Sabrina Carpenter, Catseye and more

It’s always a special thing when a festival finds an artist at exactly the right time — and through some combination of good fortune, thoughtful vision, and sheer volume of shoots, Coachella gets these types of artists more often than other festivals. That was certainly the case with Slayyter on Friday, whose America’s worst girl This album has become their most promoted and highest-charting, and the one that is really capturing the public’s imagination at the moment. Undoubtedly the most rewarding part was her powerful performance of “I’m Actually Kind of Famous”, she seemed to believe the title more with every utterance, and rightfully so. — Andrew Unterberger

At the end of its set inside the Sonora tent, indie rock band Wednesday instructed its more dedicated fans to open a pit in front as they were about to hit the “All Bangers” closing portion of its setlist. It also included “Bull Believer” from the acclaimed the mouse saw god The album, whose massive climax delivers one of the truly outstanding moments in 2020 indie rock – one for which Carly Hartzman currently has special accolades. “I would like to dedicate that scream to the spirit of ‘F–k ICE’ and free Palestine,” she explained. — AU

Making her Coachella debut, the power-lunged singer – for those in the know – justified her Hot 100 staying power through her Sunset Main Stage set. Combining gravelly vocals, lyrical vulnerability and mic-front charisma, Teddy Swims both personified bulletproof pop radio excellence and paid homage to it by bringing to the fore some of the shoulders on which he stood. Welcoming special guests to the stage with a self-aware door bell for each, Swims serenaded the crowd with a sweet, rousing duet of “A Thousand Miles” with Vanessa Carlton and an equally spirited “Jump” with a blonde and ever-looking David Lee Roth. Appropriately, he continued the show with his own marquee contribution to the canon, “Lose Control,” before exiting the stage on an adult-sized tricycle. – katie bain

When the flower pot hats come out you know it’s going on with Devo. Three or four songs into their set at the Mojave tent on Friday, the band hit a new gear as each of its members gradually donned the headwear that would become iconic among new wave stalwarts and throughout the 1980s. freedom of choice Era. As the band launched into their classic “Girl You Want” and “Whip It” singles from that album, frontman Mark Mothersbaugh tossed a handful of hats into the crowd, causing attendees to cheer and perform adorably awkward dance moves. — AU

Since the trio played their first show together in eight years last February, The xx’s Sunset Hour show on Friday was effectively a new-generation Coachella reunion event, and also its first appearance at the festival since 2017. While the band – Romy Madley Croft, Jamie xx and Oliver Sims – have confirmed that they are working on a new album, the setlist leaned into the group’s classics, including 2012’s “Angels” and “Fiction” and 2009’s “Shelter” and “VCR”, as well as her own single “Enjoy Your Life” from Romy’s 203 album. mid air aThe second being Jamie xx’s “Treat Each Other Right” from his 2024 set in waves. All three members were dressed in black, with Madeline Croft commenting that “We’ve been dreaming about this moment for so long, I can’t tell you how beautiful the scene is with the lights.” — K.B

One of the biggest sets of the first day was not on schedule, with John Summitt playing a surprise set on the dance-focused Do Lab stage. Fans received a message from Do Lab to alert them about the performance, causing a flood of highly excited people onto the stage as Summitt took the stage at around 8 p.m. The reason for the appearance was Summitt’s impending new album, Ctrl escapeComing on April 15th. The album’s office worker aesthetic was projected onto the stage via a pair of giant prop keyboard keys, with Summitt performing new music from the album as well as “Shiver,” “Crystallized” and “Go Back,” new fan favorites (and CTRL escape lead single) Dance classics like “Lights Go Out” and Todd Terry’s “Missing” from Everything But the Girl and a remix of The Chemical Brothers’ “Hey Boy Hey Girl”. — K.B

Baltimore punk rockers Turnstile began their Friday night set with an emotional video montage of fans capturing the energy of one of the band’s shows. Love, community, and relationships were all common themes expressed by people in the videos. The father of lead singer Brendan Yates – who was reportedly crushed to death by the band’s former guitarist a week before Coachella – closed the video, telling viewers “We love you and the turnstiles love you.” The love was truly felt during the band’s performance. As Katsay performed at the Polo Fields, a large contingent of dedicated Turnstile fans took to their feet on the outdoor stage, singing their hearts out, having fun and greeting each other during the band’s nearly hour-long set.

Turnstile opened with the title track from their 2025 album, “Never Enough”, before playing songs from that record and its predecessor. keep shiningand ended with their Grammy Award-winning hit “Birds”. In a fun surprise for the audience, fellow Day 1 cast members Blood Orange joined the group for a performance of “Seein’ Stars”. At all points throughout their set, Turnstile felt connected to the audience and audience members felt connected to the band and to each other. This was especially evident when thousands of people jumped up and down and started shouting at Yates and company. “I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to see myself.”

And the crowd watched for themselves, as the band’s videographers spent the entire set filming the audience from within the mosh pit for the big screen. It was a questionably unsafe decision that ultimately paid off, making the experience even more intense as the pit’s reflection became visible on his thrashing member. Although Turnstile wasn’t a main stage headliner at Coachella, for that hour, you couldn’t convince a single audience member that the band wasn’t headlining the festival lineup. — annie harrigan

Catseye’s Coachella debut had no shortage of memorable moments, from the action-packed set-opening live debut of new single “Pinky Up” to Lara dramatically licking Megan’s face during “MIA,” of course not to mention the recently deposed Manon’s absence from the entire performance. But when the women of Hunter/X are in the building in 2026 — and especially when they’re doing “Golden” — they still steal the show every time. So that’s exactly what happened when the opening lines of “Golden” gave way to EJAE, Ri Ami and Audrey Noona unexpectedly appeared on stage with the now five members of Catseye, singing all confirmed classic songs as the combined eight members celebrated their shared moment. — AU

There was plenty to feast on in the visuals of Sabrina Carpenter’s amazing first headlining performance at Coachella on Friday: countless dance numbers and costume changes and various set designs. But the image that will likely become the most indelible was the “When did you get hot?” The appearance of the “Sabrinawood” sign, which she waved around during that song and throughout most of the set. Certainly this alludes to Carpenter bringing all of Southern California into his domain for the duration of his Coachella run — but of course there’s also a little bit of Beavis and Butthead Until the “wooden” part, and we’re sure Sabrina isn’t mad about that either. — AU

Japanese duo Creepy Nuts played Coachella as part of their first North American tour, bringing joy and lots of dancing to the engaged audience in the Gobi tent. “I don’t speak English well,” frontman R-Shitei told the crowd at the end of the show, “but I rap really well.” And so they did, as the duo – R-Shitei and DJ Matsunaga – tore through a set that seemed to take inspiration from The Prodigy, Skrillex and Korn (as well as more traditional styles). If you’re going next weekend, don’t miss them. – K.B