Coachella 2025: Highlights from Saturday include Billie Eilish joining Charli xcx and Bernie Sanders introducing Clairo
Coachella is so back!
Charli xcx’s performance at the Coachella stage was packed, with dense crowds extending well into the festival grounds. While Friday’s surprise performance of Queen guitarist Brian May joining Benson Boone had festivalgoers hyped, it was Billie Eilish and Lorde dropping in to collab with the “Speed Drive” star on Saturday that had attendees absolutely losing their minds. The message was clear, 2025 is the year of Bratchella.
LL Cool J and Flava Flav, two old-school hip-hop legends, also turned up as surprise guests at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio on day 2.
But if you think that’s not a deal, just wait until you hear who they guested with: Flava Flav of Public Image appeared first, showing up in Yo Gabba Gabba’s set in the Mojave Tent, which featured the friendly monsters of the children’s TV series of the same name.
LL Cool J popped out a few hours later with DJ Z Trip and conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, rapping hits such as “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “I Need Love.” Both sets, each of which included other fun guests, were among the best we saw during the first half of Saturday’s performances.
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Yo Gabba Gabba’s giant and colorful creatures sang songs from the show such as “Party in My Tummy” and “Don’t Nite Your Friends,” before bringing out Flav. He started by getting the crowd to sing the late Biz Markie song “Just A Friend” with him.
The song and Markie were featured on the first episode of the series ever made. Then he joined the monsters for one of their numbers, “I Like Bugs.” Sample lyrics: “ Tell me what you like, tell me what you like — I like bugs!”
The hip Coachella crowd sang right along with ‘em. Yo Gabba Gabba’s set closed with another crowded stage of guests to sing “The Rainbow Connection,” including Paul Williams, who wrote the song, Weird Al Yankovic and the indie rock band Portugal. The Man, and other random characters, including H.R. Pufnstuf and Bozo the Clown.
Dudamel and the LA Phil had multiple other guests, including the singers Laufey and Maren Morris, producer-pianist Zedd, and LL Cool J, who closed out the set in the Outdoor Stage. He closed out his surprise collaboration with “Rock The Bells,” after which he and Dudamel took a bow and sealed their friendship with a bro hug, and Cool J’s presentation to Dudamel of his trademark bucket hat, which almost seemed to fit over Gustavo’s curly hair.
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Perhaps an even bigger surprise than Eilish joining Charli xcx onstage was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stopping by the Coachella Outdoor Theatre to introduce Clairo and urging festivalgoers to get politically active. “This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation,” he said before the “Pretty Girl” artist began her set.
Another noteworthy set from Coachella day 2 was the group Viagra Boys, who played the Gobi tent in the early evening. Viagra Boys are as punk rock as it gets in the desert. Frontman Sebastian Murphy came out shirtless, tattooed and with a White Claw in hand. He facetiously told the crowd he was working on his “Coachella bod” while rubbing his protruding belly, announced the band as Benson Boone, and endearingly called the crowd “freaks.”
The raw energy experienced from watching the group’s live performances of “Sports” and other hitters convinces you that all forms of properness are merely a shackle on your true self. The radical message from Viagra Boys: Embrace it. There’s nothing wrong with you.