It’s almost time to make the annual pilgrimage to the desert for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The event will celebrate its 25th year on the polo fields in Indio, this time with Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G topping the lineup.
Whether you’re heading to the festival or watching from home, we’ve compiled a guide for maximizing your Coachella time from what to pack and what parties and pop-ups are open to the public to how to watch from the comfort of your couch.
We’ll have live updates throughout Weekend 1 at latimes.com/coachella. We’re also answering your questions and compiling your tips.
When is Coachella? Where is the venue?
Coachella 2026 runs April 10-12 and 17-19 at the Empire Polo Club at 81-800 Ave. 51 in Indio.
Who is performing at Coachella 2026?
This year’s main stage headliners are Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G.
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There’s also a big production from Anyma, presenting the world premiere of Æden, and other top artists include the XX, Nine Inch Noize, Disclosure, the Strokes, Turnstile, Addison Rae, David Byrne, Iggy Pop, Katseye, Sombr and Young Thug. Here’s the full lineup.
Can I still get tickets to Coachella? How much are passes?
Coachella is sold out, but there are still ways to get in. There’s a waiting list via Coachella itself and there’s also an official resale market and secondary sellers.
On the official Coachella resale site, Weekend 1 general admission three-day passes and GA with a shuttle pass are hovering around $1,000; VIP are starting at $1,630 as of April 1.
Weekend 2 starts at $815 for general admission passes and GA with shuttle on the official Coachella resale site while VIP starts at $1,130. Note that the prices fluctuate often.
(For reference, when tickets went on sale in September, they started at $649 for a three-day GA pass for Weekend 1 and $549 for Weekend 2. For VIP, passes for Weekend 1 started at $1,299 and $1,199 for Weekend 2.)
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Beware of secondary sites, but you can find passes there as well. Typically Weekend 2 is cheaper but prices will spike after everyone talks about Weekend 1.
A few things to note: Coachella doesn’t have hard tickets but wristbands. If a deal seems to good to be true, it probably is. Check the policies to see how your purchase is guaranteed if you go the secondary seller route.
Music fans watch Green Day’s headlining set at Coachella in 2025.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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What’s the difference between general admission and VIP passes, and are VIP passes worth it?
No matter what level of pass you have, you can roam around most of the field and get up close to stages. Yes, you can have a GA pass and walk right up to the stage. Of course, if you’re a Belieber trying to do that you’re probably camping out all day Saturday.
If you see those special viewing pits near the stage, the VIP passes do not get you to there. Nor do they get you on stage.
VIP passes do get you a dedicated entrance (closer to what has historically been the yellow lot and the ride share dropoff/pickups) and more exclusive food options in spots like the picturesque Rose Garden next to the Mojave Tent. You also can view the main stage from the 12 Peaks VIP area. And there has been a dedicated VIP entrance for the Yuma Tent in recent years.
When does Coachella release set times?
The festival set times are usually announced a few days before Weekend 1, and then the complaints about conflicts will ensue. In 2025, the set times dropped on April 5. When they land, we’ll share them here.
Recent years have also had notable surprise acts revealed in the set times announcement, including Weezer and Ed Sheeran in 2025, Blink-182 in 2023 and Arcade Fire in 2022.
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The set times are pretty consistent on most stages through both weekends, with minor tweaks — usually the early DJs or acts opening the stages change up between weekends. However, the lineups at the Quasar stage and the Do Lab are different each weekend.
Once set times are released and you’re plotting your own schedule, don’t plan on easily hopping back and forth between the Sahara Tent and most of the other stages. It moved to the far south end of the festival grounds in 2024 and it’s a considerably longer hike than its previous locations. There was a traffic jam trying to get over there in 2024 and in 2025 the festival made some improvements (swapping the Quasar and Do Lab locations) to ease a crowd chokepoint, but you’re still looking at probably a 15-minute walk from the main stage.
When do gates open at Coachella? How late does the music go?
The parking lots open at 11 a.m. daily and the gates open around 1. The curfew is 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday and midnight on Sunday.
What’s the deal with parking? What about the shuttles? Can I take a rideshare? How’s traffic?
Unlike pretty much any other concert in Southern California, general parking is free at Coachella for the day. If you’re driving in, carpool and get there early. There have been years where people have had to park off-site because it’s so packed. Just be sure to note where you parked because at the end of a long day of music, you don’t want to be searching for your car. (Pro tip: Drop a pin in your phone as soon as you park.)
You can take a rideshare to/from Coachella. That lot is near the yellow lot but I always hear horror stories every year.
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Whether you’re driving or taking a rideshare, know that if you stay until the end of the night you’re likely going to be waiting a while.
Pro tip: If you’re driving, leave yourself some snacks that won’t melt and some waters in the car so you have some sustenance if you do get stuck.
The shuttles do require a pass. As of April 1, only Weekend 2 was available to add a pass via the Coachella site and it’s $150. Friends who have stayed on the eastern side of the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs) swear by it, especially if they want to have adult beverages throughout the day.
The worst traffic is on the 10 Freeway the Monday after each weekend. It’s brutal if you’re heading back to L.A. You need to be on the road by 9 a.m. or wait it out until the evening.
Where do I put my stuff? Are there lockers?
There are lockers but they are sold out for both weekends. You are allowed to bring in a backpack 18” x 13” x 8.5” or smaller. If you can travel light, a fanny pack is the way to go, but if you’re planning to bring a hoodie or a beach towel to sit on, your shoulders will be less angry at carrying a backpack over a messenger bag, trust me.
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Is there a place to charge my phone? How can I keep my phone from getting stolen at Coachella?
There are some chargers set up around the field, including throughout the covered Craft Beer Barn, but bring your own cable. It’s worth bringing a power bank with you so you don’t have to wait for your phone to charge.
Everyone knows someone who has had their phone jacked at Coachella. Set up and turn on whatever kind of “Find my phone” app your device has before getting to the desert.
I’ve seen people use fanny packs with tethers inside to further secure phones and also phone lanyards.
A lower-tech option I’ve seen is using safety pins to keep front pockets closed, something that works particularly well with zippered pockets.
I don’t have a place to stay for Coachella yet. What are my options?
Most of your options are going to be massively expensive since we’re down to the wire here (I saw an Airbnb listing for a bed in a laundry room in Thermal coming in at just under $700/night for Weekend 1), but as of April 1, there were still car camping passes available for each weekend for $180, which includes the local transient occupancy tax. Powered car camping, which the Coachella site says gets you a guaranteed spot with a power outlet and access to upgraded showers and bathrooms, runs for $700 with the tax included.
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Coachella attendees get sprayed with water at the Do Lab in 2025.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
What’s the weather going to be like for Coachella and how can I prepare for it?
My best advice: Keep refreshing the forecast. We’ve had an unusually warm start to the year in Southern California, which typically signals that we’ll be roasting at Coachella, but things have thankfully cooled off a little.
If temperatures look mild, consider bringing long sleeves for the evening because it does get cold. As of April 1, the Weather Channel’s 14-day forecast for Weekend 1 has highs in Indio in the upper 80s. Weekend 2 is typically warmer, but last year that wasn’t the case.
Handheld fans (paper or battery-powered) are allowed. I’m not saying my USB-charged fan kept me from a trip to the medical tent in 2025, but I’m not NOT saying it. They’ve had some for sale at the festival in previous years, but it’s cheaper to buy one off-site.
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Plastic personal-sized water misters are allowed in, too, but they have to be empty when you get there.
If you don’t want to stop the fun while you take a break from the heat, the Do Lab is always a good place to catch some shade, dance and cool off.
It’s pretty much a guarantee that you’re going to be in some gnarly wind at some point during the festival, so a face covering like a bandanna or a PPE mask (protects from dust AND COVID) are helpful.
The desert is hot. Are there water stations?
If I’ve learned one thing over the last 18 years I’ve covered Coachella, it’s that dehydration is serious business. However much water you’re drinking, it’s not enough.
Water has been priced at $2 since Coachella started back in 1999, and there are multiple refill stations on-site. You can also bring in an empty refillable container, but it can’t be metal or glass and it has to be 64 ounces or less (even though the Coachella water they’ve sold in recent years is packaged in an aluminum bottle). Empty hydration backpacks are also allowed. (Electrolyte packets for hydration are too.)
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Also, I’m told that Electrolit will be back on site with a hydration station near the main stage and handing out free cups of the electrolyte-filled drink.
What should be on my Coachella packing list?
I mentioned the bandanna/mask, fan and power bank and charging cable above. I also don’t go to Coachella without earplugs, hand sanitizer, some baby wipes, sunscreen (non-aerosol only) and a hat because the Indio sun is no joke, sunglasses and a couple of Band-Aids just in case. I’ll throw a hooded sweatshirt in my backpack, too, especially if it’s going to be windy.
Even when I’m not working and I go to a festival as a civilian, I’m all about function over fashion and comfortable shoes and socks to walk thousands of steps each day. For Coachella’s walking, I’ll also bring out some gel insoles.
Oh, and leave your cash at home. Everything is cashless at Coachella now.
Definitely download the app before you get there. In addition to being able to set your schedule, it’s become increasingly harder to get the physical map and info booklets on site.
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Pro tip: If you want a poster as a souvenir, something smart I saw last year was someone who brought in their own cardboard poster tube and according to the Coachella FAQ, they are allowed.
What’s the deal with food at Coachella?
Let’s be real. You’re captive at the festival and you can’t bring food in with you. Food is not cheap, but it’s often very good. You can find some reasonably priced options throughout the fest (pizza, especially), but plan on spending about $18-$25 for most entrees on-site. There are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options available, too.
Some of the vendors we sampled last year, including Sandoitchi and Farmhouse Kitchen Thai Cuisine, are back at Indio Central Market. And Gerard’s Paella and Mano Po are among those returning.
You can also go for the super luxe Nobu pop-up, back at the Red Bull Mirage again this year, or have a fancy family-style meal with Outstanding in the Field with famous chefs.
Here’s a look at some other food options at Coachella in 2026.
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Reader Stacey from Rancho Santa Margarita, who has only missed two Coachellas since the beginning, also offered a great tip: Eat your meals off schedule to avoid long food lines.
You can also score some free snacks and things at various brand activations, like last year’s Takis spot.
If you have more time to dine, Times critic Bill Addison recently updated his Palm Springs dining guide.
My go-to move if I’m not stuck in the parking lot late at night is In-N-Out (there are now two locations in Indio and another one just west on Highway 111 in La Quinta).
What’s new at Coachella this year?
We’ll know more once we get the set times and map and will update here accordingly, but there is the mysterious line on the bottom of the lineup poster that reads: “The Bunker debut of Radiohead Kid A Mnesia.”
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I always see pictures of famous people at the Coachella parties. How can I get into the Coachella parties? Are there other shows outside of the festival? Can you get me in?
You know how around the Super Bowl everyone talks about “the big game” because they can’t mention it by name but you know exactly what they’re referring to? The vast majority of the events happening in the desert in April aren’t technically affiliated with Coachella but they exist because everyone’s in town for the festival. Coachella = “desert music festival.”
Many of the parties you see with the most famous people are invite-only, like Neon Carnival and Camp Poosh and Nylon House, but there are lots of activations and shows where you don’t even need a Coachella wristband to attend.
Goldenvoice Surf Club takes over the Palm Springs Surf Club both weekends. Passes start at $49 for a single day and $85 for two days. Parking on site is an additional $20. You need to be at least 18 to attend. See the lineup and more details at gvsurfclub.com.
If you want to keep the music going all night, Framework in the Desert is back for a fifth year of afterparty performances April 10-12. Notable artists include a DJ set from Disclosure, Boys Noize and Armin Van Buuren. You need to be at least 21 to attend. Single-day passes start at $74 and $85 depending on the day and three-day passes start at $194. Find more details at thisisframework.com.
Check back for more updates on parties and events open to the public.
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That all sounds like a lot. How can you watch Coachella from home?
If you want to celebrate Couch-ella, the festival has partnered with YouTube for years to stream the festival live. There are usually six channels you can watch within the YouTube channel, each dedicated to a stage. Not every performance is streamed live, but the vast majority are.
The stream starts a few hours after things are underway in Indio and not all set times line up with reality, so it’s not unusual to see people who are there posting on social about something that hasn’t necessarily happened on the stream yet.
Set times for the stream typically drop immediately before the festival. After the music is done for the night, the stream repeats until the next day’s broadcast begins.
One thing to note is in previous years the more rock and punk-based Sonora Tent streams Weekend 1 and it’s replaced by the house-centric Yuma Tent for Weekend 2.
There’s also the option of Coachella’s livestream app.
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Pro tip: If you’re watching on YouTube, take advantage of one of the multiview options to flip between stages without having to sit through as many commercials.
Have questions you don’t see answered here? Ask our experts!
When a once-successful director finds himself stranded in a wilderness of misguided projects and indifferent audience response, he may try to reignite inspiration by going back to the ingredients of an iconic hit. If he can replicate the perfect storm of elements that made the earlier film work, maybe the new movie will put him back on top.
This kind of thing happens often enough — examples range from William Friedkin shooting for a West Coast “French Connection” with “To Live and Die in L.A.” to John McTiernan making “Die Hard with a Vengeance.” But we’re in a far more degraded realm of return-to-glory-days syndrome when it’s Renny Harlin out to recapture the low-trash spark of “Deep Blue Sea,” his well-liked exploitation action thriller. Talk about a 1999 movie that wasn’t about the brave new movie future!
It was about killer sharks (with enhanced intelligence!) eating people, and about a scientific experiment — something to do with curing Alzheimer’s — that was there to fill up the space between chompings. But “Deep Blue Sea,” whose big star was Thomas Jane, went down as a summer sleeper (it bit its way to $73 million domestic), and the nostalgic fondness that a lot of people have for it surely fed into why we’re now getting “Deep Water” (opening May 1), Harlin’s most lavishly scaled production in quite some time.
In the 1970s, disaster films had titles that described exactly what they were. “The Towering Inferno” was about a towering inferno, “Earthquake” was about an earthquake, and then there were films like “Meteor” and “Avalanche” and “The Swarm” and “The Hindenburg” and “City on Fire.” In that spirit, “Deep Water,” which is very much a neo-’70s disaster film. should have been called “Airplane Crash into a Sea of Jaws.” As it stands, the word in the film’s generic title that echoes that earlier Harlin movie is more than a bit ironic, since “deep” is just the word to describe what Renny Harlin’s movies are not. They are shallow. They are dramatically flat. They do not have interesting characters even on a schlock B-movie level. As a director, he has a sixth sense for how to reduce actors to walking slabs of pulp.
Yet there’s no denying that Renny Harlin, in his utilitarian action-hack way, has some chops. “Deep Water” starts out by introducing the main players on an intercontinental flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai. Aaron Eckhart, with his likable downcast valor, is the First Officer, a stalwart fellow who’s a bit of a ne’er-do-well (that’s why he’s never become a captain); he’s suffering from an oblique family trauma we can kind of suss out. Ben Kingsley is the captain, a jaded overseer on the verge of retirement who is introduced singing “Fly Me to the Moon” in a karaoke bar, where he somehow imagines that his crooning is going to have a seductive effect on the flight attendants seated at a table. (The truth is that he looks rather frighting in his sand-brown goatee.)
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We’re also introduced to the passengers, who are real Jane and Johnny one-notes, though we do take special notice of Dan (Angus Sampson), a long-haired slovenly bellicose chain smoker whose bulky red plastic suitcase the camera tracks onto the plane. For a while, we think it must have a bomb in it. It doesn’t, but it does contain something that randomly ignites, setting a fire in the cargo pod, which becomes an explosion, which ricochets into the cabin, at which point a hole gets blown in the side, one of the engines catches fire, and this thing is going down.
It doesn’t take excessive skill to make a plane crash scary, but Harlin executes this one with stylish flamboyance, as bodies get sucked out of the plane and flying wine bottles turn into shrapnel. Our heroes want to try landing at an airport in Guam, but that plan goes out the window, as they barely manage to ground the plane in the middle of the ocean.
There were 257 passengers aboard, all but about 30 of whom are now dead. The plane is in pieces, the main two chunks being the cockpit and the fuselage, both of which have been reduced to floating canisters with wires popping out of the sides. The plane’s pieces are now, in effect, life rafts (though there are some actual oversize yellow inflatable rafts aboard that will come into play). If the proper distress signal was set off (there’s some question about whether that happened), they should be rescued in a matter of hours. But until then…sharks!
They are mako sharks, which to my movie-trained eyes don’t look all that different from the great white shark in “Jaws,” as they flop their giant razor-toothed mouths aboard the rafts. “Jaws” was scary because it was about anticipation and sudden fear and the power of suggestion. “Deep Water,” on the other hand, has little in the way of suggestion, which is why it’s more gory than scary. Harlin stages the shark attacks in an overt here-ya-go way, with the one consistent suspense issue being whether the shark will consume a victim whole or bite off his or her limb or simply leave them with a nasty gash (which happens quite often).
Meanwhile, two bros (one American, one Chinese) start off as enemies but get over that, the scurrilous Dan continues to assert what a dick he is by smoking and snapping at everyone, and Eckhart’s character bonds with Cora (Molly Belle Wright), the now-orphaned young girl aboard, which triggers a reappraisal of his own domestic situation. Human drama! Not. (Or, at least, not very much.) Yet there’s a way in which it matters not, since even back in the ’70s the “human drama” of disaster films was just the frame on which to hang the sensationalist fantasy of death porn and survival. “Deep Water” isn’t terrible for what it is, but what it is is disaster product.
Jada Pinkett Smith is asking a judge to make Bilaal Salaam cover the $49,000 in legal fees she racked up fighting claims he made in a December lawsuit.
According to a motion filed April 20 and obtained by The Times, Pinkett Smith is asking that Salaam pay $49,181.23, consisting of “reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred” in connection with Pinkett Smith’s successful special motion to strike Salaam’s complaint, “plus further fees and costs associated with this motion.”
Salaam — Will Smith’s former best friend of 40 years who also goes by Brother Bilaal — filed a lawsuit against the “Bad Moms” actor in December, alleging emotional distress and seeking $3 million in damages.
Salaam claimed that in September 2021, he attended a private birthday party for Will Smith at the Regency Calabasas Commons. According to his lawsuit, he was in the lobby of the movie theater when Pinkett Smith approached him with about seven members of her entourage and threatened him. Salaam’s suit claims that Pinkett Smith told him he would “end up missing or catch a bullet” if he kept “telling her personal business.” She also allegedly pressured him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
In November 2023, Salaam appeared on the “Unwine With Tasha K” podcast and alleged that he walked into Duane Martin’s dressing room and saw Will Smith having a sexual encounter with the “All of Us” actor. He also made claims about Pinkett Smith’s sexual habits.
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Pinkett Smith swiftly responded during an appearance on “The Breakfast Club” and said that Salaam started the rumors as part of a broader “money shakedown” and that his claims were “ridiculous and nonsense.”
“It’s not true and we’re going to take care of it,” she said. “We’re about to take legal action.”
Salaam beat Pinkett Smith to the courthouse and sued her in December, but Pinkett Smith asked the judge to toss the case in February.
According to the motion filed this week, the former “Red Table Talk” host argues Salaam should pay her hefty legal bills because she “prevailed on her anti-SLAPP motion” and the court struck all allegations relating to media statements “that formed the basis for Plaintiff’s three causes of action, as well as additional allegations regarding a cease-and-desist letter.”
The following movie review does not contains direct spoilers for the film Michael, however general information in regards to the plot, characters, key climax points, biographical information and themes explored in the film will be heavily discussed. Please read at your own discretion, or after seeing the film in theaters.
There have been, so far, four films that aim to depict some portion of the beautifully tragic life of late pop music pioneer Michael Jackson, otherwise known to the world as The King Of Pop.
You’ve got The Jacksons: An American Dream, the near-perfect 1992 ABC miniseries that gave MJ, his brothers and verbally abusive father Joe Jackson equal screen time in order to make for a proper origin story. Then there’s Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, an abysmal 2004 VH1 TV movie that acts as a spiritual sequel yet truly should’ve never been made. Almost a decade ago we got Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland, the 2017 Lifetime Network attempt to cover his final years of life, told from the perspective of two bodyguards employed by him for merely two-and-a-half years.
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Today (April 24), the world finally gets to see Michael. The 2026 true-to-form biopic boasts the biggest budget compared to the previous three projects, distribution handled by the renowned Lionsgate Films, a director’s chair occupied by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn’s Finest) and MJ’s own nephew, Jaafar Jackson, starring in the titular role alongside a glowing supporting cast that includes Colman Domingo (Rustin), Nia Long (Love Jones), Miles Teller (Divergent) and Larenz Tate (Menace II Society) just to name a few. Not to mention, it’s got full backing from The Jacksons family and 100% musical clearance to assure his biggest hits are heard on the big screen.
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With all that said, you might be expecting a masterpiece that borrows the best aspects from the original and rights the wrongs of the last two. Unfortunately, that’s not the case when it comes to Michael. Thankfully though, there’s so much more to love about this film in addition to a very strong potential for more.
Yes folks, we may very well be getting the first-ever sequel to a biopic sometime in the near future.
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Before we get ahead of ourselves by discussing a potential sequel, let’s first start off with what you get out of Michael. The film covers Joe’s formation of The Jackson 5 in 1966 and ends with MJ’s iconic 1988 Wembley Stadium stop on the Bad Tour. The filler in-between covers their Chitlin’ Circuit days, the Motown era, run-ins with Gladys Knight and The Pips, finding his voice with Off The Wall, the epic creation of Thriller, the Motown 25 NBC special and the infamous Pepsi burning incident. Each of these scenes are done with great detail and a passion from all involved to get it as close to the real-life moments. However, what’s missing stands out like a sore thumb.
Both Rebbie and Janet are nowhere to be found — they each requested their likeness not be depicted — and neither is MJ’s longtime muse, Diana Ross. It was reported that actress Kat Graham was actually casted in the part, only to later have her scenes cut completely due to legalities. Off The Wall also gets painted as his solo debut of sorts, completely ignoring the four successful solo albums that preceded it when he was just a preteen. Also, while it’s perfectly clear who the movie is about based on the title, it does feel a bit off to see the closest people in his life demoted to barely-speaking supporting characters, save for Domingo’s powerful portrayal as mean ol’ Joe, Long as the ever-caring Mrs. Katherine and longtime bodyguard Bill Bray played by KeiLyn Durrel Jones.
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On the positive side, Michael ultimately does more good than confusion. Jaafar is simply captivating when it comes to embodying his late superstar uncle, nailing everything from those easily-recognizable voice inflections to the classic dance moves. The film ends in 1988, right before MJ invests in Neverland Ranch, so don’t expect the heavy topic of his acquitted child sexual abuse allegations from 1993 and 2003 to be brought up either — well, yet anyway.
If in fact a “Jackson” sequel is in the works, we can only hope his full story is told with care, respect and most importantly the truth. Other important aspects we’d hope to see be depicted include an honest look at his vitiligo journey, the toll he suffered mentally as a result of the trials, the marriage, the kids, the dichotomy of balancing unprecedented riches against a substantial amount of debt and, yes, the prescription drug abuse that ultimately ended his life.
Overall, for everything Michael lacks there is something just as good to love about the film, and the potential for a sequel gives us hope that the best is still yet to come.
Watch the trailer for Michael below, and see for yourselves how The King Of Pop’s story began as his latest biopic hits theaters starting today:
