Coachella kicked off over the weekend in Indio, Calif., with some of the biggest acts in music hitting the stage in the desert. Despite a lackluster lead up to the festival—as evidenced by lower ticket sales, taking a whole month for the tickets to sell out, and a 14-17% dip in sales this year, —this year’s sets have so far drummed up lots of enthusiasm ahead of Coachella Weekend Two. The headliners and performers have brought out a range of surprise guests, building anticipation over who might come out next weekend.
Lana Del Rey took the stage on Friday and brought Billie Eilish out to perform two songs together. Tyler, the Creator invited four people to join him on stage on Saturday, including Childish Gambino and A$AP Rocky. closed out the weekend on Sunday, where she, too, had A$AP Rocky and 21 Savage come out. But the headliners weren’t the only ones who brought out guests. Reneé Rapp, No Doubt, and J Balvin all brought out guests to surprise their fans.
Here are all the surprise guests who showed up at Coachella this year.
Billie Eilish, Jack Antonoff, and Jon Batiste join Lana Del Rey
The sultry balladeer arrived to her set standing on the back of a motorcycle. Jack Antonoff played piano while a hologram of Del Rey performed “Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have—But I Have It.” Jon Batiste joined her on stage to play the piano for her while she sang “Candy Necklace.”
billie eilish and lana del rey performing together is what I wanted to see today. — Ramen (@CoconutShawarma)
Billie Eilish, who has previously called Del Rey an inspiration and idol, made a surprise appearance at the end of the set. In a full circle moment, after the pair for Interview Magazine last year, Eilish and Del Rey performed duets of each other’s debut singles, Del Rey’s “Video Games” and Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes.” The two singers showered each other with praise. Del Rey called Eilish “the voice of our generation, the voice of your generation” and Eilish said Del Rey is “the reason for half of you b-tches existence, including mine.”
Tyler, the Creator brings out Childish Gambino, A$AP Rocky, Charlie Wilson, and Kali Uchis
Tyler, the Creator’s electrifying set began with him getting catapulted out of a fake RV and bouncing around a lush Grand Canyon-esque backdrop. He performed songs from all his albums, including his breakout hits “Yonkers” and “She” featuring Frank Ocean (sans Ocean, whose set last year divided fans. Tyler first surprised the audience with an appearance from Childish Gambino, who sang “Running Out of Time” with him. When Gambino walked off the stage, Tyler said he used to “hate” him. Then, he brought out A$AP Rocky to perform two songs, their 2018 duet, “Potato Salad” and the Flower Boy cut, “Who Dat Boy.”
Charlie Wilson, the former lead vocalist for the Gap Band, joined Tyler onstage at a piano to sing a stripped-down version of “Earfquake,” which features background vocals from Wilson. The last guest to take the stage with Tyler was Kali Uchis, with whom he’s collaborated on multiple songs. She came out to do a bit of their song, “See You Again,” toward the end of his set. Tyler never lets the opportunity for theatrics go to waste—he performed“New Magic Wand” while strapped to a harness and defied gravity, scaling rocks and trying not to get “blown away” by the monstrous winds.
Doja Cat invited A$AP Rocky, Teezo Touchdown, and 21 Savage to her set
They need more collabs in the future 🔥🙌🏻
Doja Cat’s set—choreographed by Parris Goebel, the mastermind behind two Super Bowl performances, Rihanna in the 2023 set and Jennifer Lopez and Shakira in 2020—did not disappoint. Doja’s exhilarating performance is amongst the best-reviewed of Weekend One, thanks in part to her not being afraid to get a bit weird. She heavily leaned on her latest album, Scarlet, for the setlist—performing songs like “Demons,” “Gun,” and “Attention,”—as well as fan favorites like “Need To Know,” “Tia Tamaera,” and “Agora Hills.” There were also exciting surprise guests, including 21 Savage, who performed “n.h.i.e” with her; A$AP Rocky joined her to do “URRRGE!!!!!!!!!” and rising star Teezo Touchdown made an appearance to do “MASC.”
No Doubt duetted with Olivia Rodrigo
reunited at for their first performance in nearly 10 years, and @Olivia Rodrigo got to join them for one of her favorite songs, “Bathwater” 🎸