A Justin Bieber fan has revealed what the Coachella crowd really thought of the star’s headline set at the California festival.
The festival has been dubbed ‘Bieberchella’ in a nod to the frenzy surrounding the Canadian’s star’s stage return and his first headline slot at the Indio desert event.
But Bieber’s stripped back set, which saw him perform in a hoodie whilst surfing YouTube for his old hits, left many fans underwhelmed, with debate centered on his unconventional staging and focus on new music.
Fans who were in the crowd have now spoken out, with British influencer and self-confessed Belieber Jack Remmington criticising the singer’s focus on his at-home audience.
The middle segment of the show saw Justin sat on a stool with his laptop next to him, pulling up old videos and checking the livestream to see what tracks fans wanted.
He then sang along to a medley of blink-and-miss it snippets of his most beloved songs like Baby, Favorite Girl, Beauty and a Beat, Never Say Never and Confident, a move which divided fans.
Posting from the festival on Sunday, Jack told his Instagram followers: ‘My main takeaway is not even a Bieber thing, it’s more indicative of the industry nowadays, which is that festival performers are increasingly not prioritising the live audience who have bought tickets to see the artist.’
‘They’re prioritising people who are live streaming at home, which to me is an issue.’
Jack insisted that he even saw fans walking out of the show. ‘A lot of the discourse I am seeing is from people online saying ‘yeah this was great’. I’m telling you in the audience, people were leaving in their droves, it did not translate,’ continued Jack.
‘The camera work, and the performance felt very much catered to people at home which is not what you buy tickets for the live experience to experience.’
Jack pointed out that for him, and for many other fans who had most likely watched Sabrina Carpenter’s high energy Friday night headline slot, the bar was high.
Referencing Beyonce, who performed a seminal 2019 Coachella headline show, and other female popstar’s staging and meticulously-choreographed sets, Jack said that in contrast Justin’s show ‘whether is was unrehearsed or not, felt unrehearsed and sloppy.’
‘I know his vibe has changed, his music has changed… I just have a certain level of expectation with regard to performer, excellence, charisma and for me it just wasn’t there.’
Since both Sabrina and Justin headlined the festival, the world’s leading ticket marketplace viagogo revealed that Sabrina has topped fan interest in ticket sale searches, generating 23 times more searches than Justin.
Justin has appeared as a surprise guest artist four times at the festival in support of Ariana Grande, Chance the Rapper, Daniel Caesar and Tems.
For his debut at the top of the bill he was reportedly paid $10million.
He opened the show with 11 songs from his 2025 Swag and Swag II albums after making a low-key entrance onto a vast, empty stage in his pink hoodie.
Fans watching in their millions on the YouTube livestream flooded the channel with comments, anxiously debating that ‘this is way too chill for a headliner show’ whilst others noted that members of the crowd looked ‘bored.’
The opening reportedly saw unimpressed audience members checking out early, with one tweet reading: ‘I kid you not thousands of people are leaving Justin’s set because it’s so boring #bieberchella #flop’.
Another echoed Remmington’s commentary, pointing out: ‘Justin Bieber, is your ”show” just putting on music from a laptop? This isn’t a concert anymore, it’s a lack of respect for the audience. Stop normalising it; women are demanded to deliver production, choreography etc… but men get applause for the bare minimum.’
After an acoustic segment, Justin threw a bone of fan service to the crowd by performing a medley of his old hits, and it was this middle segment which seemed to win back the fans.
Vogue’s Christian Allaire decided that ‘it gave the fans what they wanted, in a way that felt cheeky and unserious, which was simply perfect. This was how all of us original Beliebers first experienced him, surfing YouTube videos in barely 360p—the concept just worked.’
Bieber played a private, invite-only concert around a week before his Coachella set to warm up for the festival at the The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles.
It marked his first full-length live set in nearly four years, after performing brief shows at the Grammys and a Super Bowl event earlier in 2026.
During his music hiatus following the cancellation of his 2022 world tour, Bieber popped up at several low-key events as a surprise guest but this marked the beginning of his big comeback.
He is set to headline again at Coachella weekend two but the star seems determined to maintain his current level of work and prioritise family life with his wife Hailey and son Jack, admitting last year that the prospect of touring again felt ‘super daunting’
‘I’m putting on a hell of a show for you guys for Coachella, getting ready, and getting inspired,’ he told fans on Twitch.
