The dawn of spring brings with it Coachella, arguably the most globally talked about festival on the calendar. Music lovers and culture hounds enjoy waxing lyrical about the lineup, and how it compares to the early years of the event. Older musos seem to love mocking the contemporary Coachella crowd, taking shots at the “Coachella outfit” culture, selfies and all.
But the truth is that, right up to and including 2026, Coachella always offers a ton of treats and hidden delights. This year’s headliners are the pop-centric Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G. High up on the bills each day are Nine Inch Noize (a Nine Inch Nails/Boys Noize collab), Teddy Swims, Dijon, Sexyy Red, The Strokes, Addison Rae, David Byrne, recent MC cover star PinkPantheress, Young Thug, Iggy Pop, and Little Simz, among many others.
But dig deeper, explore beyond the top three lines of the poster, and there are diamonds to be found. MC spoke to some of our favorite artists gracing this year’s mega-fest.
For more festival info, visit coachella.com.
COBRAH
Have you attended Coachella before? If not, what do you know about the festival?
I’ve never been there before and I really only know that it’s legendary so I’m super excited.
Are you planning on catching anyone else’s performance?
I wanna see my fellow Swedish sister Lykke Li, and Slayyyter is a must!
Will you be exploring the site (the art, the food...)?
I wanna see and especially eat it all I love festival food so much I wanna try all of it especially the sweets and desserts.
What are your plans for your own set?
I’m bringing dancers on this tour and working on some beautiful set design. I’m definitely planning on making a show with a lot of dynamic and it will be very, very, very sexy.
Anything you’re looking forward to after Coachella?
I’m really looking forward to continuing my touring, I’m really longing to meet my fans and play my music, it’s so exciting to bring the album to life.
More at cobrahcore.com
BIA
Have you performed at, or attended, Coachella before? Any memories?
My first time performing at Coachella was with Kali Uchis years ago in 2018 and most recently last year with Shoreline Mafia. That was a lot of fun.
You’re performing on day two. Are you planning on catching anyone else’s performance? Hanging out?
I love festivals, so I’ll probably be mobbing around with my team catching a few sets each day.
Will you be exploring the site (the art, the food...)?
I 100 percent will be exploring the site. I also love the art installations they have at Coachella every year and the different food vendors.
What are your plans for your own set?
I’m really excited for my set! This will be my first time performing a lot of my new music from my debut album BIANCA so I’m very happy about. I’m also working on a fun nail installation, but I can’t tell too much! Expect to see things like that and just come to have fun.
After Coachella, what do you have planned for the rest of 2026?
I am working on new music of course and there are tour dates coming up. I want to show people a more personal side of me this year so stay tuned!
More at officialbia.com
Black Flag
Greg Ginn
Is this Black Flag’s Coachella debut? Have you ever been before?
I’ve been there, but it's the first time for Black Flag.
Iggy and Suicidal Tendencies are both performing the same day as you—lots of classic punk that day. Will you be catching up with Iggy Pop, Mike Muir...?
Should be a good day. We’re looking forward to it. Hopefully get to see some bands!
The current lineup of Black Flag is quite youthful—are your new bandmates fired up about Coachella?
We are all excited!
What do you have planned for the set?
We haven’t made our set list yet.
And the rest of 2026?
We are doing a Canadian tour, then Hong Kong and Australia. Planning a fall U.S. tour.
More at blackflagband.com
SLAYYYTER
Have you attended Coachella before? Any memories?
Only once for a day. I was a special guest at a DJ set, but stayed the one night and got way too drunk. So the memory is no memory, I guess.
You’re performing on day one. Are you planning on catching anyone else’s performance?
Absolutely.
Will you be exploring the site (the art, the food...)?
I haven’t been to a festival in a really long time, so I definitely want to explore and hang with friends. I need to show my mom a good time too.
Can you share any plans for your own set?
I have redone my live show quite a bit, so it will feel completely new.
After Coachella, what do you have planned for the rest of 2026?
Play more shows, make more music, make more clothes, and enjoy myself.
More at slayyyter.com
Joyce Manor
Matt Ebert
Have you attended Coachella before? Any memories?
We played Coachella once before, back in 2015. I remember being in line behind Ian MacKaye in the festival catering tent and he seemed so locked in making his lunch selections, as if it was blowing his mind as much as it was mine. It made me appreciate the egalitarian nature of festival catering—watching your musical heroes scoop curry onto their plates.
You’re performing on day one. Are you planning on catching anyone else’s performance? Hanging out?
I’m going to drink a couple margaritas and hopefully catch local heroes The Bob Baker Marionettes.
Will you be exploring the site (the art, the food...)?
For somebody who grew up in Southern California I’m pretty sun-averse and usually pretty over being outside in the heat after about 20 minutes, but you’ll absolutely catch me in that catering tent I was talking about. But yeah, I’ll definitely buy a $23 White Claw and do a lap at some point.
What are your plans for your own set?
Our new record, I Used To Go To This Bar, just came out a month ago so I’m excited to debut some of these new songs in SoCal for the first time.
After Coachella, what do you have planned for the rest of 2026?
We’ll be on the road all year!
More at joyce-manor.com
Suicidal Tendencies
Mike Muir
Have you ever been to Coachella, even as a fan?
Never. For a band like us, this doesn’t happen so we’re very excited about it.
What sort of reaction are you anticipating? People underestimate the Coachella crowd a little bit…
I think it’ll be great. We’ve always found, with European festivals, there’s so many people that have never seen the band, but they’ve seen the hats, they’ve seen the Suicidal shirts, or someone will be talking to them, and they’ll be like, ‘I don’t really know them.’ Like, ‘Oh, dude, they’re on that Grand Theft Auto.’ And so there’s a lot of people that come and see it, and that’s the first time they actually see us. And the number one response is, ‘that’s not what I expected.’ So we love situations like that.
You happen to be on a day with Iggy Pop and Greg Ginn’s new version of Black Flag. Are you planning on hanging out with anyone?
With my family. You know, I never really hung out in Hollywood. Never hung out with other people. I was always with my people, my family, and it’s kind of the same thing now. We go there, and the numbers intimidate me. 125,000 people. It’s like, you can’t even get around. But we’re super excited to be doing it. We want to do our thing and then take it as it goes after the show.
What can we expect from your set? Are you going to do anything different for Coachella?
I think music is good when it’s not on autopilot, and when it’s not super planned out and contrived. So we’ve had a couple conversations. We have a couple of ideas that we’re throwing around—we’re maybe going to have a couple people joining us and stuff, if we can work it out. We want to make it a memorable event that, years from now, people will still be talking about.
Is there anybody you’re planning to see perform? Maybe somebody you wouldn’t normally get the chance to see?
It’s funny, because like I said, when we do the European festivals, a lot of times I don’t know who’s playing. It’s the logistics of, especially with Coachella, trying to get hotels and getting through the place with all the traffic. We did No Values a couple of years ago, and that was in Pomona. That was 45,000 people and the traffic was brutal. It took us three hours just to get there. So it’s a lot of logistics dealing with all that kind of stuff. You know some people have nightmares about being back in schools. I have nightmares that I can’t get on stage.
When Coachella is done, what else do you and ST have planned for the rest of the year?
We’re actually really excited. We’ve got a lot of stuff. I’ve got a solo record, Psycho Records, coming out of BMT in July. That has some new Suicidal, new Infectious Grooves, which my other band, and a bunch of different old things that have done over the years. We’re in the studio with Suicidal, and we get to go to South America right before Coachella. Then doing a bunch of festivals, and then we’re doing a headline tour. So pretty busy.
More at suicidaltendenciesofficial.com
The Two Lips
Andrea and Jewlz
Have you performed at, or attended, Coachella before? Any memories?
Andrea: I’ve never performed at Coachella but did attend in 2023 and 2025! I had always wondered about going to Coachella and Julia was actually the person who convinced me to go with her and her group! We saw Charli xcx, Rosalia, Gorillaz, Bad Bunny, and the most memorable being Calvin Harris! We managed to get to the very front of the main stage and had the best time; it was like seeing God, honestly.
Jewlz: I have been going to Coachella since 2022! Once you start, you don’t go back. A core memory is definitely witnessing Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball for the first time ever. It was such a gag with so many surprises one after the other! We could cry just thinking about it.
You’re performing on day one. Are you planning on catching anyone else’s performance? Hanging out?
A: Of course! The lineup is too good this year. I can’t wait to see Sabrina Carpenter obviously, The xx, Disclosure, Blood Orange, KATSEYE, Ninajirachi, 54 Ultra, Justin Bieber, FKA twigs, Addison Rae, Lykke Li—I could go on and on! All of our friends are coming with us to celebrate our performance, so it is going to be a great time.
J: Day one this year is super stacked with a ton of our favorite artists like Fleshwater, Slayyyter, KATSEYE, Lykke Li, The XX, Blood Orange—the list goes on. It’s going to be so hard trying to see them all. Catch us sprinting from set to set!
Will you be exploring the site (the art, the food...)?
A: Yes! We love to walk around and check out the art installations! Coachella always has such creative art around the site which makes for great photo opportunities! We are both big foodies so it’s always a must! I love trying the different options they have each year.
J: One thing we look forward to at Coachella is seeing the different art installments and the food vendors. Our friends and us always hang out under the shade of the art on a hot day, and sometimes if we’re lucky, my favorite L.A. foodie spot will be there. Makes us so happy!
What are your plans for your own set?
A: My plan is to, of course, put on a good show, while also staying true to us. The reason we got this opportunity is by being ourselves and showing our personalities on stage, so I am just going to keep doing that! I love sharing the stage with my bestie, we love to have fun and hope the audience has fun with us too.
J: Well, we don’t want to reveal too much, but it’s definitely going to be something we’ve never done before. Just being able to have a screen with cutie visuals is a major upgrade! Expect some old, some new, and a guaranteed fun time.
After Coachella, what do you have planned for the rest of 2026?
A: We’re currently working on our debut album. So hopefully finish that up and put it out once it’s done. I’d love to collaborate and meet more artists so hopefully Coachella opens some doors for us! But at the moment our calendar is not filled after Coachella so maybe… rest?
J: After Coachella, we’re hoping to put out an official studio album, but making sure it’s perfect! That’s really our focus for the rest of the year.
More at thetwolipsofficial.com
