2024 still has some life left in it, but already, entertainment executives are getting the public excited about what’s around the corner in the new year. After losing some of its buzz in the last decade, the annual Coachella music festival seems ready to make some changes as it prepares to take over the desert in Indio, California this coming spring. The inaugural event was Oct. 9-10, 1999 with Beck Tool and Rage Against the Machine headlining. Nowadays, BBC reports an average attendance of nearly 650,000 people across two weekends in April.
While the experience certainly isn’t cheap, it’s worth it if you’re a fan of enough names on the lineup. In 2024, Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat headlined Coachella, with additional performances from the likes of Lil Uzi Vert, Ice Spice, Jhené Aiko, Jon Batiste and Lil Yachty, just to name a few. So, what can you expect from America’s largest festival in 2025? Read on to find out!
Who’s Headlining Coachella 2025?
The first evening of Coachella 2025 will end with a bang as pop icon Lady Gaga takes over the stage both Fridays, likely performing hits from as far back as her debut LP, The Fame. For rock fans, Green Day has nabbed the headlining spot on Saturday night, meanwhile crowd favorite Post Malone will wind things down both Sundays. Initially, it seemed like no Black artists were headliners, raising questions from potential attendees, but a small detail at the bottom of the poster suggests it’s time for La Flame – better known as Travis Scott – to bring the rage to the desert, which he’s in charge of designing this year.
Travis Scott Is Already Promoting His Mysterious Festival Performance
It was unclear whether Scott plans to perform at Coachella 2025, but according to TMZ, the father of two is co-headlining the event. He’s reportedly set to share songs (both old and new) on Apr. 12 and 19, the same nights as Green Day’s concerts. While promoting the show on Instagram this week, the multi-talent’s enthusiasm was obvious. “NEW CHAPTER. NEW PERFORMANCE. NEW COACHELLA BY LA FLAME AND CACTUS JACK. FIRST OF ITS KIND. PS Y’ALL GOT TILL APRIL CAUSE I’M COMING,” he wrote in what sounds like a warning to his competitors.
For the last year and a half, Scott’s kept busy promoting his Utopia LP on the Circus Maximus tour. The project faced significant delays in light of the tragedy that took place at his Astroworld Festival in 2021; at the time, a severe crowd crush claimed the lives of ten attendees while injuring hundreds of others. It took time for Scott to redeem his image, but seeing as he performed at ComplexCon (rebranded as CactusCon) earlier this month, it’s obvious many have put their reservations behind them. Ahead of Coachella, the Houston native will start rolling out new music as early as January, when he’s set to provide the theme song for the WWE’s Monday Night Raw on Netflix.
Megan Thee Stallion Is No Stranger to Coachella
Elsewhere on the lineup is another familiar face, Megan Thee Stallion, who made her Coachella debut in 2022. At the time, she performed her unreleased diss track, “Plan B,” to the crowd’s approval. In the years since, the resident Hot Girl Coach has gone through significant growth in her personal and professional life, from ending her long-term relationship with Pardison Fontaine to finally getting justice against Tory Lanez. The latter was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan in the foot after their tumultuous trial in the summer of 2023.
As she prepares to perform near the end of the night on Sunday both weekends, some fans are hoping for a stronger performance from Thee Stallion than she last gave. On Reddit at the time, users criticized the rap diva for taking a five-minute costume change break, during which her DJ struggled to keep a crowd of 70K excited by playing Meg’s songs in her absence.
Other Black Artists Performing This Year
The Coachella 2025 lineup showcases artists across various genres – many of them Black icons. On Friday evening both weekends you can catch the likes of Missy Elliott, FKA twigs, Mustard, GloRilla, Tyla, d4vd, Three 6 Mafia, SAINt JHN, 4batz, Tink, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 and Ravyn Lenae. Saturday is slightly less diverse, though Shoreline Mafia and T-Pain’s sets are sure to draw large crowds. Finally, attendees can catch Rema, Shaboozey, Ty Dolla $ign, Muni Long, Amaarae and BigXthaPlug on the final day of the festival.