Coachella Cameos Include Madonna, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, Billy Idol & More

Coachella’s second weekend offered plenty of surprises for fans in the way of special guests, more than even the first week. While many of the VIPs and influencers tend to skip Weekend 2, those that made it were privy to some of the festival’s biggest surprises, causing a bad case of FOMO for those who stayed away.

Justin Bieber’s intimate Saturday night performance – during which, unlike last weekend, he freely interacted with excited fans along the lip of the stage – saw him bring up Sexyy Red (“Sweet Spot”), Billie Eilish (serenading the blushing singer with “One Less Lonely Girl”), Big Sean (“As Long As You Love Me” and “No Pressure”), Dijon (“Devotion”) and SZA (“Snooze”).  For his first-weekend performance, Bieber welcomed The Kid LAROI (“Stay”), Tems (“I Think You’re Special”), Wizkid (“Essence”) and Mk.gee (“Daisies”) as well as Dijon for the same song.

The other big news from Coachella’s second weekend was Madonna’s surprise pop-up alongside Sabrina Carpenter Friday night, joining her for a medley of “Vogue” and “Like A Prayer,” as well as a brand-new song “Bring Your Love,” from her upcoming album, Confessions on a Dance Floor Part II. Terry Crews (taking over for Will Ferrell’s first weekend cameo) and Geena Davis (replacing Thelma and Louise co-star Susan Sarandon) also joined Sabrina for her performance this past Saturday night. Madonna last made a surprise Coachella appearance during Drake’s 2015 set.

PinkPantheress brought out a slew of celebrities for her Saturday night Mojave tent set, which doubled as a birthday celebration, including Janelle Monae, Zara Larsson, Tyriaq Withers, Chase Infiniti, Blood Orange, Slayyyter, Tyriq Withers, DJ Ninajirachi and KATSEYE’s Manon.

One of Coachella’s true star-making performances came from Addison Rae, who was joined on the main stage by Olivia Rodrigo for Rae’s “Headphones On” and the first live performance of Rodrigo’s new single, “drop dead,” from her upcoming album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, slated to come out June 12.

After Anyma had to cancel his Week 1 set because of the dust storm, his performance this weekend included duets with BLACKPINK’s Lisa (“Bad Angel”), Swan Lee, Joli and Muse’s Matt Bellamy.

Gen Z’s answer to David Bowie, Sombr, was joined on-stage by Billy Idol and Steve Stevens for a cover of “Eyes Without a Face” after being joined by Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan for “1979.” Giveon welcomed Snoop Dogg and Teddy Swims to the stage, while Swae Lee brought out French Montana and Slim Jxmmi. Nouveau country star CMAT performed a duet with the Bob Baker Marionettes, while Turnstile lead singer Brendan Yates joined Blood Orange on Saturday night for a cover of the band’s “ALIEN LOVE CALL,” returning the favor for when Dev Hynes joined the group on-stage to play cello on their “SEEIN’ STARS.”

Teddy Swims’ Friday night main stage sets also offered crowd-pleasing guests, with David Lee Roth joining him on-stage for a high-energy performance of “Jump” both weekends, while Joe Jonas (“When You Look Me in the Eyes’) and Vanessa Carlton (“A Thousand Miles”) joined him on the first night.

Sunday’s surprise appearances included Blondshell’s Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum joining Samia on the Mojave stage for the latter’s viral hit, “Pool.” Last week on the main stage, Young Thug brought out guests Camila Cabello (“Havana”), Ty Dolla $ign (“Carnival”) and NAV (“Trimski”), while last night the sole cameo featured Mariah the Scientist on her own “Burning Blue.”

Sunday night headliner Karol G brought Coachella 2026 to a close with Mexican singer/songwriter/producer Peso Pluma (“QLONA”), fellow Colombian rappers J Balvin and Ryan Castro and encores from first-week guests Becky G (“MAMIII”) and legendary trumpet player Arturo Sandoval. Cigarettes After Sex’s Greg Gonzalez and Puerto Rican rapper Wisin were among her guests for the first week.

One industry insider told Variety the proliferation of cameos during the second weekend was because “artists wanted to make sure the spotlight was on them for Weekend 1… so they came back more relaxed and wanting to make another, maybe bigger statement on Weekend 2.”

“The Weekend 2 crowd is generally there more for the music than the scene,” said another.

Coachella started livestreaming Weekend 2 on YouTube for the 2023 iteration.  Before that, only the first weekend was streamed.