The revival of Lady Gaga, political speeches, childhood icons, backflips, a severely displaced Ferris wheel and baking in 100-degree heat in the middle of the desert. There is only one place on Earth unhinged enough for all of these events to coincide: Coachella Valley.

There’s no doubt Coachella is among the most costly music festivals, but did this year’s spectacles warrant the price?

For me, the idea of being berated with sand all day would be enough of a deterrent. However, after watching some premium-quality shaky iPhone footage from an audience member, I daresay that I would have considered making a several-hundred-dollar visit to the Pacific Northwest Corridor app to purchase tickets. 

Coachella can always be counted on to provide a cultural bonanza, but this year’s festival already seems to be getting more hype than the 2024 performances. Much of that could be owed to the renaissance of club music, a cultural reset bestowed upon the world by the seemingly perpetually sunglasses-wearing Charli xcx and her “brat summer.” 

Charli xcx and her three musketeers of this past summer — Troye Sivan, Billie Eilish and Lorde — alone would be enough to sell fans on the roughly $600 tickets. And after listening and dancing to Charli’s setlist long enough, your head will most likely be so scrambled you won’t even notice that the lemonade you’re drinking costs $17!

Another summertime superstar bloom that made their way to the lineup is part-singer, part-acrobat Benson Boone. Before playing his hit “Beautiful Things,” Boone justified his 1980s jumpsuit by bringing out Brian May, the guitarist from Queen, to accompany him in a cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” 

If there weren’t enough B’s in that last paragraph for you, now is a good time to mention that Bernie Sanders also made an appearance to deliver a speech on political struggles from the war in Gaza to women’s reproductive health to climate change. No better time to talk about global warming than to an overheated audience in the middle of the desert. 

While May had his Coachella debut this year, a much more unexpected musical act returned for the second time: Yo Gabba Gabba! That’s right, the children’s entertainment monster mash band returned to perform at Coachella, naturally, bringing with them artists Flavor Flav and Thundercat. 

One artist that stuck out to me as absent from this year’s lineup was the Grammy-award-winning rap artist Doechii. Someone having as much of a moment as Doechii this year seems like an obvious candidate for Coachella. I’m not sure why they were in denial of letting her perform, but I guess they’ll cross that river another time…

However, rising (quite literally) above all of these other performances was the iconic show put on by Lady Gaga. Gaga is an artist who, for many, has drifted into the background of musical royalty, but she has reclaimed her bizarre and avant-garde throne.

As someone who is a ride-or-die Beyoncé fan, I am inclined to maintain that Bey-chella is still the best set to occur in that godforsaken desert. But, between you and me, Lady Gaga may have given Queen B a run for her money with this one.

From the outfits to the choreography to the set list, this concert was quintessential Gaga. It was freaky, it was shocking, it was hypnotizing, it was everything that those 100% sober audience members needed to see, and I don’t think you can put a price on that. 

Are there other, much more affordable and equally impressive music festivals out there? Oh, no doubt. But where else are you going to get a politician orating to a crowd of intoxicated desert folk as an opening act for a Clairo performance?

I can’t help but cringe when thinking about how much people have spent to see lackluster weekends in Coachella’s past (I am still grieving the trainwreck that was the Frank Ocean concert), but I could justify paying to go to the 2025 rendition of this gaudy music festival. 

Coachella is more about culture than just music, and it is something that I hope to experience once, and maybe no more than once, in my life. Who knows, maybe by the time I can afford to go, R9 will have dropped and Rihanna will headline! A girl can dream.