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Bieberchella. Barefoot EDM bros. Drinks getting spilled on you. Every year, thousands of music lovers from all across the globe flock to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA to watch some of the world’s biggest artists perform in the desert. For those at home, the destination to watch all the madness unfold is on YouTube, which hosts Coachella’s official livestream through both weekends and invites artists and creators into the YouTube Studio backstage to chill, create, and watch the entire weekend live from the comfort of a stream. This year, I broke my #chella virginity and headed out to Indio to get an IRL look at what really goes down at the country’s most famous music festival.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2026
1:17 PM
GOOD AFTERNOON COACHELLA!!! It is a beautiful sunny day in Indio, California, and I’m headed to my first ever ‘chella. After stopping by the La Quinta Resort for brunch with my friends at Aperol, I catch a ride my friend Matthew and make it to the festival grounds at 1. After a long and grueling walk from the preferred parking lot into the fest, I’m officially #vibing.
3:02 PM
Ok, the peak desert sun is starting to fry me, but I can’t let that stop me. I spend a cool $13 dollars on an iced yerba matte and join every other gay guy in Indio to watch rising star Slayyyter’s 3PM set. I slink in through the side and pick a spot that seems safe and bear trade-adjacent. The energy is off the wall, and everyone agrees that this was the best way to kick the festival off (and that Coachella should have slotted her later in the day.)
5:37 PM
After a quick siesta to watch Joe Jonas serve Aperol Spritz to fans, I run into a V Magazine’s Kev Ponce and we hit the Heineken House to drink a few non-alcoholic beers and catch a DJ set. We take refuge in the shade and a kind friend I met last summer in Ibiza offers us drink tickets, a wifi password, and a ‘Clinker’ that attaches to our beers and syncs our music preferences to help make more friends at the festival. Small acts of kindness go a long way when you’re getting ready to bake in the sun for three days!
7:21 PM
I make a sharp beeline from the press and media tent to the Sonora stage to catch Ninajirachi, my most anticipated set of the day. My coworker Ary and I speed through the line until we hit the door, at which point the security immediately slams it shut, and declares capacity has been reached. Just my luck! After fifteen minutes of patient waiting, they determine it’s cleared out enough for more people to go in, and I catch her just in time to hear her drop the Frost Children remix of “Love My Computer.” This was PEAK!
8:11 PM
The day is starting to hit me: No food, feet in ruins, and the chemical compositions of 5 different sunscreens starting to congeal into one plastic layer on my skin. I run to the artist area and visit YouTube’s on-site HQ. We take some polaroid pictures, snack on Magnum bars (first meal of the day!) and admire KATSEYE’s performance on YouTube’s multiviewlivestream lounge. After getting our bearings, we run to catch Friday’s headliner…
10:20 PM
SABRINA CARPENTER! Somehow, my colleague and I snag barricade at the VIP area and have a front-row seat to Sabrina’s first headline Coachella show. From a pure entertainment-value perspective, this show is one of the most grandiose concerts I’ve ever seen in my life. This is a career highlight for Sabrina. She pushes everything she’s learned from years of extensive touring to the absolute max. A Susan Sarandon cameo! Will Farrell as the grumpy technician fixing her stage! Even more innuendos! This is a decade-defining artist at her most powerful, and we were just glad to get a front row seat.
11:30 PM
This is when the drama starts. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Hey, I wish I knew what it was like to flee the Titanic in a flower crown,” Coachella is your closest modern equivalent. After fighting our way to rideshare pickup, my friends begin to text me in a panic. Our names are NOT being found on the list for the KATSEYE x REVOLVE party. We make a few quick calls for PR while waiting 27(!) minutes for an Uber down the street.
12:27 AM
We make it to the party, and I nearly fall over in tears when I see pizza being passed to attendees. My friends and I park in a corner to refuel and then head to the dance floor. After a few drinks and a few wins from the claw-machines, we call it a night. My feet are on fire, my throat is full of dust, and I haven’t eaten a meal that wasn’t sponsored by an app or a clothing brand in 24 hours. COACHELLAAAAAAAAAAAAAa.
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SATURDAY, APRIL 11TH, 2026
4:47 PM
GOOD AFTERNOON DAY TWO! It’s a hot Saturday in Coachella valley and one name is on everyone’s mind: BIEBER! I start my day off by heading to YouTube’s outpost on the festival grounds for a quick ki with Slayyyter (and her beat up Chanel, naturally.) I was about to head back to the stages when Wheel of Fortune host Vanna White appeared. I tried to play it cool when I asked her for a photo, and she kindly obliged. Real recognize real!
5:57 PM
I hustle to the Coachella Main Stage to catch Addison Rae’s set. Addison is styled by Interview fashion director Dara, so it’s a personal point of pride for us to see them kill it as a duo on a stage as massive as this. I run into my friend Dorian Eletctra in VIP and we split a diet soda while Addison commands the crowd. I snag a quick video for the gram of Addison delivering a few choice words for the haters, and then depart. Dara, if you’re reading this, you guys KILLED IT!
6:43 PM
As soon as I enter the Gobi tent to catch hometown heroes Geese, a man in a neon green Justin Bieber shirt spills a beer down my back. I’m embarrassed to admit it was a little refreshing in the desert heat, but I quickly reposition myself and get ready. Once Cameron Winter and co. begin a cover of “Baby,” I realize just how deep Bieber fever is running today. After their set, I rush to a cart to order the worst pretzel I’ve ever had in my life, and scarf it down greedily before embarking to the press tent for some ice water and sunscreen time.
7:39 PM
I link with my colleague Ary and we mutually agree we should climb the rainbow staircase that everyone’s using for their photo opps. It’s a dizzying ascent and we can’t help but feel like it smells like the inside of a pool locker room. Afterwards, it’s time to hit the Mojave tent and catch PinkPantheress. The crowd is huge and spilling out way past the confines of the tent, so we park it near a fence in VIP and watch from the sidelines as The Dare and horsegiirL hop on stage to support PinkPantheress. I find a lost iPhone, return it to some disinterested festival police, and make my way to the main stage for the biggest event of the fest.
11:35 PM
I don’t think I’ve ever been in a crowd this big or fanatical. It’s Justin Bieber’s first ever headline Coachella set, and people have been camping for hours to get the best possible spot. Due to my lack of dedication, I get stuck near the back of VIP, which quickly closes due to capacity before a gnarly fight breaks out between some intoxicated frat types. I reposition and the lights go on, and everyone starts losing it. Justin does a medley of contemporary tracks before opening a laptop and doing karaoke-style renditions of his most famous hits via YouTube. It was almost performance art, and although I heard some grumbles, I thought it was actually an incredible concept. I break away just before the end to beat the hordes of fans and fight my way to the shuttle buses on the other side of the festival. BIEBERCHELLA!
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SUNDAY, APRIL 12TH, 2026
3:49 PM
My body is in ruins, yet I persist. Day 3 baby. I stroll into the Sonora tent at 3PM to catch Jane Remover’s set, and quickly make friends with a barefoot EDM bro while we wait for the show to start. The lights go down and the bass starts shaking my fillings out. I push to the front to get a good photo, then sneak off right before the last song.
Polaroid by Hunter Ellenbarger @ YouTube x Coachella Studio
5:15 PM
Before heading to my next set, I stop by the YouTube studio to steal some free popsicles and say hi to Taemin and Major Lazer. After cooling off, I run to the Gobi tent to catch the last half of Oklou’s set. The vibe is ethereal and chill and I get misty-eyed when I see an elderly couple swaying to her song blade bird. I resolved myself not to cry this weekend, so I pack up to meet my coworker at the Coachella Stage for Major Lazer.
6:42 PM
Ary and I have a little time to kill before Young Thug, so we take #vibey #coachella #vibes photos at the carousel and get lemonades. Afterwards, we get caught up in the stampede to the Coachella stage for Thug’s performance and get a spot near the back to hear “Digits.” High school me would be literally shaking. Ary shows me her sweet new Justin Bieber merch and we bolt to my final show of the festival.
9:05 PM
All the Bushwick-coded gay guys and girls with cool hair™ of the fest are front and center for FKA Twigs. I sneak away briefly to grab $13 french fries and return to see Honey Balenciaga bringing the house down during the show’s ballroom segment. Tonight is my last day in town, and I feel a strange wave of melancholy hit me when I realize I have to leave the snowglobe of the Empire Polo Club and return to the real world. But I have influencers, 30 dollar mixed drinks, and DJ sets back home, so I take off a few minutes before the set ends to catch a shuttle back to my AirBNB. Coachella, you were #goals.
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(P.S. Make sure to catch Weekend Two live on YouTube! XOXO)