure for inspiration, the artists channeled the festival’s free-spirited energy into the whimsical piece.
“When I take pictures in front [of the sculpture], I get stuck in a moment. It’s so euphoric. I feel so much happiness and joy,” said self-described Coachella veteran Michelle Alpo. “That’s why I decided to take [the picture]. The colors become a part of me.”
Coachella 2025 art: ‘Le Grand Bouquet’
People pose and seek shade at ‘Le Grand Bouquet.’
Inspired by the random patches of desert wildflowers, artist duo Uchronia constructed a garden of enormous, inflatable flowers on the festival grounds. Resembling cartoon bouquets, the brightly colored sculptures include petals made out of giant plush bean bags under each bunch. Over the course of the weekend, the flowers provided shelter from the sun, a place to relax and a lively photo background.
“It really pops in your face, but I love that it’s still subtle and also fluffy and comfy,” said fest-goer Lauren Greenwood, after wrapping an impromptu photo shoot. “It’s so great to see a little bit of color in the desert like this.”
Staying cool at Coachella
Coachella and heat go hand in hand. A reader named Josh from California wrote in asking for tips on staying cool during the day.
The obvious play is to check out sets in the two tents with air conditioning: Sonora and Yuma.
The Do Lab is famous for its water cannons, and its design allows for more shade.
The Red Bull Mirage near the Quasar stage has slushies, shade and misters, but the part of the structure that’s open to the general public is outdoors.
If you’re walking between the Main Stage and Mojave or Sahara or Do Lab or Quasar, I recommend crossing in front of Spectra (the big rainbow tower) to get hit with those misters. It saved me on Saturday when I went from Weezer to Jimmy Eat World.
This was the hottest Coachella weekend I’ve braved in a while, and while I’m not a fan of adding more stuff to my bag to bring in to the fest, I think the answer might be bringing in a fan.
After Friday’s triple-digit heat tried to take me down, I splurged on JisuLife’s Handheld Fan Life 7 model for $23.99 (before tax) at the Coachella general store. It has five speeds and is rechargeable. There were also much fancier models with higher price tags that allow you to charge your phone. This one worked very well for me in the peak heat of the day, but I used about 50% of the charge just from Weezer and Jimmy Eat World’s sets over about two hours at its highest setting.
My colleague David Viramontes brought a mister fan from home to the fest, but found himself reaching for the Lady Gaga-branded plastic and fabric hand fan to cool himself off. It sells for $35 (before taxes) at the Lady Gaga merch tent.
I also recommend pouring cold water on a bandanna and putting it on your head or around your neck. I also put a cold bottle of water against the inside of my wrists whenever I buy a new one.
Just watch out for the lemonade stands around the festival. They are so inviting and refreshing but I just kept tapping my card before I realized each cup was $15.50 before taxes.
Coachella 2025: Photos of our favorite festival fashion
While Friday night headliner Lady Gaga is likely the biggest fashionista at the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, there’s no shortage of interesting fan fashion around the still-lush fields of the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
Here’s a look at some of the most fashionable festivalgoers we spotted at Coachella this weekend.
Photos: Scenes from the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Photographer Allen J. Schaben captured the sights of the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs at the Coachella main stage.
Chef Diego Argoti brings weird and wonderful Estrano to Outstanding in the Field
Diego Argoti was just 15 when he attended Coachella for the first time. His mother drove him down and, unable to find a ticket, stayed at the hotel while Argoti went on his own the first day. The next day, they went together and saw Rage Against the Machine.
Now, all these years later, Argoti and his mother (along with a trusted kitchen team that includes Carlos Jaquez of Birria Pa La Cruda) have returned to the Empire Polo Club, not as festival-goers but to helm the Saturday night dinner with Outstanding in the Field. The long, curved table seats 200, but Argoti said the size didn’t intimidate him. After all, he’s fed hundreds in Highland Park alleyways with his Estrano pop-up.
“I wanted to do a sort of steakhouse vision of Estrano, with strange large-format platings, things like that,” Argoti said. “I want to use it as an opportunity to do something that they wouldn’t expect. They don’t have an option of salmon or short rib. They have to adapt and in turn, my job is to make sure it tastes really, really good.”
The former executive chef of Poltergeist, an Echo Park arcade bar that closed last December, says he uses pop-up menus as a way to experiment with new culinary personas. Though diners try to associate him with a specific cuisine or style, Argoti resists those designations.
That’s not to say that some of the metal-goth themes he’s known for don’t make their way into the four-course meal. Next to the bar in an open kitchen, diners can see a preview of the third course: cow tongues blackened by smoke and hanging from hooks.
“Like ‘House of 1000 Corpses,’” Argoti explained.
The intention at Outstanding in the Field, which brings a different chef to the VIP Rose Garden each night of the two-week festival, is to showcase the abundance of California producers, with callbacks to his previous menu at Poltergeist. That means a seeded loaf sourced from L.A’.s Clark Street bakery with Fresno chile butter, and battered frog legs piled on dressed endive and frisée, Weiser Family Farm potatoes and crispy chicken gizzards, with Sichuan pepper buffalo sauce drizzled on top and funky blue cheese labneh served on the side.
“Eat your way up,” the server advises, as she drops off a platter of duck leg confit mounded on pickled blueberry and cucumber salad, alongside a bowl of plum-hued hibiscus toum. The idea is to scoop every element of the dish into a single bite with spongy, green garlic lahoh bread.
Wine pairings complement each course, including a German Riesling and sparkling Grenache. Dessert concludes with a chewy, not-too-sweet pandan butter mochi cake with rum raisin boba. A dusting of lime leaf sour patch makes the dish glow neon green.
The family-style dinner is one of the best ways to casually mingle at Coachella. True, you could find camaraderie at your favorite artist’s set, but the sit-down occasion that begins at sundown and stretches on until after dark invites you to get acquainted with your neighbors — in my case, two young women from Berlin who were attending Coachella for the first time and could easily pass for Charli XCX’s background dancers. They politely excused themselves before the final course to make the British pop star’s set, filling up their water bottles from a pitcher while apologizing profusely.
“See you out there,” one called over her shoulder to me, not realizing how unlikely a second encounter would be.
Tara Monsod, executive chef of San Diego’s Le Coq and Animae restaurants, will helm Sunday dinner at Outstanding in the Field.
Coachella and Stagecoach sound guy Dave Rat reveals the secrets to keeping the music crystal clear
Dave Rat, sound consultant and founder of Rat Sound Systems that provides sound for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, at the Sahara stage on April 14.
As Coachella 2025 is underway, here’s a festival flashback in the form of a 2024 story about Dave Rat, the man behind the sound at the festival.
On a hill overlooking the early evening landscape of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Dave Rat is listening closely.
Rat is the festival’s longtime sound engineer and system designer, whose company Rat Sound has been with the festival since its beginnings, virtually without interruption. And in front of him is the new, nearly 100-foot-tall Sahara “tent,” the expanded metal structure that hosts some of the festival’s most acclaimed dance music acts.
What are the benefits of going to both weekends of Coachella?
Edward from Rancho Mirage wrote in with a question about Both-Chella. I have been to the festival several times and I am considering doing both weekends this year due to the fact that there are always acts that I can’t see because of conflicts or I had no reference for them but the reviews from Week 1 were awesome. Can any of you, as a fan, suggest or encourage this strategy?
I covered the back-to-back Coachella weekends (plus Stagecoach) from 2012-22, obviously skipping the pandemic cancellation years. As a music fan it is absolutely a much less stressful experience because of exactly what Edward said — you don’t have to worry about conflicts. The pressure is off!
You also bring up the big reason I loved the double weekends: If there was an act that everyone was talking about Weekend 1 that I missed, I would make sure to see them on Weekend 2.
In 2024, I only attended Weekend 1 and was determined to see L’Imperatrice because they’re from France and I love them and they don’t often tour the U.S. Unfortunately it meant I missed Chappell Roan. I had to settle for Chappell on the livestream from Weekend 2 and my living room just isn’t the Pink Pony Club. I don’t regret my choices, but I definitely had major Chappell FOMO.
I also feel like you get a better sense of what food is worth spending the money on for Weekend 2 as well.
So if you’re able to swing it financially and you love the lineup, I am very pro the two-weekend strategy. I will warn you that you definitely need to pace yourself more and since the grounds get trampled on Weekend 1, a mask/face covering is even more important for Weekend 2.
Coachella livestream: How to watch Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Jennie and more
Post Malone will headline Day 3 of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
Coachella’s first weekend may be coming to an end, but Weekend 2 is right around the corner.
As always, Coachella’s YouTube livestream will beam performances from all the stages at the fest onto screens around the world. Some noteworthy artists on Day 3 include Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Shaboozey, Jennie, Zedd and Tiësto.
