There’s something about the energy of a music festival that just hits different. Maybe it’s the shared anticipation, the way strangers become friends over a single song, or those rare moments when an artist does something completely unexpected and the entire crowd loses it. This year gave us plenty of those moments. From surprise guests dropping in unannounced to headliners who redefined what a festival performance could be, 2025 delivered spectacle after spectacle. Let’s be real, though – not every moment landed perfectly, and that’s part of what made this year so fascinating to watch unfold. Here’s a chronological journey through the standout festival moments that defined 2025.
Lady Gaga’s Gothic Opera at Coachella
Lady Gaga returned to the main stage in April with a theatrical set dressed in a red Victorian-inspired gown designed by Dilara Findikoglu, setting social media ablaze according to Hollywood Branded. Her theatrical ode to her latest album, Mayhem, at Coachella might just be the latest career-high for the pop star, Harper’s Bazaar noted. She meticulously crafted a five-act performance that blended gothic opera with pop grandeur, opening with “Bloody Mary” and seamlessly transitioning through hits spanning her entire discography.
The production was genuinely unsettling in the best way possible. Lady Gaga’s nearly two-hour performance was filled with gothic imagery, complete with gargoyles and angels, and at one point she was surrounded by skulls and even laid beside a skeleton during “Disease,” Bored Panda reported. Critics had mixed reactions – some found it brilliantly theatrical while others claimed it felt like a “satanic ritual,” which honestly just made it more memorable.
Megan Thee Stallion’s Star-Studded Takeover
Megan Thee Stallion made sure to turn her set into an epic moment with the help of Ciara, Victoria Monét, and the legendary Queen Latifah, all of whom showed up and showed out for the Houston diva, according to Vibe. The natural-born entertainer even brought out a dancing “Big Foot” to poke fun at Nicki Minaj’s 2024 diss record. That level of pettiness paired with world-class production? Honestly iconic.
The debut featured a mind-melting production as the first date of a global tour with guest-star-spangled cameos, as Variety described it. Even top-billed Megan Thee Stallion had her mic cut off when she ran a few minutes overtime, showing that Coachella’s strict set times apply to everyone, no matter how big the moment.
Charli XCX Officially Ends Brat Summer
Charli XCX may have had the best non-headlining performance of the entire festival, completely bringing the energy on Weekend One and making a huge impact with three perfectly executed special guests on a slate of popular remixes: Troye Sivan for “Talk Talk”, Lorde on “Girl, so confusing”, and Billie Eilish on “Guess” according to Screen Rant. She made the most of a stripped-down main stage and turned it into an electrifying moment of pure pop power.
Charli xcx brought out a bevy of guests who’d previously joined her on tour and seemed to say that “Brat Summer” is over but it’s not, via semi-ambiguous messages on the giant screens, Variety reported. The declaration sparked immediate discourse online – was Brat Summer truly dead, or was this just another layer of the chaos? Either way, it dominated festival conversation for weeks.
ENHYPEN and the K-Pop Festival Invasion
ENHYPEN’s Jungwon noted they didn’t expect so many ENGENEs in the US to come out to the desert for two weekends, saying ‘Paranormal’ was the song where they interacted with the audience for the first time during their set, and seeing all the banners as they walked around the stage really stuck with him as one of the most memorable moments, BuzzFeed reported. The K-pop group’s presence marked a significant moment in Western festival culture.
Rolling Stone’s 2025 coverage confirmed that K-pop acts appeared on more major Western festival main stages in 2025 than any previous year. ENHYPEN’s Coachella performance exemplified this trend perfectly, with the crowd size doubling between Weekend One and Weekend Two as word spread about how incredible their set was. It felt like witnessing a genuine cultural shift happening in real time.
Glastonbury’s Pulp Surprise and Political Controversy
The three headlining acts at Glastonbury 2025 were the 1975, Neil Young, and Olivia Rodrigo, with Rod Stewart performing in the traditional Sunday Legends slot, according to Wikipedia. “Patchwork” were ultimately revealed to be Pulp, performing on the Pyramid stage for the first time since their headlining set in 1998, and the first time overall since 2011 where they played a secret set on the Park stage.
This edition of the festival became famous after anti-Israel and pro-Palestine statements from the bands Kneecap and Bob Vylan led to international political controversy. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described it as “appalling hate speech” while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the scene “grotesque”. The BBC apologized and removed the performance from iPlayer, sparking heated debates about artistic expression versus platform responsibility.
Olivia Rodrigo Closes Glastonbury and Owns Lollapalooza
Olivia Rodrigo closed out the Festival on the Sunday night, headlining the Pyramid for her first appearance at Glastonbury since her memorable Other Stage set in 2022, Cosmopolitan reported. The progression from Other Stage to Pyramid headliner in just three years demonstrated her meteoric rise. Her emotional delivery of “drivers license” had nearly everyone in tears, and her punk-rock energy on “good 4 u” proved she could command a crowd of this magnitude.
Then she did it all over again in Chicago. Olivia Rodrigo and Korn headlined Friday night at Lollapalooza, CBS Chicago noted. The pairing of a pop-punk princess with a nu-metal legend on the same night perfectly captured the genre-blending chaos that makes modern festivals so unpredictable and exciting.
Lollapalooza’s Diverse Lineup Dominance
Lollapalooza announced its official 2025 lineup with headliners including Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler, The Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, Rüfüs Du Sol, Luke Combs, Twice, A$AP Rocky, Korn, Gracie Abrams, and Doechii according to WGN. The four-day Chicago festival from July 31 through August 3 showcased an incredibly diverse range of genres, from country to K-pop to electronic music.
The festival drew over 400,000 attendees yearly according to Saily’s 2025 festival report. What stood out most was how seamlessly the programming flowed between wildly different acts – one minute you’re watching Tyler, The Creator’s experimental hip-hop set, the next you’re swept up in K-pop group Twice’s synchronized choreography. That’s the magic Lollapalooza has perfected over its decades-long run.
Missy Elliott’s Transformer Entrance
Missy Elliott came to Coachella to remind everyone what a real hitmaker looks and sounds like, arriving on stage dressed as a Transformer and powering through a setlist filled with hits including “Get Your Freak On,” “Hot Boyz,” and “Lose Control”, Harper’s Bazaar reported. Known for her over-the-top set design and costuming, she didn’t disappoint.
Her performance also served as a reminder of Elliott’s deep appreciation of hip-hop dancers; she often gave her crew the floor during costume changes, mesmerizing the crowd and viewers at home. It’s hard to say for sure, but this might have been one of the most purely joyful performances of the entire festival season – a masterclass in showmanship from someone who’s been doing this for decades.
Travis Scott’s Underwhelming Desert Return
The anticipation of Travis Scott’s alleged $12 million “takeover of the desert” ultimately left Coachella 2025 fans underwhelmed, as a rare fourth headliner, with both of Scott’s sets facing all sorts of issues from an out-of-tune marching band to a DJ named Scott who was apparently fired during Travis’s Weekend Two set, Screen Rant reported. He even called him out onstage through his typically autotuned microphone.
Even despite these production missteps, the crowd seemed to find it hard to connect or get into Travis’s Weekend One set, which led to a smaller turnout on Weekend Two. For an artist known for his high-energy performances and devoted fanbase, this was a surprising stumble. Sometimes the hype just doesn’t match reality, and 2025’s Travis Scott sets became cautionary tales about overpromising.
Year-End K-Pop Festival Extravaganzas
The Melon Music Awards, one of Korea’s largest year-end music awards shows, took place at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul under the theme “Play the Moment” with a lineup featuring 20 artists including G-Dragon, Jennie, Zico, Jay Park, Exo, Woodz, Aespa, Ive, Riize, Plave, NCT Wish, Illit, Hearts2Hearts and Allday Project according to The Korea Herald. These massive year-end festivals became global streaming events.
The 2025 KBS Song Festival Global Festival aired live on December 19, standing out as more than just another playlist-style broadcast, held at Songdo Convensia in Incheon and hosted by Jang Do Yeon, Moon Sang Min, and ILLIT’s Minju, AllKpop reported. The careful stage composition and cross-generational collaborations showcased K-pop’s expanding global influence and its ability to blend tradition with innovation.
The Moments That Didn’t Make Headlines But Should Have
Zedd and the LA Philharmonic Orchestra teamed up for surprise appearances during both Weekend One and Weekend Two sets at Coachella, with Zedd coming out during the LA Phil’s set to perform his massive hit “Clarity” on piano according to Screen Rant. These collabs were likely on nobody’s Coachella bingo cards, yet they turned out to be standout moments.
The “Beautiful Things” singer Benson Boone brought out legendary guitarist Brian May to perform Queen’s iconic song “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which included a nod to the late Freddie Mercury, with May posting he was proud and happy to say they are now officially pals, The Hollywood Reporter noted. Sometimes the most unexpected collaborations create the most lasting memories. Did you expect a year where classical orchestras, K-pop groups, and pop divas would share equal billing at the world’s biggest festivals? Neither did we – and that’s exactly what made 2025 so remarkable.
