Coachella: The FOMO report
Photo by Riley LeBlanc, Photographer
Did you miss Coachella? Does it hurt? Well, let’s put a little more salt in that wound.
Sold out within a week of its announcement, Coachella resumed its annual celebration of live music and desert living this April, to the satisfaction of many Chapman students, who were happy to bookend a week of classwork with two weekends of intensive play.
“I've been wanting to go to Coachella since I was in sixth grade, so I've always imagined it to be this super grand thing,” said senior film production major Gaby Guimarães. “It was always portrayed to me as influencer central, but it wasn't, and I liked that more. There was a vibe that everyone was there purely to enjoy the music.”
Among the more discussed sets, students sang the praises of Subtronics, Dijon and The Strokes in particular. Senior creative producing major Sebastian Khan found The Strokes’ second return to performing live especially memorable.
“They are a band I love, and by the time I was going to concerts, they had really, really slowed down in terms of performing,” said Khan. “It was very special for me, a similar feeling to last year when I saw Green Day.”
In the spirit of free-flowing festival-going, however, many Chapman students’ favorite sets were unexpected discoveries.
“The best set I went to was a band that I knew nothing about before: Turnstile,” said senior broadcast journalism and documentary major Wells Goltra. “It was the one set where I felt like nobody was really on their phones because it was so chaotic and everybody was letting loose. There was tons of moshing, tons of dancing — the fan culture was incredible.”
But, as is true of anything left out in the sun for too long, there were stinkers.
“It was not Central Cee’s time to be at Coachella,” said marriage and family therapy grad student Noel Miranda. “It should have been a couple years ago, 2023, when he was really popping off. But right now, he’s at the tail end of his career and was misplaced in this year’s (lineup).”
Khan’s least favorite performer was easily Addison Rae.
“It was awful,” said Khan. “I am not the demographic that enjoys her music — but, being someone who grew up in theater and the performing arts, it just felt cheap. I can respect an artist regardless of if I enjoy the music, but that was a joke to me.”
Beyond the usual panoply of genre samplings, Coachella 2026 was undeniably anchored by the presence of one headliner above any other: Justin Bieber. Entire flows of festival foot traffic had to accommodate for the expanse of fans camping out for JB’s sets both Saturdays. Even indie rock sensation Geese surprised fans with an impassioned sunset cover of Bieber’s timeless “Baby” in anticipation of the headliner.
Bieber’s historic sets — which combined live performances and featured artists with an intimate scroll session — did their best to break the internet, but for those present at the event, the effect was muted by the sheer occupying force of his fandom.
“It was Bieberchella, everyone was there,” said Miranda. “Everyone was camping out hours before and were mean about their spots. It went too far back to even get close to him, you had to step on toes. I tried my best. I didn’t want to ruin other people's experience, but there were just too many people there.”
Guimarães took more offense to the content of Bieber’s set, rather than the number of people in attendance.
“I was disappointed by Justin Bieber's performance,” said Guimarães. “The whole performance seemed very lazy and there wasn't a stage or anything, it was just like him up there vibing, which is totally fine, it's on brand for him. But everyone was waiting to hear the old songs, and he played them for only 30 seconds each.”
It appeared the desert didn’t love Saturday night’s closer either and took many first-timers by surprise in the wee hours of the morning.
“After the Justin Bieber set, I went back to our campsite alone and the wind was going nuts,” said Goltra. “I was getting in my sleeping bag when the tent started rattling and shaking back and forth. Then I looked up and saw somebody else's canopy literally floating through the air. (...) Taking (my canopy) down in the wind, I was holding on for dear life but it snapped in half and broke — even with the help of my neighbors.”
The wind posed other unexpected problems for the uninitiated, ensuring they returned to Chapman with more of the desert than they had hoped.
“It was so windy and dusty everywhere that (by the end) my throat was just coated with this thick layer of dirt and dust that kept me congested for a full week after the festival,” said Goltra.
So really, you only missed out on every important mainstream artist flooding the desert with sound. And a mouthful of sand. Go figure. Maybe whoever is setting these ticket prices will be able to keep the wind out next time.