Lady Gaga “didn’t have time” to fully realise Coachella 2017 headline set – vows to “make it happen” in 2025 

Lady Gaga has reflected on her mixed views to her 2017 Coachella headline set, and said that she is looking to redeem herself in 2025.

The line-up for the 2025 edition of the California festival was shared last month, with it being confirmed that it’d be Lady Gaga headlining, alongside Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott.

For Gaga, the event marks her second time taking the top of the bill at the event, as she headlined for the first time back in 2017. Initially, it was Beyonce who was set to headline seven years ago, however the singer was forced to pull out after announcing that she was pregnant with twins.

Now, ahead of the 2025 edition, Lady Gaga has looked back at her first time headlining at the site, and said that there are aspects she wishes she could have done differently, but was unable to due to the time constraints.

“Well, for reasons totally outside of my control, there was a cancellation,” she began in a new interview with LA Times, recalling what she meant by previous comments in which she said she “wants to go back and to do it right”.

“I really wanted to be there for music fans, and at the time there was all this excitement to be able to film bits of A Star Is Born at Coachella. But I only had two weeks [to prepare for the show],” she explained.

“So to design a stage, to have it made, all of those things — I didn’t have the time to totally do what I really wanted to do,” she added. “I love music. I love performing. I love music fans. And I was so excited to film pieces of our movie there. So I did it, and I loved it. But you know when you have a vision in your mind of how you want to do something? It’s time to make it happen.

Gaga also went on to share her outlook on music festivals as a whole, and explain how they played a big part in her upbringing.

“Music festivals to me are part of the community of music. I used to go to Bonnaroo a lot, actually, when I was younger,” she recalled. “It’s a place to just put pause on everything for a minute. You fall into everybody around you, and you fall into the music and the lights. I don’t think there’s anything that’s affected me as deeply in my life as live music. There’s something for me that’s religion about it.”

The comments in the new interview align with the update Gaga shared last month, as she was confirmed for the 2025 instalment. Taking to Instagram, she wrote: “I have long dreamed of throwing a massive night of chaos in the desert. I’ve had a vision I’ve never been able to fully realise at Coachella for reasons beyond our control but I wanted to come through for music fans.

“I have been wanting to go back and to do it right, and I am. I’m headlining and starting the weekend off at Coachella. Can’t wait to hear you all singalong and dance dance DANCE till we drop.” Check out the post above

Coachella 2025 is set to take place from April 11-13 and April 18-20.

Other major acts on the line-up include Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, solo performances from BLACKPINK‘s Lisa and Jennie, Benson Boone, the original Misfits, Zedd, The Prodigy, FKA Twigs, Beabadoobee, Clairo, Enhypen and more.

Coachella 2024 was headlined by Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat and Tyler, The Creator and also saw the return of No Doubt and more. Check out NME‘s overall recap of the 2024 festival here.

As for other Lady Gaga news, recently the pop icon was one of three guests on Apple TV’s A Carpool Karaoke Christmas, which dropped over the weekend (December 15). She joined Lowe alongside fellow guests Chappell Roan and Dua Lipa to perform festive classics as well as their own hits.

She was later joined by AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson for a karaoke duet of the band’s 1979 hit ‘Highway To Hell’ and revealed that she was once an extra in one of the band’s music videos.

Before then, the ‘Born This Way’ singer shared dramatic new single ‘Disease’ – which is the first taster of her new album. Little is known about the record yet, although it has been dubbed as ‘LG7’ by fans and is expected to arrive next February.

The track saw Lady Gaga make her return to pop, and follows on from ‘Harlequin’ – a companion album to her film Joker: Folie à Deux. 

Explaining what fans can expect from the LP, she told Rolling Stone that ‘Disease‘ felt like “a way into the chaos of the album, which is kind of exercises in chaos – different sides of who I am as a person”.