All the Surprise Guests at Coachella This Year

Katseye played one of the most anticipated sets of the entire festival, with fans caught up in whether member Manon Bannerman would show up or not. Ultimately, she did not, but the crowd roared when a few other surprise guests made an appearance:  EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami of Huntr/x  came out to sing “Golden.” — Julyssa Lopez

Turnstile rocked the crowd on Friday afternoon, their set emotionally heightened after an incident with their ex-guitarist made headlines. However, they focused on putting on a raucous live show, and even got Blood Orange to play cello for “SEEIN’ STARS.” —J.L.

Will Ferrell came to the rescue during Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining set on Friday night. The actor made a surprise appearance in the Hollywood-themed performance as a handyman there to fix an electrical problem. “Typical Coachella,” he said as he reconnected two giant plugs that powered the neon and flashing lights that illuminated the stage around Carpenter. —Larisha Paul

The last time Sabrina Carpenter appeared at Coachella, she predicted the future by announcing that she’d play the festival next as the headliner. The artist looked into the future again Friday evening by casting Susan Sarandon as an older version of herself. The veteran actress delivered a seven-minute long monologue in the middle of the seat that ruminated on youth, longevity, and ambition before Carpenter sang “Go Go Juice.” —L.P.

Last year, Sabrina Carpenter arrested her good friend and former Girl Meets World co-star Corey Fogelmanis during “Juno” at one of her Madison Square Garden shows. At Coachella, she cast him in a different role: the person who finally brought Susan Sarandon’s winding monologue to an end. As it turns out, the actress was delivering her lines in a drive-thru, and Fogelmanis just wanted her to tip and drive away. —L.P.

The first guest to join Teddy Swims onstage was Joe Jonas. The JoBro came out to sing a country-fied version of his band’s early cut “When I Look You in the Eyes” to the glee of the audience. Before the performance, Swims had teased the special guest, telling the Hollywood Reporter “the hottest guy in a band full of sexy siblings” would make an appearance. Even with the hint, Jonas’ performance was still one hell of a surprise. —Maya Georgi

Each time a doorbell rang through the speakers at Teddy Swims’ Coachella set, which was designed to look like an apartment, the crowd could expect a special guest to appear.  Whether it was part of a Pavlovian conditioning experiment we’ll never know, but those cameos includedVanessa Carlton, who emerged to perform “A Thousand Miles.” The iconic piano riff turned the crowd into a sea of smartphones, with thousands of festival goers capturing the moment on video. —Jeff Miller

Lizzo was everything, everywhere, all at once this Coachella, and made surprise appearances at a handful of events in the Indio Valley. She joined Sexyy Red onstage her “Hoechella” set to rap and play her flute, was among the many celebrity guests at the 818 Outpost party DJed by Kaytranada, and danced with Paris Hilton at her private afterparty, singing along to her own songs. —Jaeden Pinder

John Summit hit the stage at Coachella’s Do Lab on Friday night as a surprise performer. “Last second decided to pull up to the desert and it was a night I’ll never forget,” he wrote on Instagram. “Shoutout to u all for the energy that was seriously insane.” —L.P.

Moby’s a longtime Coachella vet (he was actually on the lineup for the very first fest in 1999), so to mix things up for his set in the Mojave tent this year he brought up Gabriels’ singer Jacob Lusk to blast through his peak-era classics “Natural Blues” and “When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die.” Backed by a massive live band and flanked by a very animated Moby, Lusk blew the crowd away by adding a bit of soulfulness to the beats-driven tracks. —J.M.

At Dijon’s first Coachella performance, he brought out his long-time collaborator and friend Mk.gee to perform three songs, including “Higher!” from Dijon’s 2025 album Baby. Both artists worked behind the scenes to produce Justin Bieber’s Swag and Swag II records, and then made appearances at Bieber’s headlining set the next day, with Mk.gee getting a shoutout as a burst of fireworks illuminated the sky. —J.M.

Though Teddy Swims had tons of guests during his set, the penultimate song he played boasted the ultimate surprise: a duet with David Lee Roth on Van Halen’s unbelievably resilient “Jump.” Swims was clearly swooning over Roth, and with good reason; his voice and his verve were in top form, and Roth’s unbelievably infectious smile was on full, radiant display. —J.M.

“Dance (A$$)” was the cry of Big Sean when he unexpectedly hopped up with dubstep DJ Levity in the massive Sahara tent. Niki Minaj didn’t show up to help out, but that’s alright: Big Sean had full control of the crowd as he spun his bandana ‘round and round. —J.M.

True to her set’s moniker “The Fame and Glory Show,” Addison Rae invited famed dancer Maddie Ziegler to join her onstage during the sensual number “Aquamarine.” Ziegler wore a see-throught white dress with billowing, Stevie Nicks-esque sleeves that flowed in the wind, as if moving through the turquoise waters Rae sang about. —M.G.

Usually artists wait until later in their sets to bring out special guests, but not Clipse. The rappers opened their Outdoor Theater set with four songs featuring Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, who added sharp snare snaps to their sparse beats. He sounded great backing Malice and Pusha T on “Chains & Whips” and “Inglorious Bastards” — maybe Clipse should consider touring as a trio? —J.M.

Iggy Pop was at his most Iggy Pop on Sunday when he rocked the festival, his third performance in Coachella history. Even at 79, he raw-powered up the crowd and had some supportive back-up: Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner helped round out his band. —J.L.

Subtronics’ DJ set featured a few special guests, but first to the stage was Oliver Tree. It’s unclear whether or not the singer’s mic was actually on during the new unreleased song (it certainly wasn’t after the song, as Tree tried to get the crowd hyped without realizing he couldn’t be heard in the house) but whether live or lip synched, the jammed crowd at Sahar bounced along to the high-energy jaunt. —J.M.

Substonics welcomed Destroy Lonely to the stage in one of a handful of guest appearances. But to sweeten the deal, the artists used the opportunity to premiere new music to an audience hungry for more. They previewed the song “Stop Playin,” which hasn’t yet landed a release date. —L.P.

At Subtronics’ first ever Coachella performance, the guests just kept on coming. With a set that highlighted cameos from Oliver Tree and Destroy Lonely, the Philly DJ also brought out Dutch singer Inéz to perform a remix of John Summit’s “Crystallized.” —J.P.

Even though he didn’t have his own slot at this year’s festival, bass extraordinaire Thundercat made two stops at the Mojave Tent this Coachella. First, he joined PinkPantheress on Saturday night for “Break It Off,” and later on Sunday evening, he performed a handful of songs with his former band Suicidal Tendencies, helmed by Mike Muir (aka Cyco Miko). —J.P.

An unexpected blast from the past came during Major Lazer’s set, which had already taken us back to the early 2000s in the best way. Out of no where, MIA appeared to sing “Paper Planes,” the song she and Diplo made that became a cultural force and took their careers to wild heights. —J.L.

Somehow, Billy Corgan has never played Coachella before, which is wild. The psyched crowd eating up this Gen-X-meets-Gen-Z performance of Smashing Pumpkins’ classic groover “1979” with Sombr should solidify his band’s presence on the field next year. —J.M.

PinkPantheress arrived stateside at the Coachella Valley and invited The Dare onstage for a mini DJ set. During this brief intermission, he kept the crowd moving, mixing in songs like Charli XCX’s “Guess,” an unreleased remix of Addison Rae’s “Fame Is a Gun,” and closed out his portion of the show with his hit “Girls.” Keeping things positively British, the DJ also embellished his set with songs from the Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, and Dizzee Rascal. —J.P.

An early highlight of Justin Bieber’s mostly lackadasical set was a duet with the Kid Laroi on the duo’s hit “Stay.” It added a much needed wallop of energy after a slow-paced first half of the set just before Bieber slowed it down again with a slew of acoustic songs. —J.M.

 Bieber collaborator Tems hit the stage for two songs with the pop star, emerging first to sing “I Think You’re Special,” their collab from Swag II, and staying onstage to join Bieber and Wizkid on “Essence.” The Nigerian-born singer held her own on the massive stage, harmonizing perfect throughout. —J.M.

Following Tems’ collaboration with Bieber, countryman Wizkid also hit the stage to sing the trio’s collab “Essence,” with all three of them trading lines on the massive stage. —J.M.

Karol G has long manifested a collaboration with one of her favorite bands, Cigarettes After Sex. So it was especially full-circle when the Colombian superstar brought out the band’s guitarist Greg Gonzalez to debut their surprise collaboration “Después de Ti,” an aching ballad. It was a treat in a headlining set chockfull of surprises. —M.G.

Karol G made history as the first Latina to play Coachella, but she didn’t do it alone. She brought another Latina powerhouse with her and invited Becky G to the stage so they could singer their collab “MAMII.” —J.L.

Karol G paid tribute to all kinds of Latin genres during her headlining set, honoring mariachi music, salsa, and so much more. One of the most exciting parts of the performance came when she threw it back to old-school reggaeton — and for that, she called on OG reggaeton veteran Wisin (of the famed duo Wisin Y Yandel) to bring all his perreo classics alive onstage. —J.L.

It’s been a minute since Young Thug has played “Havana,” the Camila Cabello smash hit he joined as a featured artist back in 2017. To revive the track, he had Cabello join him onstage —  and quickly, the entire Coachella crowd was singing the unmistakable “ooh nana” part of the chorus with her. —J.L.

Young Thug has no shortage of collaboration with NAV. There’s “Spend It,” “Boy Back,” “No Debate,” “Tussin,” and more. But on Sunday night, NAV popped out during Thug’s set to perform the live debut of their latest team up, “Trimski.” —L.P.

Ty Dolla $ign celebrated his birthday in the desert with a surprise appearance during Young Thug’s Sunday night set at Coachella. The pair performed “Carnival,” a single from Ty Dolla $ign and Kanye West’s musical duo, ¥$, which originally features Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti. —L.P.

Wet Leg’s energetic set was made even better when Horsegiiirl joined the rockers on the main stage. Of course, the DJ stayed true to her name and sported her horse mask as they ripped through Wet Leg’s hit “CPR.” —M.G.

Brazilian singer Luisa Sonza made her Coachella debut extra special when she brought out Argentine musician Emilia to sing their 2025 collaboration “bunda.” The pair embodied two pop divas as they delivered the track with the sparkliest, fluffiest get-ups. —M.G.