Coachella 2026 took place on April 10-12 and 17-19 and was headlined by Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G, and Justin Bieber.
While the first weekend went smoothly, Justin Bieber’s performance in the second weekend racked up a significant penalty fee for the Coachella organizers because of a rule imposed by the city of Indio.
At the same time, many netizens who were upset about the tickets and food prizes at Coachella being allegedly too high dismissed the situation with lighthearted jokes.
Highlights
- The organizers of Coachella 2026 were forced to pay a hefty fine as Justin Bieber’s set went past the city-sanctioned curfew.
- Several other A-lister musicians in the past have cost Coachella in fines, including the Beatles legend Paul McCartney.
- Bieber’s set, which racked up a $20,000 fine, featured a special dedication to his lifelong fan Billie Eilish.
“So a round of drinks will cover the fines,” one user said.
Organizers were fined $44,000 for Anyma and Justin Bieber’s Coachella sets
Image credits: Getty/Kevin Mazur
Co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is held annually at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Worldwide.
Image credits: Coachella
An agreement Goldenvoice has with Indio requires performances to wrap up by 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and by midnight on Sunday. Breaching of this rule results in a straight $20,000 fine for the first five minutes of delay, and an additional $1,000 per minute from the sixth minute onward.
Image credits: Getty/Kevin Mazur
Anyma (real name Matteo Milleri), an Italian-American musician and one of the duo Tale of Us, performed on Friday, April 17, at Coachella 2026, after his first weekend set was canceled due to severe weather.
His set went nine minutes past the cutoff time, costing the organizers $24,000.
On Saturday, April 18, Justin Bieber went two minutes over while performing the headlining set, which featured a special appearance from Billie Eilish. It added another $20,000 to the weekend 2 fines.
A representative for the city of Indio confirmed the numbers to TMZ.
Image credits: Getty/Kevin Mazur
The money from these fines goes to Indio's General Fund and is used to fund the city’s expenses, such as public works, the police, and fire departments.
Coachella has been hit with huge curfew fines in the past few years
Image credits: Coachella
Justin Bieber was not the first high-profile artist to cost Coachella in fines.
Indio’s current contract with Coachella was signed in 2013 and runs through 2050. Under the previous contract, the fine for breaking the curfew rule was $1,000 per minute flat.
The regulation cost Goldenvoice $54,000 in 2009, when Beatles legend Paul McCartney played 54 minutes over the scheduled time.
The Killers also played an extra 30 minutes that same year.
The organizers were forced to pull the plug during The Cure’s set, who started a new song at around 12:30 a.m.
Image credits: Coachella
“The music is supposed to end every night at midnight,” Commander. Ben Guitron from Indio police said after the incident, according to NBC Washington. “How Goldenvoice addresses our concerns is up to them.”
He added that the police were not physically involved in shutting down the event.
In 2023, Coachella missed the curfew on both weekends, with six performers going over the cutoff time, including Bad Bunny, Frank Ocean, and The Weeknd.
Image credits: Instagram / ldr.isart
It cost the organizers $117,000 in fines in the first weekend and $51,000 in the second, totaling $168,000 for the whole event.
In 2024, Lana Del Rey’s performance continued for 13 minutes after 1 a.m., resulting in $28,000 in fines for the organizers.
Justin Bieber dedicated a special performance to Billie Eilish
Image credits: Getty/Kevin Mazur
As part of his 2026 Coachella set, which included karaoke-style renditions of his old hits, Justin Bieber performed his 2009 hit track One Less Lonely Girl.
During the song, he invited Billie Eilish up from the audience to be serenaded — a throwback to his early tours when he would do the same with fans.
Visibly emotional, Eilish sat in a chair, smiling and holding her head in her hands as he sang to her. They quickly hugged after a while before she ran back into the crowd.
Afterward, Eilish shared an Instagram story of her face with red and teary eyes and the caption, “Can’t stop crying.”
Image credits: billieeilish
Eilish’s mother, Maggie Baird, shared an Instagram post that revealed that it was Justin’s wife, Hailey Bieber, who encouraged and prompted her to go onstage.
“One of the most touching moments ever,” Baird wrote. “Watching this crazy, unimaginable dream come true over many years is so incredible.”
She also thanked Justin and Hailey for their kindness.
Eilish has been a fan of Justin Bieber since a young age and famously had posters of the Baby singer in her teenage bedroom.
Their first public meeting at Coachella 2019 went viral when Bieber approached her during Ariana Grande’s set, and the two shared an embrace.
“Long and bright future ahead of you,” Bieber later wrote about Eilish on his Instagram.
"$40K is nothing to them." The internet shared reactions to Coachella getting fined for Justin Bieber's performance
