Justin Bieber returned to the festival stage Saturday night at Coachella with a billed set that mixed live music, a MacBook onstage and his own videos on the big screen behind him. The performance quickly became one of Weekend 1’s most talked-about moments, and not only for the music.
Bieber let YouTube commenters vote on his setlist in real time and was joined by Kid Laroi, Wizkid and Tems during the show. Critics called the set lazy, a snoozefest and the worst in festival history, while Katy Perry joked, “Thank god he has YouTube Premium, I don't wanna see no ads.”
The backlash landed hard because Saturday was the first time the Swag II singer performed as a billed Coachella act, and he reportedly earned $10 million for it, the highest-paid performance in the festival’s history. Bieber had been away from the festival stage for years because of illness, which made the booking feel like a comeback as much as a booking.
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That contrast defined the night: a star returning to one of music’s biggest stages, but doing it in a way that looked more like a private stream than a festival set. Bieber closed by saying, “Tonight's been beautiful,guys. It's been a dream of mine to perform here,” but the reaction around him suggested many in the crowd and online had expected a different kind of night.
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Coachella now moves on from Bieber’s Saturday spectacle to the rest of Weekend 1, after Sabrina Carpenter delivered her headlining debut on Friday with 20 songs and Karol G made history Sunday night as the first Latina artist to headline the festival, closing out Weekend 1 at 9:55 p.m. PT. DJ Anyma also canceled his midnight set because of dangerous winds, a reminder that the weekend’s biggest stories were not all onstage.
