The 5 best surprise appearances at Coachella weekend 1

Death, taxes, and surprise appearances at Coachella. Those are three guarantees in this life, and there were nearly 50 total cameos in Indio during weekend one. M.I.A. sang with Major Lazer, Travis Barker drummed with Clipse, Horsegiirl danced with Wet Leg, the Kid LAROI joined Justin Bieber for their megahit “Stay,” Thundercat went on sidequests with Suicidal Tendencies and PinkPantheress, Maddie Ziegler was in Addison Rae’s set, HUNTR/X performed “Golden” with KATSEYE, and Lizzo popped out for Kaytrnanada’s 818 Outpost set. And that’s only naming a few. Some guests were awesome (like Porter Robinson coming out during Ninajirachi’s set) and some guests were, uh, less so (like NAV being a part of Swae Lee and Young Thug’s shows), but weekend one of the biggest American musical festival was, by my count, a successful three days of appearances. Here are Paste’s five favorites from Coachella.

Honorable Mention: Geese

If you got to Coachella early on Friday and watched the Bob Baker Marionette Theater performance, you got to see a pretty cool guest appearance: Geese. The puppet, not the rising New York rock band. But the festival’s smallest performers stole the day; Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining set could barely keep up. However, it would have been very funny if the saucy black cat puppet, a BBMT legend, sang “Trinidad.”

5. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sombr

The Smashing Pumpkins made their Coachella debut on Saturday night, but not during a set of their own. No, Sombr brought out Billy Corgan to perform a rendition of “1979,” but not without a few technical mishaps with Corgan’s mic. Still, the pair rocked out to the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness hit, which is doing gangbusters on TikTok right now. “Rock and roll under the desert sky—my first time at @coachella,” Corgan wrote on Instagram after the show. “Thank you @sombr.”

4. Dijon and Mk.gee team up on Friday, perform with Bieber on Saturday

The Dijon Cinematic Universe came to Indio this year, as Dijon himself delivered a warm, one-of-one performance on Friday. One of his frequent collaborators, Mk.gee, showed up to play guitar on “Talk Down,” “Higher!,” and “Big Mike’s.” Then, on Saturday night, both musicians joined Justin Bieber on stage during his headlining set. Dijon and Mk.gee co-produced Bieber’s SWAG song “Daisies” together, and the former also produced “Things You Do,” “Yukon,” and “Devotion.” Dijon popped out to sing with Biebs on “Devotion,” while Mk.gee and his guitar carried the set home during closing number “Daisies.”

3. Sabrina Carpenter’s A-list narrators

On her recent tours, Sabrina Carpenter has made a tradition out of arresting someone before performing “Juno,” including Miss Piggy and Joe Keery, My caravan wondered who would be put in handcuffs during the biggest concert of Carpenter’s career, but the Man’s Best Friend singer didn’t arrest anybody. Instead, she called upon three screen legends to play various parts in her elaborate headlining set. Will Ferrell appeared in a janitor’s uniform. Susan Sarandon gave an in-car monologue. Sam Elliott even showed up in some of the performance’s black-and-white visuals. But the best cameo during Carpenter’s set was undoubtedly her Girl Meets World castmate Corey Fogelmanis. A very cool moment.

2. Oklou brings out underscores

I love it when two alt-pop phenoms link up. Oklou and underscores, who worked together on “Harvest Sky” from the former’s choke enough album last year, shared the Gobi Stage on Sunday and I was ecstatic. underscores, who made her Coachella debut in 2025, recently dropped an early AOTY contender in U. Oklou’s choke enough has stayed in regular rotation since it dropped. Them bringing “Harvest Sky” to life yesterday was huge for annoying girls like me.

1. Teddy Swims walks a thousand miles with Vanessa Carlton

I was charmed by Mr. Swims last weekend. Not only was his “this fat fuck will make you lose control” billboard one of my favorites on I-10, but he filled out his Coachella set with a truly nonsensical collection of guest stars like Joe Jonas and David Lee Roth. But, as someone who listened to mid-2000s pop radio religiously, his “A Thousand Miles” duet with Vanessa Carlton was so unlikely but so, so fun. I still don’t think “Lose Control” is a good song, but Teddy Swims seems to be using his fame for the right reason: giving a national treasure like Carlton her moment in the desert sun.

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