Justin Bieber’s long-awaited stage comeback at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival was lamented by fans on Saturday, as they branded his show ‘the worst in the festival’s history.’
The singer, 32, was reportedly paid $10 million for a headline slot at the annual festival, but underwhelmed with a set that mainly consisted of him singing tracks he’d searched on a laptop.
Taking to the stage in just a hoodie, many fans questioned why he’d been paid such an eye-watering amount, and called for a production on par with previous headliners such as Sabrina Carpenter.
Justin’s concert had been hotly anticipated after he was forced to abandon his 2022 due to health concerns after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome.
Ahead of the event, many had shared their desperation to hear Justin play some of his old hits, but these were only played in snippets as he sang along to YouTube clips.
Fans were unimpressed with the set, with some even noting that while watching the live stream of the show, members of the crowd looked ‘bored.’
Justin Bieber’s long-awaited stage comeback at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival was lamented by fans on Saturday, as they branded his show ‘the worst in the festival’s history’
The singer was reportedly paid $10 million for a headline slot at the annual festival, but underwhelmed with a set that mainly consisted of him singing tracks he’d searched on a laptop
They wrote: ‘Justin Bieber did the impossible – he managed to dethrone Katseye with the worst Coachella performance of all time;
‘Why is Justin Bieber asking the stream to pick a song for him is there no setlist, this is so messy and sloppy where are the backup dancers?? Where’s the production wtf is this mess who let him headline;
’30 minutes into Justin’s Coachella set and I can’t name one song he’s performed;
‘Look Justin Bieber can sing, but baby this is Coachella put on a performance;
‘@coachella @justinbieber stop playing ur flop swag albums and start playing ur old s**t this is literally what the fans DON’T wanna see… gonna blame Hailey because there’s no one else to blame;
‘Justin Bieber got paid 10 mil for this boring ass performance. Everyone is bored;
’45 minutes in and all Justin Bieber has done is taken off his hood;
‘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;
Ahead of the event, many had shared their desperation to hear Justin play some of his old hits, but these were only played in snippets as he sang along to YouTube clips
Taking to the stage in just a hoodie, many fans questioned why he’d been paid such an eye-watering amount, and called for a production on par with previous headliners
Fans were unimpressed with the set, with some even noting that while watching the live stream of the show, members of the crowd looked ‘bored’
‘Justin Bieber is performing another song I don’t know;
‘I’ve never seen a bored crowd with a headliner before oh Justin what is this boring setlist and performance ik people are disappointed.’
However, some defended the star, writing: ‘I feel like Justin Bieber is healing his inner child with this Coachella performance right now and it’s genuinely beautiful to see.
‘Seeing him look at his younger self with nothing but love?? Like I’ve never seen him this relaxed and happy performing’.
‘This Justin Bieber set is goated wow’.
‘JUSTIN BIEBER REALLY PLAYED BEAUTY AND A BEAT IRL @ COACHELLA. (I MIGHT’VE CRIED).’
‘Justin Bieber is paying himself a tremendous tribute at #Coachella’.
Justin’s set was scheduled for an already late 11:25pm start time, and rumors circulated in the run-up to his set that the high desert winds might delay him even further.
Although he arrived on time to a burst of cheers and applause, he emerged dressed down in shorts, a hoodie and shades and proceeded to launch into a string of his lesser-known recent numbers, mostly neglecting his older hits.
He did throw in a sporadic fan favorite like Stay and Sorry and later offered up a medley of blink-and-miss it snippets of his beloved songs like Baby, Favorite Girl, Beauty and a Beat, Never Say Never and Confident.
However, Justin stuck mostly to a set that had fans reacting with mingled disappointment and derision, posting remarks like: ‘Justin Bieber headlined Coachella just to not play any of his classics lmao,’ and: ‘There’s just no way Coachella paid Justin Bieber 8 mil to dress up like Jesse Pinkman.’
Justin’s set was scheduled for an already late 11:25pm start time, and rumors circulated in the run-up to his set that the high desert winds might delay him even further
He proceeded to launch into a string of his lesser-known recent numbers, mostly neglecting his older hits. Although he did throw in a sporadic fan favorite like Stay
‘I cannot imagine paying thousands of dollars to watch Justin Bieber sound a mess and walk around in a hoodie and glasses. This is insulting to his fans.’
Another saw a ‘night and day difference’ between his low-key set and the high-energy extravaganza offered up by Sabrina Carpenter the previous night.
‘Sorry biebs but it snot giving,’ one fan said gently, while another reacted more scathingly: ‘justin rlly up there headlining coachella w/ just a mic & his macbook??’
He began the set with his song 2025 song All I Can Take, which the Canadian pop act performed amid psychedelically flickering blue and white lights.
He then served up a rendition of his defiant 2025 number Speed Demon, which took a derisive attitude to the public speculation about his well-being.
In an insistence that his musical output should speak for itself, he crooned: ‘They try to say I’m out of my mind, but now they singing every line.’
During an interlude, he vaunted the ‘beautiful faces in the audience tonight,’ and sweetly asked those watching the livestream: ‘How you guys doing at home?’
He then offered fans the opportunity to ‘help me with the songs tonight’ by picking their ‘favorites’ and posting them in the stream’s rolling comments.
The eerie set was filled with smoke, with a sloping pearl grey topography that made him look as though he were walking across another planet.
Bieber delivered renditions of his songs First Place and Go Baby, both of which are loving tributes to his wife Hailey Bieber, who has been seen dashing about Coachella with her gal pal Kendall Jenner in the run-up to his show.
Among the other new songs he performed were Walking Away, rumored to be addressing the divorce rumors between him and Hailey, his song Petting Zoo, which some fans interpreted as being about their couple’s quarrels, and another number of his called I Do, an apparent affirmation of their commitment.
He gave a crowd-pleasing performance of Stay – his 2021 smash single with The Kid LaROI – which was apparently a viewer request from the comments.
Bieber transitioned from there to an acoustic run of lesser-known material such as his 2020 love song Come Around Me about intimacy with Hailey
He then moved into a couple of more songs from last year, his spiritual GLORY VOICE MEMO and his soulful ballad Zuma House.
After the acoustic segment, he threw a bone of fan service to the crowd by performing a medley of his old hits.
Standing at his laptop, he threw on some videos of his beloved songs and sang along to them, with selections including Baby, Favorite Girl, Beauty and a Beat, Never Say Never, Confident, All That Matters.
He then went back the old YouTube singing videos he had recorded as a child before he was famous, leading to his discovery by Usher and Scooter Braun.
One went back ’19 years,’ he noted, and showed Bieber as a child covering the 2006 song Ne-Yo – as the adult Bieber stood onstage at Coachella singing along.
Bieber then offered the crowd another of his classics, the 2015 song Sorry, and then his successful collaboration with Skrillex, Where Are U Now.
He made a show of falling down a rabbit hole of his old embarrassing YouTube videos, such as old footage of him walking into a glass door, falling through a stage and yelling at a paparazzo he accused of trying to ‘provoke’ him.
Then he was back to his newer, comparatively obscure material, crooning Yukon – a tip of the hat to the GMC Yukon, the car Hailey drove when they were dating.
He then sang another paean to his wife called Devotion, a collaboration with Dijon, whom he brought onstage for a duet that ended in a heartwarming embrace.
Shortly before Bieber’s show, Jennifer Lopez made her surprise Coachella debut a after a glittering music career spanning almost three decades.
The 56-year-old sent an ecstatic shockwave through the audience when she materialized onstage as the guest artist during David Guetta’s set.
Lopez was on hand to deliver a her first live rendition of her and Guetta’s new song Save Me Tonight, which they released just last month.
The crowd exploded as Guetta announced he had ‘invited a friend,’ prompting Lopez to hit the stage in a skintight The Blonds bodysuit that showcased her killer physique and featured a tantalizingly plunging neckline.
Her sparkling silver number was accented with an aquamarine Julien McDonald feather jacket and a pair of Dolce X Ray Ban sunglasses, in the latest flourish of her unerring instinct for high-octane showbiz chic.
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