From its musical legacy to being one of the biggest stages an artist could grace in their lifetime, there’s a reason Coachella is still one of the most iconic music festivals to exist. This year’s festivities proved just that, with Sabrina Carpenter’s splashy Hollywood-inspired glam-pop show, Karol G’s love letter to Latine cultures, and Justin Bieber’s intimate and soulful set. But on top of all that, there were a ton of shocking surprise guests who crashed different sets.
Just when we thought Sabrina’s set couldn’t get any bigger, she brought out Madonna for her first performance at the festival in 20 years. Or, perhaps, you may have seen forever It Girl Olivia Rodrigo crash Addison Rae’s set on the mainstage for the live debut of “drop dead” all over your social timelines. Oh, and, of course, we can’t forget Billie Eilish living out her lifelong dream of being JB’s “One Less Lonely Girl” in our good year 2026.
TL;DR: Coachella weekend 2 reigned supreme thanks to all its star-studded surprise guests. Relive the magic and scroll through them all here.
Friday, April 17
Madonna
Imagine Sabrina Carpenter introducing her “Juno” position, saying, “Have you ever tried this one?” and the one in question is literally Madonna. The queen of pop is gearing up to release Confessions on a Dancefloor II, so naturally, she returned to Coachella for the first time in 20 years to perform a song off the follow-up record, “Bring Your Love,” with Sabrina. They also sang “Vogue” and “Like a Prayer” for a major pop music link-up.
Terry Crews
The White Chicks comedian took on the role of Sabrina’s electrician and even paid homage to the film by singing “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton.
Geena Davis
For weekend 2, Geena played an older version of Sabrina, who was played by her Thelma and Louise co-star, Susan Sarandon, for weekend 1.
Saturday, April 18
Billy Idol
After Sombr performed with the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan last weekend, he was joined by Billy Idol for a duet of his hit “Eyes Without a Face” at the Outdoor Theatre on Saturday.
Olivia Rodrigo
O-Rod crashed Addison Rae’s set on the main stage for a duet of “Headphones On” and the first-ever live performance of her new single, “drop dead.” This was the moment of girlhood we truly needed.
Maddie Ziegler
Maddie reprised her performance of “Aquamarine” with Addison, and it was just as legendary the second time.
Zara Larsson
Pop princess Zara may not have hopped on stage for the “Stateside” remix with PinkPantheress, but she owned the stage with a performance of “Midnight Sun.”
Janelle Monáe
Janelle shredded her guitar for PinkPantheress’ set on Saturday.
Tyriq Withers
Of course, Tyriq reprised his role as Pink’s “Romeo” for weekend 2. One Tyriq spotting simply wasn’t enough!
Blood Orange
Blood Orange hit up PinkPantheress’ set for a quick DJ moment.
Ninajirachi, Slayyyter, Chase Infiniti, Manon Bannerman, and Carter Gregory
Though Manon missed out on performing with KATSEYE, she still made her way onto a Coachella stage thanks to PinkPantheress’ star-studded party.
Meg Stalter as Minnie Mouse
The lore here runs deep. Earlier this year, Minnie Mouse—yes, that Minnie Mouse—dropped a song called “My Furry Valentine,” which the internet claimed sounded eerily similar to PinkPantheress’ signature production style. Pink even weighed in on the joke, which brings us to literal icon Meg Stalter showing up and crashing her set as Minnie.
Billie Eilish
Belieb Believe me when I say Billie is all of us. She lived out her lifelong dream of being JB’s “One Less Lonely Girl,” which happened, in part, thanks to Hailey Bieber pushing her on stage. My heart is still soaring from this sweet moment.
Big Sean
Before we had “Everything Hallelujah,” we had “I don’t know if this makes sense, but you my hallelujah.” Sean joined Justin to perform their collabs “As Long As You Love Me” and “No Pressure.”
SZA
Justin’s “work wife,” SZA sang “Snooze” on the main stage, too.
Sexyy Red
Get it, Sexyy! The rapper linked up with JB to perform their SWAG collab, “Sweet Spot.”
Sunday, April 19
Hayley Kiyoko
The artist (known as “Lesbian Jesus” to fans) joined Gigi Perez for a duet of her hit, “Girls Like Girls” at the Outdoor Theatre and announced they have a new song dropping on April 22.
Rico Nasty
After Rico publicly shared that she was randomly blocked by FKA twigs on social media, she joined the artist on stage at the Mojave tent. She also joined Major Lazer for a performance during weekend 2.
Becky G
Becky G linked up with Karol G to perform their track “MAMIII” for the second weekend in a row.
Peso Pluma
After popping out during Junior H’s performance last year, Peso hit up the main stage during Karol’s set to perform their hit, “QLONA.”
J Balvin
Karol also brought out fellow Colombian powerhouse, J Balvin, for her headlining performance at the fest.
