What is Coachella?
It is abundantly clear in the year of our Lord 2025, Coachella is less a capital F festival and more a maximalist carnival. It's hard to argue against the value of the experience - you pay for drama - but also less likely that the actual acts are the reason anyone goes.
To whit - you can now buy VIP experience and hotel bundles for 2026 - with nary an act announced. I mean you can guess - they will try (and likely fail) to recruit a major band in hiatus (Radiohead?) and then there's probably a universe of 40 bands that could be considered headline-worthy? And they will probably pick one pop, one rock and one hip-hop to try to appeal to the largest contingent possible - regardless of whether anyone wants to see more than one-third of them.
Coachella does not exists on a plane of "good" and "bad," but rather an answer to a question: was there enough drama and stories to make it a worthwhile endeavor?
Judging from the post-festival coverage, the answer, as always, is yes.
Nikita Mahato
Thania Garcia
Jack Dunn
In a world now dominated by festivals, Coachella still manages to outdo the rest. Thematic musical cohesion is not what you want or expect when you decide to attend Coachella. You want little treats and Easter Eggs like it was your favorite Apple+ show.
It's not enough to go and enjoy the music. You must witness carnage and go nuts when a guest appears out of nowhere, regardless of that same trick had been pulled multiple times before. Other festivals likely watch with envy as Coachella succeeds even if it never sticks the landing or produces an actual bill that makes sense.
But that's the first-mover advantage for you. Coachella put itself on the map, and no one knows how to surpass it. Festivals come and go, but Coachella remains.