Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival //
Empire Polo Club – Indio, CA
April 10th-12th & April 17th-19th, 2026 //
Those of us in Southern California and beyond who follow live music know that the start of April means Coachella is right around the corner, and this year’s edition is certainly a big one.
Goldenvoice’s signature event, after all, will be celebrating 25 years in just a few more days, but unlike last year when set times for both weekends were revealed simultaneously, it has gone back to sharing the schedule for Weekend 1 separately beforxe Weekend 2.
What hasn’t and seemingly won’t change is the festival’s tradition of including surprise guests in its set times that started back in 2022 with Arcade Fire (Weekend 1) signing on to help end a two-year layoff in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has continued each year with blink-182 (Weekend 1 and 2) and Four Tet x Fred again.. x Skrillex (Weekend 2) in 2023, Vampire Weekend (Weekend 1) and Kid Cudi (Weekend 2) in 2024, and Weezer (Weekend 1) and Ed Sheeran (Weekend 2) in 2025.
It’s no secret that Coachella has always been an incubator for special guest appearances whether they are listed on the set times or not. Justin Bieber, for one, will be a scheduled performer for the first time as Day 2’s headlining act, but the pop star has previously made several cameos onstage in the desert for other artists.
Kicking things off much earlier on Saturday, nevertheless, will be newly inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Jack White. The 12-time Grammy winner is heading out to Indio fresh off his recent SNL performance last week when he unexpectedly uncorked a double-sided single consisting of “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” as well as “Derecho Demonico”, the latter of which we recall hearing at the Hollywood Palladium during his “No Name Tour” last spring (read our review of the shows here). White headlined in 2015 at the Empire Polo Club — a performance we actually witnessed in person that remains one of our favorites at Coachella — so make sure you don’t miss the Detroit native inside the Mojave Tent at 3 p.m. if you happen to be going Weekend 1.
We also know now which day electronic musician Anyma will perform on the main stage. After playing the Sahara Tent in 2024 and showcasing “The End of Genesys” residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas more than a year ago, the Italian DJ will follow Friday headliner Sabrina Carpenter with what looks like will be an hour-long dance party beginning at midnight and the visuals alone will be mesmerizing if they are anything like this. Sunday’s main attraction, meanwhile, appears to have the longest set with Karol G slated to begin more than two hours before curfew (assuming the Colombian singer-songwriter is on time, of course).
Speaking of scheduling, we should mention that Nine Inch Noize have been moved to Saturday in the Sahara Tent after originally being included on Friday’s roster when the lineup was first issued and the new collaborative project between Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize will be dropping its self-titled debut release ahead of the fest’s second weekend. Boys Noize, in particular, might have the busiest day of anyone on the bill considering that the German electronic producer has his own set in the Yuma Tent only an hour later.
Are you paying a visit to the polo fields this month? For those who are, we would love to know: what’s your biggest conflict and which act are you most excited to see? Don’t forget to drink lots of water and apply plenty of sunscreen, too!
WEEKEND 1 SET TIMES
UPDATE (April 11th): More than 15 minutes after Anyma’s closing set on the main stage was supposed to start at midnight, Coachella has announced that he is unable to perform due to strong wind conditions affecting his stage build. It’s a disappointing way to wrap up Day 1 for Goldenvoice CEO Paul Tollett and his team despite a myriad of highlights on Friday from The xx and Moby to Disclosure and Blood Orange (in the round). Hopefully those of you who are going Weekend 2 will have better luck catching the world premiere of his new “ÆDEN” live show. Fingers crossed!
WEEKEND 2 SET TIMES
As you can see from Saturday’s schedule above, there will be a different surprise guest for Weekend 2. Instead of White returning to lay down some more sick guitar riffs on Day 2, it will be alt-country singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves warming up the Mojave Tent at 3 p.m. with the eight-time Grammy winner getting ready to put out her seventh LP Middle of Nowhere in less than two weeks.
MAP
Now that you have had less than 48 hours to map out your schedule for the weekend, Coachella has unloaded the actual map for 2026 and this is the first time we can remember when there weren’t any major modifications from the year prior.
Worth noting here, though, is the premiere of The Bunker — a 17,000-square-foot, air-conditioned and subterranean art installation featuring Radiohead’s “KID A MNESIA: Motion Picture House” to mark the legendary UK band’s multi-format reissue of its twin albums Kid A and Amnesiac — that will be located near the Sahara Tent and offer a unique experience for any fan of the Thom Yorke-led group.
The waitlist for Weekend 1 and Weekend 2 tickets has closed at this point, but for those who can no longer make it, you can list your passes for resale here. And if you are more of a “Couchella” person, don’t forget to check out the YouTube livestream when the festivities commence this Friday.
WEEKEND 1 LIVESTREAM
WEEKEND 2 LIVESTREAM
Happy Coachella!
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So often sequels don’t deliver, but ascending hip-hop stars Killer Mike and El-P have simply progressed their brilliance as Run The Jewels one year removed from their first official collaboration. From the top of RTJ2, Michael Render manages to set a higher bar for pumped-up aggression, there’s more social activism laced throughout, more special guests that only add to the fuck boy-crushing populist mentality. And compared to RTJ1, there are more stand-alone gems that are primed for remixing and cultural integration. The sequencing is superb, and El and Mike are having more fun than ever as they tour the world and snowball momentum with their brand of hardcore, yet intricate rap that contains shades of weird. Like a championship baseball team, the songs in the two hole through cleanup hitter offer the biggest impact, wreaking instant classics upon us with masterful experimental production from El-P that emits new, subtle surprises the more you listen. As the album unfolds, tales of police brutality (“Early”), introspection and personal improvement (“Crown”), along with over the top raunch (“Love Again”) prove RTJ2 shines in every moment in a variety of ways through multiple lanes of success. -Mike Frash
When a truly inspired artist borrows from the past while looking to the future, the outcome can be something fully new and exciting, which is what we have here. The brilliance of Adam Granduciel lies in his delivery, both musically and lyrically, crooning about the sometimes-not-so-simple intricacies of existence. Life, love and everything else in between can be tricky, yet Granduciel calmly assures us that things can work out.
There’s an intentional off-kilter spontaneity and cohesive force at the center of D’Angelo’s first album in 15 years, Black Messiah. The percussive and vocal syncopation here makes the off-beat feel natural — layered vocals get treated with filters and are multi-tracked to lend an unfamiliar presence to the back-and-forth vocal pitch shifts D’Angelo employs from line to line.
Singles jumps right out of the gates, showing its cards early, presenting the listener with Future Island’s trademark new-school, new-wave sound. Samuel Herring’s vocals are stunning as he pitches and growls through tales of the tougher side of love. It’s pretty, gripping and powerful while also holding certain pop sentiments, lending to an overall lightness while being arresting. “Seasons (Waiting On You)” is a quintessential slice of the emotion this band has become well known for both onstage and in the studio. “Doves” balances all the elements nicely, shining a light on the top-notch production featured on Singles. -KQ
Richard D. James has been practically an enigma for the last decade plus, hiding out in a small Scottish village of 300 and releasing no new music as Aphex Twin since 2006. But the long layoff hasn’t changed the fact that he remains one of the most unique and influential electronic producers in the game today. Some of James’ best material on Syro comes early on, from his club-oriented mixes like “minipops 67 [120.2]” to the techno funk he crafts on the ensuing “XMAS_EVET10 [120]” and “produk 29 [101].” These aren’t beats designed to make you sweat your ass off — if anything, the cerebral nature of James’ work makes him the ultimate antithesis of the current EDM scene. -Josh Herwitt 
On Flying Lotus’s latest record You’re Dead!, the Los Angeles producer forgoes the acid kool-aide test for a cyanide kool-aide dive straight into a fourth dimensional confrontation with the afterlife. You’re Dead masterfully trips through the journey of the soul into the next episode with sun-scorched psychedelia, 8-bit snapshots of g-funk and gorgeously redemptive jazz. The cold transition between the frantic jazz freak out of Kendrick Lamar featuring “Never Catch Me” and the cooled-out West Coast bounce of Snoop Dogg and FlyLo alter-ego Captain Murphy’s “Dead Man’s Tetris” highlights the producer’s prolific ability to craft varying hip-hop textures. FlyLo fully buries his new album’s death aesthetic through ecstatic, free-form layers of acid jazz and sprawling EDM planes of sound. -John Venanzi, Community Review
Annie Clark ups the electronic ante on her fourth studio album. Branching out of her experimental indie-pop compositions, she embraces more cohesive arrangements that ironically focus her creativity on deconstructed production and sound obstruction. Both equally impressive in sound quality and sass, the opening tracks “Rattlesnake” and “Birth in Reverse” set the tone for the rest of the records’ exciting stylistic shifts and the intriguing unveiling of Clark’s gritty rock goddess persona. “Digital Witness” is a spot-on snapshot of our brave new 21st century day-to-day reality. Unapologetic, raw and sonically genius, St. Vincent is Clark’s breakthrough moment, and she appears to be doing it all with ease. -Molly Kish
Mac DeMarco’s signature style is here. It’s still fresh and in ways stronger than ever; it’s more pointed, focused and accessible. DeMarco is able to write in a way that allows the listener to easily empathize with him, as he turns his issues into ones that most of us have dealt with at some point. In “Chamber of Reflection”, it’s easy to really feel a sense of solitude. “Goodbye Weekend” sounds like a stoney Sunday afternoon coming to a soothing end. Every track has a personality of its own while holding up the overall ethos of the album. This album is lighthearted enough for multiples listens in a row with its breezy beach vibe, but also easily induces deep thoughts with its many lyrical gems. -Steve Wandrey
What we have here is one of the most addictive albums of 2014. Our Love keeps deep house in its front pocket with steady beats per minute and an introspective mantra-centric lyrical conceit, but it’s also exploratory in nature, finding success in consistently building toward intense, euphoric plateaus. A steady flow of pleasant sounds ascend into impacting transcendence with “Can’t Do Without You”, “Silver” and “Your Love Will Set You Free”, and you must give Snaith extra credit for the masterful pacing and song-to-song flow — there is never a “skip ahead” moment. Like many classic albums, it opens up if you give it more time to radiate around your head, and listening to it becomes more pleasurable over time, even though it is mostly presented in poetic simplicity. -MF
Benji must be interpreted as a concept album about death, but more importantly, it’s about the importance details related to memory. For example, the title is taken from what seems like a throw-away line toward the end of the breathtaking “Micheline”. It’s powerful, visceral storytelling that is self-reflexive and biographical, yet so relatable that it compels personal introspection from the listener’s own experiences. Mark Kozelek’s lyrics are the centerpiece of the listening experience — they are so deep and resonant that the instrumentals and production are absorbed secondarily, although the stripped-down approach is intentional and noteworthy. Built around obsessing about the state of human demise — and the randomness of it — it’s easy to join Kozelek’s dire state of mind hours or days after listening. -MF
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Top Tracks: “All the Rage Back Home”
